Famous Hackers

Kevin Poulsen

Kevin Lee Poulsen (aka Dark Dante) was born in 1965 in Pasadena, California.

Kevin used his TRS-80 to hack into the US Department of Defence(DoD) Arpanet.

Kevin worked at SRI International(Stanford Research Institute), and hacked by night.

In 1988, Kevin went on the run from authorities over an investigation into attacks against a database on the federal investigation into Ferdinand Marcos.

While on the run, Poulsen aggrevated the FBI by attacking and revealing details on wiretaps, suspected mobsters and foreign consulates, and eventually earned the nickname "The Hannibal Lecter of computer crime".

During his 17 months on the run, Kevin and two other friends, Ronald Austin and Justin Peterson, hacked the phone lines belonging to radio station KIIS-FM 102 to cheat in phone line competitions, ensuring that they'd be the lucky 102nd caller, winning them a Porche. They did this a few times, winning two porsche 944 S2's and two Hawaiian vacations.

Kevin was displayed on America's "Unsolved Mysteries", in hopes of apprehension. As Kevin's picture was displayed on the tv, the television program's 1800 went dead.

In 1991, shortly after the airing of the Unsolved Mysteries case, Kevin was apprehended in a supermarket by the staff who spotted him.

Kevin was held without bail for five years, then charged with money laundering and wire fraud, while other more serious charges were eventually dropped. Kevin was sentenced retroactively to "time served" -- five years -- and released on the condition that he did not touch a computer for three more years after release.

After his release, Kevin went on to work with the government as a consultant, also worked as a journalist for SecurityFocus in 2000. Eventually in 2005, he left SecurityFocus.

In 2006, Poulsen also released information detailing his successful search for registered sex offenders using MySpace to solicit sex from minors. His work identified 744 registered offenders with MySpace profiles, and led to the arrest of Andrew Lubrano.

Kevin is now the Senior editor of Wired Magazine.

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