Captain Zap – First convicted cybercriminal

Captain Zap, also known as Murphy Ian, in July 1981, a boy who called himself “Captain Zap”, get notoriety when he entered the systems at the White House, the Pentagon, Bellsouth Carp. TRW and deliberately leaves his resume.

Along with three friends, Murphy hacked into the systems of the AT&T telephone company to modify the time of the clock that measures billing legs. So customers who called at noon benefited from reduced rates, while those who waited until midnight to call their distant relatives were charged by rush hour.

In 1981, there were no clear laws to prevent access to military or White House computers. At that time, 24 years old Ian Murphy, showed the need to make the legislation clearer when in the company of a couple of friends and using a computer and a telephone line from home, violates restricted access to electronic companies, and had access to merchandise orders, files and government documents.

What began as little more than a game, the theft of small change from the telephone company, has become a business that exceeds, in income, that of drugs, which continues to grow, and has become professional. We are talking about cybercrime, which has turned data and information into currency.

The evolution of cybercrime is closely linked to the evolution of the internet itself. The more capacity of the networks and the devices, the greater the attacks; the more people and devices connected, the more goals.

The first great wave of cybercrime occurred in the 1980s, with the proliferation of email. The next one, in the 90s, coincided with the evolution of browsers; There were not only many options, but many vulnerabilities, and viruses were spreading rapidly.

Although ransomware is now more fashionable than ever, it was in 1989 that the first large-scale case of ransomware occurred. The virus came through a questionnaire about the AIDS virus and, once downloaded, it kept hijacked computer data, asking for a $ 500 as a payment. On the same date, a group is arrested for stealing data from the US government and the private sector and selling it to the KGB.

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