| YTCracker | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Bryce Case, Jr. |
| Also known as | YTCracker |
| Born | August 23, 1982 |
| Origin | La Mirada, California,[1] United States |
| Genres | Nerdcore hip hop |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Labels | Colorado Beach, Nerdy South Records |
Bryce Case, Jr. (b. August 23, 1982), otherwise known as YTCracker (pronounced "whitey cracker"), is a "former" cracker most known for defacing the webpages of several federal and municipal government websites in the United States, as well as several in private industry at the age of 17. Case later became known for his work as a Nerdcore hip hop artist.
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Case was born in La Mirada, California, United States.[1]
He has stated in interviews that he was exposed to computers by his father and mother, learning to program BASIC from age 4. From there, his father taught him how to navigate MSDOS and System V. Before long, he was involved in the local bulletin board systems and learning various other programming languages by reading books and examples.[2]
Case attended William J. Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, dropping out of high school at the age of 17 to focus on a career in the information technology field.[3]
In 1999, Case gained notoriety, media coverage, and a restitution bill for defacing the web site of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center with a modified frontend for a commonly used msadc.pl exploit.[4] Other United States government websites that were hacked include the Bureau of Land Management's national training center and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.[5] At least 40 other websites were tampered with by Case, including Airspace USA, the bank Altamira, Nissan Motors, Honda, the monitoring station for the United States Geological Survey and the Texas Department of Public Safety.[6] Case stated he believed he was "on the good side" as he broke into company websites to alert them of security problems, not to cause harm.[7] In May 2000 Case was charged with criminal mischief and computer crime for breaking into the Colorado Springs city website, causing an estimated $25,000 in damages, though all $25,000 are costs of "time lost" to users.[6]
These defacements launched him into the spotlight, making him a resource for the media, commenting on other hacking-related events, such as the denial of service attacks on Yahoo, eBay, Gay.com, and other well-known websites in 2000.[8][9]
Case performs as an MC and a DJ under the name Ytcracker.[10] He is best known for his work in the genre of Nerdcore hip-hop,[11] in 2005 producing the album NerdRap Entertainment System. The album was created by adding vocals to re-mixed digital music from original Nintendo games, and was described in Newsweek as a "classic of the style."[12]
In Las Vegas, Case performed in 2006 at the Consumer Electronics Show[13] and in 2007 performed at the Players Ball, appearing with the rappers Xzibit, Ice Cube and Too Short.[12]
In 2010 an untitled demo by British electronic rock band Proxies was leaked onto the internet containing a feature by Case.
Case runs an independent record label, Nerdy South Records.[13]