Stephen Gold (15 January 1956 – 12 January 2015) was a skilled hacker and journalist who in the mid-1980s was charged with, convicted and later acquitted of, 'uttering a forgery' in what became known to the popular press of the time as "The Great Prestel Hack". Gold, and fellow hacker Robert Schifreen, were said to have accessed, inter alia, the personal message account of Prince Philip. The facts as outlined in The Hacker's Handbook are that he was 'fitted' up, having tried, repeatedly and unsuccessfully, to warn BT's Prestel via Micronet of the security holes. Gold later became a "respected information security journalist".[1]
In 1984, Gold and fellow journalist/hacker Robert Schifreen demonstrated an "ad hoc penetration test" of a Prestel network which, according to the writer Nick Barron, used "a combination of clever shoulder surfing and good old-fashioned hacking skills".[1] An archive telling the story of how the 1980s hack of Prince Philip’s mailbox led to UK anti-hacking legislation is held at The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley.[2]
Gold and Schifreen were convicted in 1986, (after a series of pre-'trials') at Southwark Crown Court on a charge of misusing passwords: the actual charge sheet read "uttering a forgery", under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. They appealed successfully and were twice acquitted by higher courts on the basis that they had not obtained any material gain from their exploits. The appeals were pursued right up to the House of Lords by BT at taxpayers expense[citation needed] during the Thatcher era. Their case, it has been said, "led directly to the introduction of the 1990 Computer Misuse Act".
Gold was 'de facto' author of the fourth edition of The Hacker's Handbook, previous editions of which had been completed by "Hugo Cornwall", [now] Professor Peter Sommer.[1]
Gold died on 12 January 2015.[1] and is commemorated by webpage Silent Modems[3] created by friends and followers in his memory.
stephen, gold, january, 1956, january, 2015, skilled, hacker, journalist, 1980s, charged, with, convicted, later, acquitted, uttering, forgery, what, became, known, popular, press, time, great, prestel, hack, gold, fellow, hacker, robert, schifreen, were, said. Stephen Gold 15 January 1956 12 January 2015 was a skilled hacker and journalist who in the mid 1980s was charged with convicted and later acquitted of uttering a forgery in what became known to the popular press of the time as The Great Prestel Hack Gold and fellow hacker Robert Schifreen were said to have accessed inter alia the personal message account of Prince Philip The facts as outlined in The Hacker s Handbook are that he was fitted up having tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to warn BT s Prestel via Micronet of the security holes Gold later became a respected information security journalist 1 In 1984 Gold and fellow journalist hacker Robert Schifreen demonstrated an ad hoc penetration test of a Prestel network which according to the writer Nick Barron used a combination of clever shoulder surfing and good old fashioned hacking skills 1 An archive telling the story of how the 1980s hack of Prince Philip s mailbox led to UK anti hacking legislation is held at The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley 2 Gold and Schifreen were convicted in 1986 after a series of pre trials at Southwark Crown Court on a charge of misusing passwords the actual charge sheet read uttering a forgery under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 They appealed successfully and were twice acquitted by higher courts on the basis that they had not obtained any material gain from their exploits The appeals were pursued right up to the House of Lords by BT at taxpayers expense citation needed during the Thatcher era Their case it has been said led directly to the introduction of the 1990 Computer Misuse Act Gold was de facto author of the fourth edition of The Hacker s Handbook previous editions of which had been completed by Hugo Cornwall now Professor Peter Sommer 1 Gold died on 12 January 2015 1 and is commemorated by webpage Silent Modems 3 created by friends and followers in his memory See also EditTimeline of hacker historyReferences Edit a b c d Tim Ring Respected Information Security Journalist Steve Gold Dies SC Magazine 13 January 2015 Computer hacking archive at TNMOC The National Museum of Computing Retrieved 31 May 2020 Steve Gold silentmodems com Retrieved 4 May 2016 This article about an English writer poet or playwright is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Stephen Gold amp oldid 1082794653, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
