Stephen Gold (15 January 1956 – 12 January 2015) was a 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.
^ abcdTim 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.
StephenGold (15 January 1956 – 12 January 2015) was a hacker and journalist who in the mid-1980s was charged with, convicted and later acquitted of, 'uttering...
Alan StephenGold (born January 8, 1944) is an inactive senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District...
series Tales of the Gold Monkey. In 2014, his career ended after he confessed to sexual misconduct against multiple minors. Stephen Collins was born on...
Odyssey: 20 Years of Beck's Mellow Gold". The 405. Retrieved April 27, 2019. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Mellow Gold – Beck". AllMusic. Retrieved June 15...
States. The gold digger emerged as a dominant trope in American popular culture beginning in the 1920s. Stephen Sharot stated that the gold digger supplanted...
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis...
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director...
Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Stills' first solo album, Stephen Stills, earned a gold record and is the only album to feature both Jimi Hendrix and...
The Icon of Inspiration Music – Behindwoods Gold Mic Award – 2019 Menon, Anasuya (18 June 2015). "Stephen Devassy: An orchestra by himself". The Hindu...
brand is owned, manufactured and marketed by ITC Limited. Gold Flake was first produced by Stephen Mitchell & Son of Glasgow. From 1901, Bristol's W.D. &...
conceived purely as product, Love over Gold dares to put art before airplay." In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that the addition...
cycle of the seasons. In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic called "Fields of Gold" a "peaceful ballad", noting that it ranks as...
New York Times. June 14, 2015. King, Stephen. Introduction. Lord of the Flies, William Golding, 1954, William Golding Centenary ed. Faber and Faber, 2011...
The California gold rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma...
singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop. The performance was later released as a DVD titled America And Friends – Live at the Ventura Theater. The show featured Gold performing...
Wardell Stephen Curry II (/ˈstɛfən/ STEF-ən; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player and point guard for the Golden State Warriors...
Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning...
alongside Orlando Bloom, where he was awarded the gold medal in his final year. He made his screen debut in Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things. He is primarily...
Stephen Tyrone Colbert (/koʊlˈbɛər/ kohl-BAIR; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television...
robbery-murders, which became known as the Gold Bars triple murders. The six youths were identified as 20-year-old Stephen Francis, 19-year-old Alex Yau Hean...
a list of athletes who have won multiple gold medals at a single Olympic Games. This is a list of most gold medals won in a single Olympic Games. Medals...
Global Information