Any computer geniuses out there? What would you consider the greatest hack ever, and who do you believe to be the greatest/smartest hacker of all time?
-grant
I believe that Kevin Mitnick, John “Captain Crunch” Draper and Adrian Lamo are three of the best computer hackers ever…
However my favorite hacker happens to be Nikola Tesla the creator of the tesla coil and much more.
As far as the best hack goes… Thats really tough, I like alot of fun DOS hacks because they are easy and destructive, but so is a hammer, so it is kind of asking what is your favorite tool ever.
I don’t know, but a few years ago a cousin of mine got a computer security job at a college when he was able to use his laptop and a spliced payphone line to get into the computer system and open the front gates. It took him around 2 minutes.
I hear it’s insanely hard to hack the pentagon and NSA systems, but it has still been done. I’ve never hacked anything but the school computer system so that I could expand the capabilities of my username so I could change my IE homepage.
Well, I think one of the greatest hackers around, at least in influence in the end, has been Linus Torvalds… By writing a kernel from scratch and adding the GNU programs, he started an Operating System that in 10 years rivaled Microsoft in terms of quality and price, especially serverwise.
As for the best CRACKER, which is what I think you meant, I don’t know… The ones who haven’t been caught yet. Maybe Mitnick…
DOS attacks aren’t cracking… they’re running a program… That’s being a script-kiddie…
I never said they were cracks, and technically it is hacking and technically there is nothing wrong with being a script kiddie, like me.
yea i suppose i really meant crackers. it probably takes a hacker to appreciate a white hat, but a doofus like me would rather a juicy cracker story than anything else 
-grant
Explain to me how there is nothing wrong with being a script kiddie.
Explain to me how a DOS attack is “technically” hacking.
Better yet, explain it to every real hacker that had something to do with creating/improving computers or stopping DOS attacks.
As for best hacker…hmm…I would have to agree with Evil NIck and say Linus. Also I would say Woz.
Zero Cool 
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t do any major damage to computers and have never really hacked to do intentional damage, in fact most of the hacking I do is to allow my school logon different properties, http://www.hackthissite.org/
and stuff like that…
sorry to go a bit off the subject but Catboy, whats the password for “Basic web hacking” on hackthissite, I dont get it.
Lame… I am not going to give the answer to you on “The Idiot Test”, if you are desperate google it…
thank u so much for mentioning Tesla
as i saw the thread-title, this was the first thing that came to mind
dont worry catboy, i worked it out n now im on level 5!
Hacker vs Cracker
A Hacker is one who enjoys workign on computer systems, ie, programming the guts, the operating system, or just banging out code on an application or program they’re working on.
A cracker is one who breaks into computer systems for the purpose of creating damage or stealing data.
A Script Kiddie is one who uses another’s programs to either crack or be annoying. DOS attacks are not cracking nor hacking…
What do you call someone who likes to break into highly secure systems, just to prove they can, but not to do any damage?
I’d like to vote for Dr. Claude Shannon, father of Information Theory, if he counts. He’s one of the founding members of the Unicycling Society of America and I actually met him once.
DivX started as a hacked windows codec