The Teenaged NASA Hack

In 1999, NASA systems had to be taken down for 21 days because of what at first seemed to be a significant coordinated attack on national security. The Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama's living quarters temperature and humidity controls were among the 13 systems that were affected. The total cost of the damages, including personnel and equipment, came to more over $41,000.

Around the same time, a simultaneous attack on the Defense Threat Reduction Agency was perpetrated by the same hacker, also known online as "c0mrade." By exploiting the usernames and passwords of 19 personnel, which they were able to breach, they were able to access 10 military systems.

It all appeared to be a serious foreign army attacking the US, but it was actually just an adolescent who was bored. Jonathan James was only 15 years old when he was apprehended and sent to an Alabama prison for the assault. He may have been the youngest hacker to carry out such a high-profile attack, which immediately made him well-liked in the young black-hat hacker community.

• Year: 1999
  
• Damage: over $41,000