World’s Top 5 White Hat Hackers...

White  hat hackers, also known as ethical hackers, or white knights, are computers security experts, who specialize in penetration testing, and other testing methodologies, to ensure that a company’s information system are secure. Such people are employed by companies where these professionals are sometimes called “sneakers.” Groups of these people are often called tiger teams or red teams. These security experts may utilize a verity of methods to carry out their tests including social engineering tactics, use of hacking tools and attempts to evade security to gain entry in to secured areas.

1.       Stephen wazniak

Stephen wazniak, one of the founders of apple computer and a long time hacker hero, recalled the days when a young hacker could twiddle the phone system and make a free phone call to the pope without fear that a goofi prank would turn into an international incident.

Steve wazniak got the first inspiration by his father jerry, which worked as an engineer at Lockheed, and by the fiktionalen miracle boy tom swift. His father stuck on it with the fascination for electronics and examined frequently the inventions of his son. Tom swift was on the other hand for it the product of creative liberty, scientific knowledge and the ability to find problem solution. Tom swift showed it also the large prizes, which expected him as inventers. Until today Stephen wazniak returns to the world from tom swift and reads out the books to its own children, in order to inspire it.

2.       Tim Berners-Lee

Burners-lee is famed as the inventor of the World Wide Web, the system that we use to access sites, documents and files on the internet.  He has received numerous recognitions, most notably the millennium technology. While working with CERN, a European nuclear reach organization, burners-lee created a hyper text prototype system that helped researchers share and update information easily. He later realized the hyper text could be joined with the internet.  Burners-lee recounts how he put them together. “I just had to take the hypertext idea and connect it to the TCP and DNS ideas and “ta-da!” the World Wide Web.”

Since his creation of the World Wide Web, Berners-lee founded the World Wide Web consortium at MIT. The W3c describe itself as “an international consortium where member organizations, a full-time staff and the public work together to develop web standards.” Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web idea, as well as standards from the W3C, is distributed freely with no patent or royalties due.

3.       Linus Torvalds

In 1991 linus torvalds was a college student at the University of Helsinki. Starting with the basics of a UNIX system, he wrote the kernel- original code- for a new system for his x86 pc that was later dubbed Linux (pronounced linn-ucks). Torvalds revealed the original source code for free – making him a folk hero among programmers – and users around the world began making additions and now continues to tweak it. Linux is considered the leader in the practice of allowing users to re-program their own operating systems. Currently, Torvalds  serves as the Linux ringleader, coordinating the code that volunteer programmers contribute to the kernel. He has had an asteroid named after him and received honorary doctorates from Stockholm university and university of Helsinki. He was also featured in the time magazine’s “60 years of heroes.”

4.       Richard Stallman

Richard Matthew Stallman (born March 16, 1953), often abbreviated “rms”,(1) is an American software freedom activist, and computer programmer. In September 1983, he launched the GNU project to create a free Unix-like operating system, and has been the project’s lead architect and organizer. With the launch of the GNU project, he initiated the free software movement and, in October 1985, set up the Free software Foundation. Stallman’s life continues to resolve around the promotion of free software. He works against movements like Digital Rights Management (or as he prefers, Digital Restrictions Management)   through organizations like Free Software Foundation and League for programming Freedom. He has received extensive recognition for his work, including awards, fellowships and four honorary doctorates.

5.       Tsutomu Shimomura

Shimomura reached frame in an unfortunate manner: he was hacked by Kevin Mitnick. Following this personal attack, he made it his cause to help the FBI capture him. Shimomura’s work to catch Mitnick is commendable, but he is not without his own dark side. Author Bruce Sterling recalls: “He pulls out this AT&T cell phone, pulls it out of the shrink wrap, finger-hacks it, and starts monitoring phone calls going up and down Capitol Hill while and FBI agent is standing at his shoulder, listening to him.” Shimomura out-hacked Mitnick to bring him down. Shortly after finding out about the intrusion, he rallied a team and got to work finding Mitnick. Using Mitnick’s cell phone, they tracked him near Raleigh-Durham international Airport.

The article, “SDSC computer experts help FBI captured computer terrorist” recounts how Shimomura pin pointed mitnicks location. Armed with a technician from the phone company Shimomura “used a cellular frequenct direction- finding antenna hooked up to a laptop to narrow the search to an apartment complex.” Mitnick was arrested shortly the reafter. Following the pursuit,  shimomura wrote a book about the incident with journalist John mark off, which was later turned into a movie.