// Inside the mind of a hacker

The people behind the keyboard.

Profiles and interviews with the hackers, ex-hackers, and convicted operators whose stories explain the cyber world the rest of the catalogue documents. Some made the news. Some made the millions. Some did the time. Some came back with something to say.

6 profiles · alphabetical · last edited 2026-05-03

Albert Gonzalez

"soupnazi / segvec / cumbajohnny"
Imprisoned // 2003–2010 // United States

US Secret Service informant who ran a parallel hacking crew responsible for the largest payment-card breaches in US history; sentenced to 20 years in 2010.

On screen: American Kingpin (2017), The Great Cyberheist (2010)

Avi Eisenberg

Imprisoned // 2022–present // United States

DeFi trader who manipulated Mango Markets oracle prices to borrow $114M, then argued in court the operation was a trading strategy, not a hack.

On screen: Bloomberg Originals — The Mango Markets Heist (2023)

Hector Monsegur

"Sabu"
Reformed // 2010–present // United States

LulzSec leader who ran the crew for nine months after his 2011 arrest as an FBI informant while co-conspirators thought he was still in charge.

On screen: We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists (2012), Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy (2014)

Kevin Mitnick

"Condor"
Deceased // 1979–2023 // United States

America's most-wanted hacker of the 1990s, who served five years in federal prison and built a security-consulting career on the credibility his offences gave him.

On screen: Takedown (2000), Freedom Downtime (2001) + 1 more

Marcus Hutchins

"MalwareTech"
Reformed // 2012–present // United Kingdom

UK security researcher who accidentally stopped WannaCry by registering its kill-switch domain, then was arrested by the FBI for writing banking malware as a teenager.

On screen: The Confessions of Marcus Hutchins (2020), Sandworm (2019)

Paige Thompson

"erratic"
Released // 2019–present // United States

Former AWS engineer who exfiltrated the Capital One credit-card application database, posted about it on Slack, was arrested within 48 hours, and served zero prison time.

On screen: Wired — The Capital One Hack (2019)