Matthew Bevan

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Mathew Bevan is one of two hackers said to have "nearly started a third world war" according to Supervisory Special Agent Jim Christy, at the time working for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations

A Welshman, he was 21 when he hacked into top-secret files of the Griffiss Air Force Base Research Laboratory in New York under the name Kuji, intent on proving a UFO Conspiracy Theory; his sole tool was a Commodore Amiga.

Reportedly bullied by his peers, Mathew had a difficult time with school and turned to the online world at night for an escape. Having been told ways to negate the phone system, he was able to have his modem dial through anywhere in the world without charge. Mathew began to lead a double-life, a ‘normal’ school life during the day followed by his now well publicized nocturnal activities.

On June 21, 1996 he was arrested in connection with hacking incidents regarding several sensitive USAF establishments. The United States Senate had already misinterpreted the situation and branded Mathew’s pseudonym Kuji as a ‘Foreign Agent’ in the Congressional document Security in Cyberspace: U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

After 36 hours of interviews with police, he was charged with intent to secure access to computer systems belonging to the US Air Force and defense manufacturer Lockheed. 18 months later, the CPS decided that it was no longer in the public interest to pursue the case, and withdrew their prosecution.

A US Air Force investigator summed up the risks and concerns brought about by their hacking, how Bevan's alleged partner Richard Pryce (Datastream Cowboy), then 16 years old, hacked his way into a research facility in Korea, and dumped the contents of the Korean Atomic Research Institute's database on the USAF system. The concern was that if it was North Korea noticed, they would think the transfer of data was an intrusion by the US Air Force, and threaten physical retaliation for the espionage; fortunately it turned out to be South Korean data, significantly less volatile.

Mathew now has several business interests and has worked with many media firms in relation to IT security and hacking.

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