Who are the top 5 hackers in history depends on whether you mean most famous white hat ethical hackers or black hat, but commonly cited top 5 based on impact and fame are Kevin Mitnick, Anonymous collective, Gary McKinnon, Adrian Lamo and Albert Gonzalez. Kevin Mitnick, who died in 2023, was most famous hacker of 1980s-1990s, hacked Motorola, Nokia and US government systems, was on FBI most wanted, later became security consultant and author, often called world's most famous hacker. Anonymous is not one person but collective of hacktivists considered top for impact, known for attacks on Scientology, ISIS, PayPal and government sites. Gary McKinnon from UK hacked 97 US military and NASA computers in 2001-2002 looking for UFO evidence, called biggest military hack ever, fought extradition for 10 years. Adrian Lamo hacked New York Times, Microsoft and Yahoo in early 2000s and later reported Chelsea Manning. Albert Gonzalez stole over 170 million credit card numbers from TJX and Heartland Payment Systems in 2005-2007, biggest card theft at time, sentenced to 20 years. Modern top ethical hackers include Geohot who hacked iPhone and PlayStation at 17, Charlie Miller who hacked cars and iPhones, and bug bounty hunter Santiago Lopez who earned $1M+ on HackerOne. For state-sponsored, Lazarus Group from North Korea and Russian Fancy Bear are considered top for capability, stealing $1B+ in crypto and hacking US elections.
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