McKinnon might be suffering from Asperger’s, but that did not prevent him from hacking into the Pentagon and NASA and taking over a total of 97 computers, along with stealing passwords, deleting files and perhaps the worst of the lot, shutting down military networks. According to a report, after he had infiltrated the machines, he had accused America of hiding a fleet of warships in space. Individuals suffering from Asperger’s tend to have difficulty in social gatherings or situations, which is possibly the reason why he managed to become such a skilled hacker, since it was all done in pure solitude. Gary McKinnon also faced trial in the United States and he could be looking at 70 years’ prison if he is found convicted. However, thanks to the helping hand of Home Secretary Theresa May, extradition to the United States has been blocked. After all, British security agencies would definitely want something of his caliber if they want to locate vulnerabilities in mass computer builds and effectively shut them down. Coming to the amount of damage that one of greatest hackers caused, it is estimated that McKinnon was able to cause over £500,000 in damage, which is equal to slightly less than $750,000 USD, which is a phenomenal amount of money mind you. The hacker is currently 49 and while he has lived his life as a black hat hacker, there will definitely be use for him as an ethical hacker too.
