I DON'T REALLY CARE.

But you might care. But I still don't.

If you’ve used MySpace before, you know Tom Anderson. He’s the co-founder of one of the most popular social networks, the friendly appearing guy who unselfishly turns around to give you a smile whenever you login. He was your friend before you even added any friends (what a guy).

However, there’s two things you probably didn’t know about Tom. He’s a liar and a hacker. His page says he’s 32 years old, but he is actually several years older, maybe around 36 or 37 years of age. MySpace has been trying to keep it on the down low for some time. What’s the big deal? Ever since the social network started, the cofounder has been lying about his age. Neither MySpace or its parent company News Corp. did nothing to change it. When the face of the company is lying about something as simple as his age, it makes you wonder what else they’re keeping undercover. With the opening of MySpace in 2004, maybe he wanted to appear cooler by being a guy in his 20s versus being a creepy 30 year old dude. For whatever his reasons, lying to millions of users is not a good thing.

OK, now that stuff is boring compared to what you’re about to read. In 1985 when Tom was 14, he was subject to one of the largest FBI raids in California history after hacking into a Chase Manhattan Bank computer system and subsequently showing his friends how to do it. Because he was a minor, he was not arrested but the FBI confiscated all of his computer equipment. His hacker name was “Lord Flathead.” Interesting enough, this was around the time the movie WarGames came out.

According to a New York Times article in October 1985, “Lord Flathead,” was the leader of an early black-hat hacker group when he was 14 years old. In July and August 1985, between his freshman and sophomore years, Anderson hacked into a Chase Manhattan Bank DEC VAX computer system … that handled “much of Chase’s data processing and record keeping, including records of home mortgages and…portfolios of major customers such as pension funds.” He subsequently showed up to 40 of his friends how to do it.

Anderson obtained or guessed the passwords necessary to get through the first level of security and, once connected, changed at least two passwords to prevent bank officials from accessing the system. The group also created fictitious accounts, and Anderson, using the Lord Flathead name, left a message saying that unless he was given free use of the system he would destroy records.

This was some pretty intense stuff for the ’80s. Just look at how far computers have come since then. Twenty years later he went and cofounded one of the largest social networks ever. Tom Anderson, what a guy.
So next time you login to MySpace, don’t think about how you’re signing onto a site co-created by a man in his mid-30’s that lies about his age who also turns out to be a huge hacker that was once caught by the FBI… it’ll just creep you out.

SOURCE::TECHCRUNCH

-Cinista.