John Draper

John Draper, also known as Captain Crunch, is often named as the first ever hacker. And rather than having lots of high-tech hacking tools at his disposal, he managed to do it all with a toy whistle from a cereal packet. Here’s how:

Back in the early 1970s, the largest computer network accessible to the general public was the telephone system. And at the time, telephones were managed by an automated system that used specific analogue frequencies to place calls. Draper managed to exploit this using a toy whistle that came free in boxes of Cap’n Crunch cereal (hence the nickname). He would use this to make free long distance and international calls. This technique was known as “Phreaking”.