The History of Hacking

It all started at MIT’s (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) artificial intelligence lab.The university’s mainframe computers were used by the first hackers. At first, hacker was a name with a positive significance for a person who was good at computers and could push computer programs beyond the normal functioning standard. It was a borrowed name from a term to describe members of a model train group at MIT who hacked the electric trains and switches to make them perform faster, better and differently.

 John Draper was the talk of the 70s because of his ability to make free calls. He built a "blue box" that, when used together with the whistle and phone receiver, phone calls would be made for free. He was arrested on several counts for tampering with the phone lines throughout the 70s. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak (founders of apple computer) used this knowledge.

Hacking groups like Legion of Doom in the United States, and Chaos Computer Club in Germany began to emerge. Sherwood Forest and Catch-22 were used by phreaks and hackers to interact, and share stolen passwords and credit card numbers.