The NASA Hacker Teen of 1999

Did you know a 16-year-old grounded NASA for 21 days? This is the

wild story of hacker Jonathan James. In 1999, teen 'c0mrade' from

Florida breached NASA’s highly secure networks and the Department of Defense. From his bedroom,

he installed a backdoor, stealing software that controlled the International Space Station.

His motivation? He simply downloaded the code 'because it was there.' A dangerous act

driven by curiosity. NASA had to shut down its entire computer system for 21 days,

costing an estimated $41,000 to repair. His hack also exposed confidential information, a severe national

security breach with global implications. Jonathan was caught and, as a minor,