It seems fictional and part of some mind-boggling storybook, but this story is as real as it gets. The story of a 15-year-old boy hacking into the most secure agencies of time — NASA & DTRA.
A day in July 1999 — One of the security experts at NASA found something suspicious on their system and had to shut everything down for solid 21 days to determine the extent of the attack which turned out to cost them deprivation of around $41,000. All this chaos was created by a kid — Jonathan.
Jonathan Joseph James, a boy born (in 1983) and brought up in South Florida was the son of Robert James who also worked as a programmer. This is the reason Jonathan was into computers from his childhood.
It was the time when America was witnessing the trend of information and the internet. Where the general public was busy exploring the luxurious part of the internet, Jonathan developed a keen interest in programming and networking. He was so obsessed with computers that even his parents were worried.
Early Life
When Jonathan was six he often played games on his father’s computer and that worried his father. Robert in an interview said — “Jonathan was spending a lot of time on computer playing games, sometimes even all nights. I often installed some parental protection software to stop him, but he always found some workaround”. This was probably young Jonathan’s first encounter with hacking.
With time his interests changed. He began learning C (programming language). Once his father was surprised when returning from the office — he saw Jonathan has removed Windows and everything from the PC and installed Linux just to see and learn how the operating system works.
At the age of 13, during a family council, it was decided that Jonathan will no longer be permitted to use a PC and it was taken away. This step was taken as Jonathan’s obsession with the computer was affecting his studies. As a response, Jonathan ran away from home demanding only to be back if he was given access to the computer. He proposed his good academic score as an argument; which eventually turned out to be manipulated by Jonathan himself by hacking into the system of his school. This was the time when he entered the world of hacking and was known as “C0mrade”. He started communicating with different other hackers around the world through forums.
Serious hacking
He started hacking small systems and quickly got bored with them; He decided to do something big. The first victim of C0mrade was AT&T BellSouth — one of the largest telecommunication firms in America. But AT&T never learned that their systems were hacked until C0mrade himself confessed. AT&T BellSouth spokesman Spero Canton later verified that. However, AT&T never occurred loss due to this as C0mrade had no intention to gain profit. His only hunger was to sharpen and test his knowledge. Who would have imagined a schoolboy can pull off these large-scale attacks on well-reputed firms?
Getting inspired by his success Jonathan started searching for vulnerable servers that he can break into. On the night of June 29, 1999; He found one such vulnerable server in Huntsville, Alabama. After installing malware, he got access to 13 computers on the compromised server. This was the server of the Marshall Space Flight Center which was a unit of NASA. This unit developed and tested advanced rocket engines and also managed the communication and software for ISS (International Space Station).
Jonathan got access to software that controlled the temperature and humidity of ISS. According to NASA specialists, the software cost $1.7 million — which Jonathan in an interview said was junk and not worth millions. A code that is not even compiled he said. His intention was only to gain knowledge of their coding techniques.
After smelling a threat by a security expert, this server was turned off for 21 days. This incident was then reported to the FBI. During the time between August & October of 1999, Jonathan was able to hack into different other systems as well. This also included DTRA (Defense Threat Reduction Agency). DTRA is an agency of the Department of Defense charged with reducing the threat to the U.S. and its allies from nuclear, biological, chemical, conventional, and special weapons. Jonathan installed a sniffer on the server to get important information and it turned out to be rich. Between September and October 1999, he was able to get credentials of DTRA users and was able to access 10 computers of the Department of Defense. Jonathan managed to download 3300 emails from the mailbox of the Pentagon.
FBI was then alerted of all the incidents and assumed these attacks are being carried out by some hacking organization. The federal agents then started searching this powerful and mysterious hacking organization day and night. Whereas, Jonathan was attending classes at Miami-Dade Community College during the day and wandering the internet for vulnerable servers at night just out of curiosity.
Crime and Punishment
On 26 January 2000, the agents were able to find the attacker and an immediate arrest warrant was issued. “I confess that, that day I became a very popular dude in college when these guys in bulletproof vests and with machine guns broke into my house”. — Jonathan said in an interview. Defense personnel plundered Jonathan’s house and seized 4 PCs, a laptop, and a pocket computer.
Jonathan actively cooperated with the investigation and provided information on all attacks he carried out. They were worried as a minor can break into their networks. “Their main problem is that they do not pay due attention to security. But they seem to at least understand it.” — said Jonathan.
If Jonathan would not have been a minor, he would have got a rigorous punishment of 10 years in prison. He received the punishment of six-month house arrest and a ban on using a computer. He also had to write an apology letter for the crimes he committed. He then broke the house arrest rules and was arrested again on street. Investigation test results also found traces of drugs in his body. It then turned out bad for Jonathan as he had to go to juvenile jail for six months.
Death of a hero
Spending six months in jail was a tough time. His father reported — he suffered from depression and anxiety after returning from prison.
On January 17, 2007, a large-scale hacking attack was carried out by a group that disrupted many companies and data theft including credit card details. While investigating, Jonathan somehow came into suspicion. The Secret Service agents broke into his house but found nothing that would connect Jonathan to this attack. Shortly after that, Robert called Jonathan to ask about it and this was the last conversation between father and son.
Sunday, May 18, 2008. Jonathan shot himself in the bathroom and took his life. A suicide note was recovered addressing his father brother and girlfriend which read —
“I do not believe in our ‘justice’ system — perhaps my actions today and 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 (The hacking attack that Jonathan was under suspicion for). Remember, it’s not that you win or lose, but that I 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.”
In the hacker community, people suspected that Jonathan’s death was staged and this was due to the secret information that he held by hacking into NASA and Pentagon — but these are just speculations.
Jonathan lost his life at the age of 25, but this short life has inscribed his name forever in the world of the internet. He was not just a hacker and a computer genius but a hacker who never intentionally harmed anyone. He would have turned out to be the great computer genius of all time if he had lived longer. It is sadder that he lost his life at a young age.
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