this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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The password is always 0-0-0-0 (media.piefed.social)
submitted 2 days ago by PugJesus@piefed.social to c/historymemes@piefed.social
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[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 72 points 2 days ago (9 children)

https://www.uniladtech.com/news/tech-news/fbi-woman-hack-10-years-old-reveal-punishment-450281-20251208

At the age of just 10, Kubecka's school had just gotten a grant and installed some brand-new computers that fed her curiosity. In her own words, Kubecka explained: "I explored so much, I found my way into the Department of Justice and the FBI, and I thought, this can't really be real.

"It must be a game, because their passcode was only zero, zero, zero, zero. So I didn't think it was real, because it was too easy."

Unfortunately for the young hacker, she really had found her way into the DoJ and the FBI, accidentally stumbling across files on undercover FBI agents.

Explaining a little more about how she hacked the FBI, Kubecka said she used a dial-up modem and simply saw whether the computer on the other end was connected. If it were, she could communicate with it, possible to even play games on someone else's computer back in the day.

[–] Zombie@feddit.uk 40 points 2 days ago (6 children)

What is this? The introduction to the movie Hackers?

On August 10, 1988, 11-year-old Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy is banned from owning or operating computers and touch-tone telephones, until his 18th birthday, after his family is fined US$45,000 (equivalent to $120,000 in 2024) for his crashing of 1,507 computer systems, causing a seven-point drop in the New York Stock Exchange.

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 10 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I started just to point out that the 7 point drop was big in 1988, but then wondered if this was a real event. (When the movie came out, I remember thinking that really happened.)

Looking at it again, I don't know if I am finding real information , or movie publicity

https://www.cyberdelianyc.com/www.nytimes.com/1988/08/10/business/wall-street-plunges-computer-crash-hackers.html, which in part says:

Delaying the sell-off slightly the mayhem appeared to stem from a computer virus rendering key exchange systems inaccessible with NYSE registering a 7-point drop. Initial reports put the number of systems impacted at 1,507. This would make the havoc one of the biggest computer crashes in history.

A ''hacker'' believed to have instigated the turmoil from beyond state-lines in Seattle is a prime suspect. Known only by an alias or ''handle'' on computer bulletin boards as ''Zero Cool'', Federal prosecutors hope to have them arraigned quickly sending a message to other potential electronic trespassers.

Looking up "Zero Cool", only locates a 1960's book about a Doctor.

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I want to claim it was me, but I am only a copy

[–] Brekky@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The event is mentioned in the imdb trivia for the movie. Hackers (1995) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113243/trivia?item=tr6109617

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