#4 Kevin Poulsen

Also known as Dark Dante, Poulsen gained recognition for his hack of LA radio’s KIIS-FM phone lines, (taing over all of the station’s phone lines) which earned him a brand new Porsche, among other items. His photo came up on the show Unsolved Mysteries, 1-800 phone lines for the program crashed. Law enforcement dubbed him “the Hannibal Lecter of computer crime.”Authorities began to pursue Poulsen after he hacked into a federal investigation database. During this pursuit, he further drew the ire of the FBI by hacking into federal computers for wiretap information. Poulsen went underground as a fugitive when the FBI began its search for him, but in 1991, he was finally captured. He pleaded guilty to seven counts of mail, wire and computer fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and for obtaining information on covert businesses run by the FBI. Kevin Poulsen was sentenced to 51 months in prison (4 years and 3 months), which was the longest sentence ever given for hacking at the time.

However, since serving time, Poulsen has worked as a journalist and is now a senior editor for Wired News.