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Famous Hackers Past and Present (Gallery) 5

by Thomas Houston on August 6, 2008 at 01:02 PM



5. Adrian Lamo

Dubbed "the Homeless Hacker," Adrian Lamo backpacked across the country for three years around the turn of the millennium, hitting Wi-Fi hotspots and public library computers, which he used to gain access to the computer networks to some of the world's most well-known companies (Yahoo!, Microsoft, Bank of America, and McDonald's, to name a few). He's probably best known for his 2002 infiltration of the New York Times' internal network -- where altered confidential databases and found the home phone numbers of contributors like Warren Beatty and Rush Limbaugh. In 2003, he was arrested by U.S. marshalls, and pleaded guilty to one count of computer crimes against Microsoft, the New York Times, and Lexis-Nexis. In the end, he was sentenced to six months house arrest for the stunt. Lamo has since become a successful journalist.

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