When you think of hacking, you probably picture neon‑lit rooms, coffee‑fueled coders, and the endless scroll of the modern internet. But the truth is far more vintage: the very first 10 early hackers were pulling off astonishing feats long before any home computer ever existed. From wireless telegraphs to punch‑card machines, they proved that curiosity and ingenuity have always found a way to slip past the walls of technology.

10 Early Hackers: Pioneers of the Pre‑Computer Age

10 Nevil Maskelyne Hacked A Wireless Telegraph Demonstration: 1903

The moment a technology became hack‑able, someone was already tinkering with it. In 1903, that someone was Nevil Maskelyne – a name that can lay claim to being history’s first hacker. He slipped into a live demonstration of a wireless telegraph and turned the showcase into his own stage.

Maskelyne didn’t wait for Marconi’s wireless telegraphs to hit the market; he crashed the very first public demo. Guglielmo Marconi was on hand, eager to prove that his invention could send messages securely and privately. Maskelyne, however, had other plans.

As Marconi’s device began to broadcast, it started spitting out a bizarre message. First, the word “Rats” echoed repeatedly, then a limerick emerged: “There was a young fellow of Italy, who diddled the public quite prettily.” The limerick was a direct jab at Marconi himself.

The public humiliation was swift. Marconi soon discovered the mischievous mind behind the prank. Maskelyne proudly published papers bragging about his feat, insisting his motive was public‑interest: a warning that wireless messages would never be truly private unless people understood the vulnerability.

9 Rene Carmille Hacked The Nazi’s Database Of French Jews: 1940

Rene Carmille has earned the title of the first ethical hacker, and his story reads like a covert war drama. Working as a punch‑card specialist, he owned the machines the Vichy government used to catalog French citizens. When the Nazis seized control, they turned those same machines into tools for hunting Jews.

Rather than bow to the occupiers, Carmille turned his expertise into a lifesaver. He deliberately sabotaged the punch‑card systems so that, no matter what data the Nazis entered, the files never bore the label “Jewish.” In effect, the machines were rendered useless for that purpose.

He managed to keep the Nazis guessing for two years, claiming ignorance about why the machines kept failing. Eventually, the Gestapo uncovered his subterfuge. In 1944, they smashed his door open and shipped him to the brutal Dachau concentration camp.

Although Carmille paid with his freedom and endured the horrors of Dachau, his quiet sabotage saved thousands of lives – a chilling reminder that a single line of code can tip the scales of fate.

8 David Condon Was The First Phone Phreak: 1955

In the 1960s and 1970s a whole subculture of “phone phreaks” emerged, people who discovered that a particular tone could trick telephone networks into granting free access. While many used the trick for cheap calls, the ripple effect was massive – it laid the groundwork for modern computer hacking.

The man who first proved the concept was David Condon. In 1955, he took a Davy Crockett “Cat and Canary Bird Call” flute and whistled its tone into his telephone handset, testing a wild hypothesis about how the system interpreted sounds.The whistle produced a secret code that the telephone system recognized as a command from an employee. The network dutifully routed him to a long‑distance operator, who, assuming they were speaking to a colleague, connected Condon to any number he requested – all for free.

Condon’s experiments saved him a few pennies, but more importantly, they planted the seed for an entire movement. The phone phreaks that followed would evolve into the first computer hackers, and none of that would have happened without Condon’s whistling experiment.

7 Joybubbles Was The First Person To Hack By Whistling: 1957

While Condon may have been the first to discover the tone, the true legend of the whistling hack belongs to Joe Engressia, better known as “Joybubbles.”

Blind and gifted with perfect pitch, Joybubbles could mimic any note with astonishing precision. At just seven years old, he realized he could use his vocal talent to infiltrate the phone company’s network. His pitch was so spot‑on that the system treated his whistle as a programmed signal, opening any line he desired.

He turned this ability into a modest side hustle, charging friends a dollar to let them make free long‑distance calls. In 1971, Esquire featured him, thrusting Joybubbles into the limelight of the phone‑phreak scene.

The publicity also attracted trouble. He was arrested for fraud the same year. Some say he engineered the arrest, hoping a telecom company would hire him for security work, letting him monetize his talent beyond a dollar per call.

6 Allan Scherr Was The First Person To Hack A Computer Password: 1962

The very first computer to sport a password also became the first to be cracked, thanks to MIT student Allan Scherr. In 1962, MIT introduced password protection on its shared mainframes, hoping to give students a sliver of privacy while limiting each user to a four‑hour daily quota.

Scherr grew impatient with the time caps. He crafted a punch‑card that forced the system to spit out every stored password, then used those credentials to log in as anyone else whenever his allotted time ran out.

He didn’t keep the treasure to himself; he shared the passwords with his friends. Together they became the first computer trolls, hijacking a professor’s account to leave cheeky messages and generally cause mischief across the campus.

5 MIT Phone Phreaks Were The First People Called ‘Hackers’: 1963

The word “hacker” didn’t originally carry the cool, rebellious vibe we associate with it today. In 1963, MIT professor Carlton Tucker coined the term in a rather scolding way, aimed at a group of phone phreaks who had infiltrated the institute’s telephone network.

The phreaks flooded the campus lines with calls to Harvard, effectively tying up the system and rendering it unusable. They also made a string of random long‑distance calls, charging the costs to a radar facility simply for the thrill of it.

Incensed, Tucker slapped the label “hackers” onto the culprits – a term that had previously meant “to tinker with electronics.” He warned them sternly, noting that any caught could face jail time.

4 RABBITS Was Probably The First Computer Virus: 1969

The earliest known computer virus may have been a program christened “RABBITS.” Its creator remains a mystery, but the program’s impact is well documented: it crippled the University of Washington’s Computer Center.

RABBITS was a tiny, seemingly innocuous piece of code that replicated itself endlessly, much like a rabbit’s rapid breeding. Once installed on a machine in 1969, it began spawning copies, each of which spawned more, quickly overwhelming the system’s resources and causing it to crash.

Five years later, an inspired programmer borrowed the concept, creating a “Wabbit” that spread across ARPANET – the precursor to the modern internet – delivering the first denial‑of‑service style attack.

3 Ray Tomlinson And Bob Thomas Put The First Virus On The Internet: 1971

The first email‑borne virus, known as “Creeper,” emerged in 1971, courtesy of Ray Tomlinson – the very person who invented email – and his colleague Bob Thomas.

Creeper was a modest worm that copied itself across ARPANET, popping up a message on each infected terminal that read: “I’m the creeper: Catch me if you can.” Bob Thomas designed it to be benign, ensuring it deleted itself after a brief appearance.

Tomlinson, however, tweaked the code so it no longer self‑destructed, allowing it to linger and gradually sap a machine’s performance until it stalled. Thus, the first virus to roam the internet was born, setting the stage for the spam‑filled world we know today.

2 Steve Jobs And Steve Wozniak Got Their Start As Hackers: 1971

Before they revolutionized personal computing, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak cut their teeth on telephone systems. After reading an Esquire piece on Joybubbles and the phone‑phreak scene, Wozniak tracked down the legendary “Captain Crunch” – John Draper – and invited him over.

Under Draper’s tutelage, Wozniak built a “blue box,” a device that could manipulate the phone network to place free calls. He even used it for a prank, impersonating Henry Kissinger in a call to the Pope.

Seeing a market opportunity, Jobs teamed up with Wozniak to mass‑produce the blue boxes for their classmates. Jobs handled sales while Wozniak managed the technical side. Their small‑scale hustle on the phone network was the unlikely seed that grew into the Apple empire.

1 John Walker Created The First Trojan Horse Virus: 1975

John Walker is credited with crafting the first Trojan horse virus, predating the debut of home computers by two years. He had built a popular game called ANIMAL, which guessed the animal a player was thinking of.

In 1975, sharing the game required mailing magnetic tapes. To avoid the tedious task of copying tapes for each friend, Walker embedded a hidden routine that, while the game ran, silently replicated itself into every directory it could access and onto any tape inserted into the machine.

Consequently, anyone who received a copy of ANIMAL unwittingly received a self‑propagating virus. Walker claimed his motive was benevolent – a way to demonstrate what could happen if he weren’t “nice.” In reality, it was both a prank and a cautionary tale about the power of self‑replicating code.

When we hear the phrase “10 times hackers,” the mind usually jumps to compromised passwords, stolen data, or ransomware‑laden servers. Yet the world of intrusion stretches far beyond the digital realm – it even reaches into the glowing tubes of live television. Since the days before computers ruled the world, mischievous operators have managed to slip their own audio, video, or messages into real‑time broadcasts, turning ordinary evenings into unforgettable moments of bewilderment.

10 Times Hackers: A Glimpse Into TV Hijacks

10 Southern Television

On November 26, 1977, a mysterious intruder pierced the airwaves of the now‑defunct Southern Television just minutes after the 5:00 p.m. news began. While viewers could still see the familiar face of anchor Andrew Gardner, his voice vanished, replaced by a strange, otherworldly tone.

The new audio belonged to a self‑styled alien called Vrillon, who claimed to represent the Ashtar Galactic Command. Vrillon used the platform to issue a heartfelt plea to humanity, warning against the perils of war and urging the dismantling of all weapons.

During the six‑minute transmission, Vrillon spoke of a higher spiritual evolution awaiting those who embraced peace, insisting that only the tranquil would ascend to those lofty realms.

Meanwhile, Gardner dutifully continued reading the news as engineers scrambled to restore the original audio. Most viewers assumed it was a prank or a technical glitch, and the identity of the hijacker remains a mystery to this day.

9 HBO

April 27, 1986, saw a bold pirate seize control of HBO’s satellite feed during the airing of The Falcon and the Snowman. The rogue, calling himself Captain Midnight, commandeered the signal for four and a half minutes, flashing a bold still‑image message across viewers’ screens.

The onscreen note read:
GOODEVENING HBO
FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT
$12.95/MONTH ?
NO WAY !
[SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!]

Investigators later traced the culprit to John MacDougall, a satellite‑dish salesman and engineer who harbored a personal grudge against the premium network.

During the early ’80s, satellite‑dish owners could freely capture any broadcast, but HBO began scrambling its signals, forcing viewers to purchase costly descramblers. HBO also charged $12.95 per month for access, a move that threatened MacDougall’s dish‑selling business.

Incensed, MacDougall exploited his position at a satellite uplink facility, redirecting the transmission equipment he’d just used to upload a movie, and redirected it toward HBO’s feed to broadcast his protest.

The Federal Communications Commission launched an investigation, apprehending MacDougall a few months later. He escaped harsh punishment, receiving a year of probation and a $5,000 fine.

8 WGN And WTTW

At approximately 9:15 p.m. on November 22, 1987, a daring intruder breached Chicago’s WGN‑TV. Engineers swiftly reclaimed the signal, but the hacker was not done.

Later that evening, the same individual turned his attention to WTTW, also in Chicago, hijacking its live broadcast and swapping it with a bizarre video of a masked figure. The masked performer mocked WGN, subjected himself to a woman beating his bare buttocks with a fly‑swatter, and even slipped in a free Pepsi advertisement.

This audacious episode is now immortalized as the Max Headroom Signal Intrusion. The perpetrator’s identity remains unknown, though he would have faced a one‑year prison term and a $100,000 fine if caught.

7 Playboy And American Exxxtasy

September 1987 witnessed a triple intrusion into the adult‑oriented cable channels Playboy and American Exxxtasy. The hacker managed three separate breaches on the same day—two on American Exxxtasy and one on Playboy—replacing each program’s content with a fervent religious proclamation.

The perpetrator was later identified as 38‑year‑old Thomas M. Haynie, an employee of the Christian Broadcast Network (CBN), a channel devoted solely to Christian programming.

Authorities claimed Haynie leveraged CBN’s equipment to execute the hacks, though CBN officials disputed this, arguing their gear was incompatible with the adult channels’ systems.

Investigators, however, presented evidence that the Playboy intrusion used CBN hardware. Haynie received one felony and one misdemeanor charge for the Playboy breach; the two charges linked to the American Exxxtasy hacks were dropped due to insufficient proof.

6 Al‑Manar

In August 2006, operatives associated with the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) penetrated Al‑Manar, the official television outlet of Hezbollah. The hijackers replaced the regular broadcast with stark images of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, accompanied by ominous captions such as “Your day is coming, coming, coming.”

The IDF also aired photographs of deceased Hezbollah fighters, each captioned to challenge Hezbollah’s narrative of victory in the 2006 Lebanon War. Examples included statements like “This is the photograph of a body of a member of Hezbollah’s special forces,” and “Nasrallah lies: it is not us that is hiding our losses.”

These graphic visuals aimed to counter Hezbollah’s claims of triumph, highlighting the heavy casualties the group suffered despite Israel’s extensive bombing campaign targeting Al‑Manar during the conflict.

Beyond the television intrusion, Israel also compromised several Hezbollah‑affiliated websites and radio stations, and dispatched voice and text alerts to Lebanese citizens clarifying that its operations targeted Hezbollah, not civilian populations.

5 The Weather Channel

On the morning of April 18, 2019, a ransomware assault crippled The Weather Channel. Between 6:00 a.m. and 7:39 a.m., the network was forced to broadcast a pre‑recorded program, effectively halting its regular weather updates.

The channel later issued a statement describing the incident as a “malicious software attack on the network,” confirming that the intrusion was intentional and financially motivated.

Subsequent investigations revealed the attackers demanded payment to restore normal service, classifying the event as a classic ransomware episode aimed at extorting the broadcaster.

4 Channels 2 And 10

In November 2016, a lone hacker seized the evening news feeds of Israeli stations Channels 2 and 10 on the same night. The intruder swapped the live broadcasts for messages that mocked Israel and suggested the recent wildfires sweeping the country were divine retribution.

The attacks coincided with massive wildfires that forced tens of thousands to evacuate, including around 80,000 residents from Haifa alone. The fires were widely suspected to be the work of Palestinian or pro‑Arab arsonists.

During the hijack, the perpetrator also broadcast images of Islamic religious sites and played an audio clip of the Islamic call to prayer, aligning the timing with a Knesset debate over a bill banning loudspeakers in places of worship—a measure perceived by many as targeting Muslim practices.

3 KRTV

February 2013 saw a peculiar intrusion on Montana’s KRTV while the Steve Wilkos Show aired. The attacker exploited the station’s Emergency Alert System, issuing a frantic warning about a zombie invasion across the state, urging viewers to stay clear of the undead.

The alert was largely dismissed as a hoax, with some media outlets suggesting it was a promotional stunt for the popular series The Walking Dead. Nonetheless, investigations confirmed the hack was genuine, noting the intruder had unsuccessfully attempted similar breaches at other stations.

The hacker’s identity remains unknown, and the incident stands as a bizarre footnote in broadcast history.

2 KVOA

In February 2009, KVOA in Tucson, Arizona, fell victim to a shocking hijack during the live broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The intrusion affected only Comcast viewers in Tucson, replacing the football action with a 30‑second clip of explicit adult content sourced from Club Jenna.

Many viewers initially mistook the graphic footage for a daring commercial, until the explicit nature of the scene became unmistakable. The unexpected intrusion caused a stir among the audience and the broader media.

Comcast, embarrassed by the breach, issued a $10 credit to roughly 80,000 affected customers. Two years later, the FBI identified the hacker as Frank Tanori Gonzalez, a Cox Cable employee at the time of the incident.

1 An ABC Affiliate In Wyoming

In 2006, an alleged hack struck an unnamed ABC affiliate serving Niobrara County, Wyoming. The event, dubbed “The Wyoming Incident,” remains shrouded in uncertainty, with scant details and lingering doubts about its authenticity.

The station’s identity has never been disclosed, and only a brief, eerie video is known to have aired during the intrusion. The clip featured an animated head accompanied by static text messages, beginning with the phrase “SPECIAL PRESENTATION.” Subsequent lines read, “YOU ARE ILL . . . WE JUST WANT TO FIX YOU” and “YOU WILL SEE SUCH PRETTY THINGS.”

Viewers who experienced the broadcast reported unsettling physical reactions: headaches, nausea, temporary amnesia, vivid hallucinations, and even vomiting when the unsettling tone played. The bizarre audio component seemed to trigger these symptoms.

Scientists have offered a more rational explanation, suggesting that the reported effects were likely caused by an unintended interference signal that produced a frequency capable of inducing disorientation and hallucinations, rather than a supernatural hack.