The individuals on this list have all made headlines for their cybercrime activities in recent years. Furthermore, they’ve all done it alone. From the Twitter hacker who defrauded people of their bitcoins to the creator of the world’s most notorious botnet, here are the world’s most dangerous hackers.
1. Elliott Gunton
Elliott Gunton was arrested for hacking TalkTalk when he was 16 years old. Since then, he’s been accused of a slew of offenses in the United Kingdom, including data theft, forgery, money laundering with bitcoin, working as a criminal-for-hire, hacking and selling access to famous Instagram accounts, and more.
In the United States, he was charged with identity theft and fraud in connection with the theft of EtherDelta, a cryptocurrency exchange site , and millions of dollars were stolen over nearly two weeks. According to authorities, he’s stolen up to $800,000 from just one of his many victims.
After pleading guilty in the United Kingdom, Gunton was sentenced to 20 months in jail (a relatively harsh penalty, by UK standards) and fined almost £400,000. The allegations against him in the United States are still under investigation since authorities are attempting to get statements from his alleged victims.
In the end, Elliot Gunton isn’t the world’s most dangerous hacker, but his breadth of cybercrimes certainly warrants a mention on this list of notorious hackers.
2. Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev
It’s very unusual for a cybercriminal of Bogachev’s ability to be discovered, however, the Gameover ZeuS botnet’s malware is just as uncommon.
In December 2014, the botnet operated by Russian hacker Roman Seleznev reached millions of computers throughout the world and implanted ransomware on them. Bogachev’s operation netted him a $100 million payday as well as the attention of the Russian government, who may have used his network for espionage purposes.
The FBI and other international crime organizations spent two years just to discover Bogachev, and they’re offering three million dollars — the largest reward ever offered for a cybercriminal — to anybody who can assist in his capture. With several luxury vehicles and his own private yacht, Bogachev now resides openly in southern Russia.
The Russian government has never acknowledged working with him. These days, Bogachev goes by the usernames Slavik, lucky12345, and polling soon. It’s no surprise that Bogachev is one of the world’s best hackers given that he created one of the most devastating malware pieces.
3. Graham Ivan Clark
Is it strange that Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Kanye West, and Elon Musk have all requested bitcoin via Twitter? If you think so, you may be guilty of failing to fall for Graham Ivan Clark’s massive Twitter hack in the summer of 2020.
The teenage Clark and his accomplices hacked the social media behemoth — via a built-in Twitter functionality — then seized control of numerous high-profile handles in a wide-ranging Bitcoin fraud. The hackers utilized stolen accounts to send out a tweet claiming $2,000 in bitcoin for anyone who sent them $1,000 in the same cryptocurrency.
Naturally, the Bitcoin wallet mentioned in the tweet was controlled by intruders. These people hacking attacks robbed victims of more than $100,000. Clark pleaded guilty to a three-year prison term in 2021, avoiding a 10-year minimum penalty had he been tried as an adult.
Although the people behind these hacks certainly knew a trick or two, there’s plenty you can do to protect yourself online. The most surefire solution is to get a VPN download that can protect your data while surfing the internet.
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