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Black Hat Ethical Hacking Hacking Stories: Jonathan James – The teenager who hacked NASA for fun https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/black-hat-locks-and-electronics.jpg Hacking Stories: Jonathan James – The teenager who hacked…
naged to escalate his privileges into the system, and then pivoted to another 13 computers on the compromised network.

The network comprised surprisingly belonged to a unit NASA, the Marshall Space Flight Center, located in Huntsville, Alabama. The unit has a lot of importance for NASA as it is the place where they develop and test rocket engines as well as communication systems for the ISS (International Space Station).
https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/https___cdn.cnn_.com_cnnnext_dam_assets_200314141254-01-marshall-space-flight-center-2019-1024x576.jpg

Marshall Space Flight Center, located in Huntsville, Alabama - source: nasa.gov
C0mrade gained access to a program’s source code which controlled critical elements of life support of the ISS. The system was designed to maintain the physical environment in the living rooms of the ISS, and It was firstly estimated to worth millions of dollars.

After NASA security experts discovered that their network was compromised, they disconnected the server, alongside the compromised machines for a period of 3 weeks to analyze the intrusion which led to 40 thousand dollars direct damages for NASA.
FBI and further hacking intrusions
FBI was working with NASA as they informed them from as soon as they detect the intrusion and begin tracking down the “dangerous” hacker.

James was still a schoolboy, as he would attend classes in the morning and hacking for fun at night.

At the end of his hacking journey, in September 1999, C0mrade detected a backdoor install on a server in Dulles, Virginia, letting every user on the Internet to connect to it. Without a second thought, he connected to the server and installed a sniffing program to intercept all the network traffic that was going through the server, including login credentials, etc.

The compromised server belonged to DTRA (Defense Threat Reduction Agency), a hugely significant division of the US Department of Defense that was analyzing external threats to the country’s National Security.

James went on and intercept numerous credentials of DTRA users, leading to him getting access to dozens of computers of the Department of Defense. He managed to download thousands of letters from email users working for Pentagon.
https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/DTRA-hq.jpg

DTRA Headquarters - source: emptywheel.net
That was the first successful intrusion into the internal networks of one of the Pentagon external units.
Arrest and charges
This hack went on to be his last one, the last intrusion didn’t go unnoticed because of the importance of the target. In January 2000, Defense Department agents, along with Pinecrest police they proceeded to order an arrest for James.

On January 26th, agents with bulletproof vests and guns raided his home and arrested him. They seized four PCs, a laptop, and one pocket computer from the house.

That made James the first juvenile to be sentenced federally to a term of confinement for computer hacking. James was actively cooperating with the investigators and explained to them in detail how he was able to hack them.
Sentences and Aftermath
After the news of his arrest, he became famous at his school and also made public comments to the media, accusing the government of not taking security measures on their computer network seriously.

He pointed out that he knew the C computer programming language like the back of his hand, tirelessly studying all day and night in order to be in a position to easily compromise un-secure systems.

During the investigation, it was cleared out that James didn’t run viruses, didn’t deleted files, or change passwords. He did not cause any damage in any of the compromised systems, and being only 16 years old at the time served him well on the day of the announcement of the verdict. If he were an adult, he could face at least 10 years in prison and a hefty fine.

He volun[...]

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naged to escalate his privileges into the system, and then pivoted to another 13 computers on the compromised network. The network comprised surprisingly belonged to a unit NASA, the Marshall Space Flight Center, located in Huntsville, Alabama. The unit…
tarily pleaded guilty to two incriminated accusations, for hacking NASA and then the US Department of Defense. Adding to that, James’s cooperation with the government officials on the investigation made the court to found him guilty of crimes committed by minors.

James received 6 months of house arrest and a ban on the use of a computer machine for entertainment purposes, but only for studies. The court also made him issue a written apology to NASA and the US Department of Defense for his actions.
Prison time
The court judges show leniency to James by giving him only 6 months of house arrest, but that did not go as planned. He was soon detained by the police on the streets for violating the terms of the house arrest. It was also found later from his blood work that he used some kind of drugs.

The court went on and suspended the old sentence and replaced it with jail time for six months, in a juvenile correctional center in Alabama. That was also the first time in the US that a teenager went to prison for committing a computer-related crime, making the story’s attention bigger all over the media/press.

He told reporters that he was determined to stop hacking after he was caught as it wasn’t worth the hassle and he was just doing it for fun, like playing video games.

James served the full sentence and was released after six months from the juvenile correctional center avoiding the media in order to lead an ordinary life in his parents’ house in Pinecrest.
TJX hack and Secret Service raid in James’s home
Sadly, the ordinary life that James wanted to live did not last long.
In January 2007, the Secret service was on the trail of an enormous cyber theft gang that was led by Albert Gonzalez, who was responsible for the massive credit card breaches at companies like TJX, Boston Market, Dave & Buster’s, DSW OfficeMax, etc. The damage was significant to the customers of the firms and also for the firms themselves as the hackers stole the credit card information of millions of users and used them illegally.
https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/soup_nazi-2001-defcon1.jpg
Albert Gonzalez - source: media.wired.com
Some of James‘s colleagues and friends were supposedly members of the gang. The Secret Service agents were on track to uncover the gang and contacted Gonzalez associates involved in the cybercrime. Several of them said that they knew James from the hacking forums, which also gave attention to the agents for the case.

The fact that led the investigators to be suspicious toward James was the fact that an unknown hacker who was collaborating with Gonzales had the pseudonym “JJ”. The pseudonym coincided with the initials of James (Jonathan James) and that was enough for the Secret service to issue a warrant to search his house.

In January 2007, secret service agents raided James’, his brother’s, and his girlfriend’s houses to investigate his potential role in the credit card breaches. During the raid on his house, they found a gun and a suicide note from a previous suicide attempt. James was claiming his innocence at the time of the ongoing raids.

As it was found later, the unknown “JJ” was Steven Watts, who often signed on the network with the pseudonym “Jim Jones”.

The agents could not find anything to connect James with the ongoing crimes and the rifle found was also officially registered, thus dropping any warrants.
Unfortunate Death of c0mrade
The events caused James’ severe depression. He was often anxious in a depressed state following the incidents with the Secret service again.

On May 18, 2008, James was found dead in the bathroom of his home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head from the same rifle that the agents found during the raid.

A suicide note was found near him along with his passwords of Paypal, and several other accounts.

The note wrote: “I do not believe in our ‘justice’ system – perhaps my actions today and[...]

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tarily pleaded guilty to two incriminated accusations, for hacking NASA and then the US Department of Defense. Adding to that, James’s cooperation with the government officials on the investigation made the court to found him guilty of crimes committed by…
this letter will be a serious signal to the public, but I have lost control of the situation, and this is my only way to fix it. To be honest, I have nothing to do with this whole TJX story. Even though Chris (Scott) and Albert Gonzales are the most dangerous and destructive hackers the feds have ever caught, I am far more seductive [as a victim] to public opinion than these two random idiots. That is life. Remember, it’s not that you win or lose, but that I personally win or lose by being in prison for 20, 10, or even 5 years for a crime that I didn’t commit. This is my way of winning, but at least I’ll die free. “
Last thoughts
https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/jonathan-james.gif
Jonathan James - source: creocyber.blogspot.com
During the following years, many unverified rumors circulate about the circumstances of his death. Claims like, it was staged, and the real cause of his death was allegedly top-secret information that he managed to get when he hacked NASA and the Pentagon.

The official investigation ruled out any of those claims as pure speculations and ruled that James’ death was a suicide.

A short obituary was published from Miami Herald after James passed away, describing him as an exceptionally intelligent young man, a computer genius that will be missed by his family and friends.

The short life of Jonathan James will remain forever engraved in the hacking community world, not because of the way that James passed, but for his pure hacking genius and his genuine character that was more than enough for this cruel world.

Apparently, his hacking activities did not cause any damages since his goal was not profit but the pure joy of hacking and testing his own limitations. A prolific hacker with bad luck, born in a harsh world.
References:
⦿ Jonathan James – Wikipedia ⦿ Jonathan Joseph James – Hackers, Crackers And Thieves ⦿ AThe life and death story of a hacker who hacked the Pentagon and NASA at the age of 15 ⦿ Youth Sentenced in Government Hacking Case – The New York Times

⦿ Former Teen Hacker’s Suicide Linked to TJX Probe – WIRED ⦿ Boy Who Hacked NASA – Docsity Recent Articles* https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Untitled-design-4-90x90.png Hacking Stories: Andrian Lamo – The ‘homeless’ Hacker4 weeks ago
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* https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/wallpaperflare.com_wallpaper-90x90.jpg Jeff Moss, aka Dark Tangent, the person who founded DEF CON and Black Hat2 months ago
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* https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Pentago-hak-90x90.png Hacking Stories: When two young hackers played war games with Pentagon4 months ago
* https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/picture-788930-90x90.jpg Hacking Stories: Albert Gonzalez & the ‘Get Rich or Die Trying’ Crew who stole 130 million credit-card numbers5 months ago
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* https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/pg-6-gary-mckinnon-ap-90x90.jpg Hacking Stories: Gary McKinnon and the “biggest military computer hack of all time”8 months ago
* https://www.blackhatethicalhacking.com/wp-content/uplo[...]

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this letter will be a serious signal to the public, but I have lost control of the situation, and this is my only way to fix it. To be honest, I have nothing to do with this whole TJX story. Even though Chris (Scott) and Albert Gonzales are the most dangerous…
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Data Breaches Aren’t Going Away: Everything You Need to Know to Protect Your Business

Despite major cyber-attacks making headlines every month or so, several businesses are far behind the curve when it comes to protecting themselves from malicious entities online. It’s no wonder hackers are easily breaching the average organization – June 2021 alone saw 106 data breaches which led to 9.8 million exposed records. This implies that if […]

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Cyberstalkers: How to Protect Yourself

Modern-day communication technology is one of the most advanced and influential inventionsto affect humanity. However, it does have a dark side. Even if we’re careful, the open nature of the internet could result in you becoming a victim of cyberstalking. This crime refers to the use of the internet or other electronic modes to intimidate, […]

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Regexploit : Find Regular Expressions Which Are Vulnerable To ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial Of Service)

Regexploit a tool to Find regexes which are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS). More info on the Doyensec blog Regexploit: DoS-able Regular Expressions When thinking of Denial of Service (DoS), we often focus on Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) where millions of zombie machines overload a service by launching a tsunami of data. […]

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Allsafe : Intentionally Vulnerable Android Application

Allsafe is an intentionally vulnerable application that contains various vulnerabilities. Unlike other vulnerable Android apps, this one is less like a CTF and more like a real-life application that uses modern libraries and technologies. Additionally, I have included some Frida based challenges for you to explore. Have fun and happy hacking! Useful Frida Scripts I […]

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Hash-Buster v3.0 : Crack Hashes In Seconds

Hash-Buster v3.0 is a tool to Crack Hashes In Seconds. Features Automatic hash type identification Supports MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512 Can extract & crack hashes from a file Can find hashes from a directory, recursively Multi-threading Installation & Usage Note: Hash Buster isn’t compatible with python2, run it with python3 instead. Also, Hash-Buster uses some […]

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Bug bounty: How I could have bought everthing for free in redacted.com

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