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10 Most Infamous Hackers Who Wreaked Havoc on the World

2. Michael Calce

For the uninitiated, a denial-of-service (or DoS) attack is what happens when a user barrages a server with a simultaneous pile of useless requests (millions and millions all at once), a workload that forces the server to simply shut down. In February of 2000, operating under the handle “Mafiaboy,” Michael Calce launched Project Rivolta (the Italian word for “riot”), a DoS attack that brought down the world’s biggest search engine (Yahoo!) for nearly an hour. Over the next week, Calce used similar tactics to take down eBay, CNN, Amazon, and Dell. Best of all, the only reason he was eventually caught is that he couldn’t help but brag about his victories online.

Michael Calce
youtube.com

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