Born: June 10, 1974, Cardiff, Wales
Unlike more nefarious criminal types, Matthew Bevan was an amateur computer enthusiast whose curiosity, not maliciousness, got him into a world of trouble. While some of his early adventures included “phone phreaking,” (getting free phone calls along with other types of mischief to do with phone systems), he eventually graduated to more serious cracking efforts . . .
In 1994, Bevan, at 21 years old along with his 16 year old colleague Richard Price, compromised U.S. Air Force, NASA, and NATO systems for several weeks. Their goal was to find secret information about hidden UFO installations and crash sites, not unlike the motivation behind the hacking works of the infamous, Gary McKinnon.
Bevan was reportedly not a “sophisticated hacker” and was able to access one such system because rather than using a complex password an officer had used the name of his pet ferret “Carmen” as his password allowing the duo to break in. The sole device Bevan used was a Commodore Amiga loaded with the tool Roxbox.
Some of his exploits included copying battlefield simulations From Griffiss Air Force Base, intercepting communications between the base and U.S. agents abroad and gaining access to the Korean Atomic Research Institute.
For a period during the attacks U.S. authorities were unclear on whether the the Air Force base was being hacked by North Korea or some nefarious nation state, which according to FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jim Christy, “nearly started a third world war.”
Bevan was arrested in June of 1996. On November 21, 1997, Bevan was cleared of the three charges of “unauthorised access and modification” of the Air Force files and the Crown offered “no evidence,” saying that it was “no longer in the public interest” for another lengthy and costly trial.
Bevan now runs the Kuji Media Corporation, which offers security and technology advice.
For a fascinating interview with Bevan from 1999 in which he discusses his arrest, the court case and fascination with UFOs, click here.
Interesting Facts:
- During his hacking career Bevan used the handle Kuji, now the name of his security business, Kuji Media Corporation.
- From one of his hacking exploits, Bevan claims to have discovered files relating to a working prototype of an anti-gravity vehicle that “used a heavy element to power it up.”
- Met his wife on an internet chat room and were engaged less than 56 days after they met.
Sources Used For This Article:
- Complex – The Stories Behind 15 of the Most Dangerous Hackers Ever
- pairNetworks Blog – Top 5 Most Infamous Hackers of All Time
- The Guardian – Pentagon’s pursuit of ‘scapegoat’ hacker hides real threat from the web
- Kuji Media Corporation Ltd.- Faq
- The Independent – Court frees man in military hacking case
- Mysterious Universe – Hacking of the UFO Kind
YEAR OF ARRESTATION CORRECT?
Thanks for catching that typo, @DmW. We have corrected the error.
how do I contact Mathew bevan
We just watched an Episode of “deep space” on the Gaia network where Matthew Bevan was mentioned. I had heard, years ago, of the hacking of NASA computers by Gary McKinnon who was supposedly looking for information about UFOs, but never heard about Bevan until now. I was very pleased to hear that both men were neither imprisoned or killed.
What is even more interesting is that both young men found evidence of not necessarily UFOs, but rather an elite group with a program to colonize space, or to create a “break away society” … at least that is what we gathered from the documentary.
This is very fascinating. Thank you for what you did back then. Again, so glad to hear that you did not suffer legal penalties. If anything, it should be a lesson in computer security, not malicious or malevolent activity.