The most famous hacker in the world is Kevin David Mitnick.
Mitnick is best known for his high profile arrest in 1995 for various computer and communications-related crimes. He is now one of the most sought after security consultants and has authored many books.
There are seven types of hackers, namely, white hat, black hat, grey hat, blue hat, red hat, green hat and script kiddies. The major difference between these different types of hackers is their motive, while white hat hackers use their skills to secure systems, black hat hackers are the opposite.
Hackers normally like to stay anonymous to protect their anonymity from the government. Red Hat hackers are the vigilantes of the digital community, they hack for justice and a predetermined cause.
Such hackers do not operate alone, they organize themselves into hacker groups. The most famous vigilante hacker group in the world is "Anonymous", also called "Anon".
Hacking is a fascinating subject. India's most famous hacker is Ankit Fadia.
He is a self-proclaimed white-hat hacker of computer systems. He frequently uses his skills in hacking to prevent other rogue hackers from disrupting a business or a company's systems. The government sometimes hires white hat hackers, also called ethical hackers, to work for cyber-security teams in the country.
Hackers have fantastic nicknames and hacker group names that are often quirky or scientific.
Many hackers are represented in movies, whether these be rogue hackers or hackers helping the government, it is undeniable that these tech-geeks seem cool. Hackers often like to use anonymous pseudonyms.
1. Adrian Lamo, considered the greatest hacker who discusses the origin of hacking and nature of hackers from 'Hackers Wanted.'
2. Alan Tuning, a mathematician helped the cryptography team to break a German code during WWII from 'The Imitation Game.'
3. Benjamin, a lonely computer expert who forms an anonymous hacker group in 'Who Am I.'
4. Bristol, computer expert who aids in stealing a bank from 'Bait.'
5. Bren, a hacking expert from 'Reboot.'
6. Caleb Smith, the young programmer who assists in assessing a female robot from 'Ex Machina.'
7. Capra, part of the hacking team which works on a derelict freighter in outer space from 'Debug.'
8. Charon, a notorious hacking expert who preys on people using the dark web from 'Unfriended: Dark Web.'
9. Davey Osborne, an 11-year-old hacking expert and video gamer on the run in 'Cloak And Dagger.'
10. David Lightman, a gamer who unknowingly hacks into a military supercomputer from 'War Games.'
11. Edward Lyle, a computer nerd who comes across a dangerous secret in 'The Enemy of the State.'
12. Edward Snowden, a whistle-blower who leaks classified information from the NSA in 'Snowden.'
13. Electron, the film speaks about the hacking community in 'In the Realm of Hackers.'
14. Elliot, father and son duo race against time to stop a virus in 'Terminal Error.'
15. Fredrick 'Warlock' Claudius, a grey hat hacker from 'Live Free or Die Hard.'
16. Gus Gorman, the genius computer hacker from 'Superman III.'
17. Harry Caul, the surveillance expert who is hired to follow a couple from 'The Conversation.'
18. Hash, a techie from 'The Algorithm.'
19. Ismailov, known for using the internet for his crimes from 'Password.'
20. Jack Stanfield, a security executive who is blackmailed to thieve from his workplace from 'Firewall.'
21. James McKay, the youngest from the group of hackers from 'Debug.'
22. Julian Assange, the infamous founder of Wikileaks from 'Risk.'
23. Kaida, the lead programmer from 'Debug.'
24. Kevin Mitnik, a convicted computer hacker from the documentary 'Freedom Downtime.'
25. Krystal, a female hacker from 'Reboot.'
26. Lara Riley, an eco-terrorist from 'Debug.'
27. Lisbeth Salander, a girl hacker who gets tangled with underworld mafia from 'The Girl In The Spider's Web.'
28. Losie, a cyber detective from 'Hacker's Game.'
29. Marcus Pendleton, a con man who smuggles money from his workplace from 'Hot Millions.'
30. Mathew Farell, a hacker works with the FBI to thwart a cyber attack from 'Live Free or Die Hard.'
31. Mel Wheeler, the leader of a hacker group from 'Debug.'
32. Michael Jennings, a reverse engineer with amnesia in 'Paycheck.'
33. Mickey, a small-time hacker who gets entangled in a big crime in 'Mickey Virus.'
34. Nathan Bateman, the prodigal computer programmer who invents an intelligent humanoid robot from 'Ex Machina.'
35. Neo, a computer hacker who fights an underground war against computer altering reality in 'The Matrix.'
36. Nicholas Hathwaway, a black hat hacker tries to stop a terrorist attack in 'Blackhat.'
37. Nick Chambers, the disgruntled fan of an actress commits a cybercrime in 'Open Windows.'
38. Nomad, the hacker from 'The Signal.'
39. Ownen, the hacker who posts videos of his brutal killings online from 'Untraceable.'
40. Phoenix, an anonymous hacker from the documentary named 'In The Realm Of Hackers.'
41. Raoul Silva, a cyber-terrorist chased by James Bond in 'Skyfall.'
42. Riley Poole, the hacker who helps the protagonist from 'National Treasure.'
43. Ross Ulbricht, the creator of "Silk Road", a cyberspace black market from 'Deep Web.'
44. Sam, a virtual world designer from 'Tron Legacy.'
45. Samson Connoly, the rebel from the group of hackers in 'Debug.'
46. Soyan, the computer prodigy from 'Hacker's Game.'
47. Stat, a female hacker from 'Reboot.'
48. Stanley, the hacker hired by a convict to steal illegal government funds from 'Swordfish.'
49. Toby, the hacker who helps with car thefts from 'Gone In 60 Seconds.'
Literature has featured many hackers. Many critically acclaimed books are famous for properly capturing the life of a hacker and hacker culture. This list below comprises the most famous hacker protagonists from popular culture.
51. Alien, the story of a hacker from her days in MIT from 'Breaking And Entering: The Story Of A Hacker Called Alien.'
52. Alif, a hacker for fire who works to shield his clients from electronic surveillance from 'Alif the Unseen.'
53. Arjun, a blue hat hacker on a mission for revenge from 'Transmission.'
54. Bete O' Rourke, a group of white hat hackers operate anonymously to fight the misuse of the internet from 'Cult Of The Dead Cow.'
55. Cadel English, a hacker from the 'Genius series.'
56. Crake, the genetic experimentation cyber engineer from 'Oryx And Crake.'
57. Emika, an online bounty hunter from 'Warcross.'
58. Hiro, the famous hacker in the meta verse who stops cyber threats from 'Snow Crash.'
59. Hunter, an outlaw hacker who is chased by the protagonist from 'The Cuckoo's Egg.'
60. Marcus, a vigilante hacker who fights against the police state from 'Little Brother.'
61. Mitnick, a digital grey hat criminal from 'Ghost In The Wires.'
62. Nick Haflinger, a computer expert who uses his knowledge to survive in the dystopian future from 'The Shockwave Rider.'
63. Randy Waterhouse, an allied code breaker from World War II from 'Cryptonomicon.'
64. Vicky, a female hacker on a mission to clear her father's name from 'Hacker.'
65. Zach Bosch, a computer hacker on the run from the FBI from 'Drawing Blood.'
Famous Hacker Names
These good hacker names are familiar throughout the world. Some of them are recognized for their notoriety, while others are known for their cybersecure measures to safeguard the online community. Here is a list of the most famous hackers throughout history.
66. Adrian Lamo, famous for using the nickname the 'homeless hacker', he hacked into the servers of The New York Times, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft.
67. Albert Gonsalvez, founded a website where people could sell stolen information like credit card details.
68. Astra, a mathematician who stole weapon technology information and sold it to different countries.
69. Brian Krebs, a cybersecurity specialist who runs a blog called "Krebson Security" to spread awareness on cyber security.
70. Charlie Alfred Miller, a computer specialist who is known for his repeated exploits against Apple.
71. Dan Kaminsky, known for his extensive research on DNS attacks.
72. Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab, one of the largest endpoint security companies in the world.
73. Gary McKinnon, deleted sensitive data from American military and NASA serves.
74. Gini Romelty, one of the most influential people in the world and also the CEO of IBM.
75. Jeanson James Ancheta, he hijacked an army of computers to send spam across the internet.
76. John McAfee, the founder of the most successful commercial anti-virus software.
77. Jonathen James, stole software worth $1.7 million from NASA and Department of Defense.
78. Kevin Poulson, known for hacking into phone lines and illegally rigging a competition to win a car.
79. Kevin David Mitnick, hacked into the servers of various companies, most famous hacker in the world.
80. Mathew Bevan, attacked Pentagon's networks.
81. Michael Calce, launched denial-of-attack services against all top search engines.
82. Owen Thor Walker, infiltrated bank accounts and stole more than $20 million.
83. Richard Pryce, attacked Pentagon's networks and almost started a war with North Korea.
84. Robert Tappean Morris, released the first DDoS attack in the internet, albeit unintentionally.
85. Ryan, an anonymous hacker associated with group named 'Lizard Squad.'
86. Trishneet Arora, a well known cyber specialist and the founder and CEO of TAC Security, an IT security company.
87. Troy Hunt, one of the most famous new ethical hackers around the globe.
88. Vladimar Levin, stole $10.7 millions from Citibank by snooping on telecommunication devices.
89. Vinnie Omari, from a group of hackers who repeatedly attack video game networks and X-box.
90. Vivek Ramachandran, renowned security researcher and evangelist.
Names For Hackers From TV Series
Various TV shows have featured hacker characters in main and supporting roles. Check the list below.
91. Abigail Sciuto, a hacker name from a forensic scientist from 'NCIS.' A great hacking name to use.
92. Alex Hardison, an FBI Special Agent who is good with computers from 'Leverage.'
93. Bryce Lynch, a child prodigy computer hacker name from 'Max Headroom.'
94. Darlene Alderson, a female hacker from a hacker group called fsociety from 'Mr. Robot.'
95. Cisco Ramon, a hacker from 'The Flash'.
96. Elliot Alderson, a computer specialist from 'Mr. Robot.'
97. Harold Finch, a billionaire software engineer from 'Person Of Interest.' This name is quite famous.
98. Timothy McGee, a specialist in computer security and cybercrime from 'NCIS.'
99. Raven Ramizez, a vengeful black hat hacker from 'CSI: Cyber.'
100. Seymour Birkoff, an infamous cybercriminal known as "Shadowwalker" from 'Nikita.'
Bachelor of Arts specializing in French with Film Studies, Bachelor of Arts (Year Abroad) specializing in Literature, History, Language, Media, and Art
Georgia StoneBachelor of Arts specializing in French with Film Studies, Bachelor of Arts (Year Abroad) specializing in Literature, History, Language, Media, and Art
Georgia is an experienced Content Manager with a degree in French and Film Studies from King's College London and Bachelors degree from Université Paris-Sorbonne. Her passion for exploring the world and experiencing different cultures was sparked during her childhood in Switzerland and her year abroad in Paris. In her spare time, Georgia enjoys using London's excellent travel connections to explore further afield.
1) Kidadl is independent and to make our service free to you the reader we are supported by advertising. We hope you love our recommendations for products and services! What we suggest is selected independently by the Kidadl team. If you purchase using the Buy Now button we may earn a small commission. This does not influence our choices. Prices are correct and items are available at the time the article was published but we cannot guarantee that on the time of reading. Please note that Kidadl is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. We also link to other websites, but are not responsible for their content.
2) At Kidadl, we strive to recommend the very best activities and events. We will always aim to give you accurate information at the date of publication - however, information does change, so it’s important you do your own research, double-check and make the decision that is right for your family. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability. Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. Anyone using the information provided by Kidadl does so at their own risk and we can not accept liability if things go wrong.
3) Because we are an educational resource, we have quotes and facts about a range of historical and modern figures. We do not endorse the actions of or rhetoric of all the people included in these collections, but we think they are important for growing minds to learn about under the guidance of parents or guardians.