Stephen Gold (15 January 1956 – 12 January 2015) was a

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bug (computing), bugs or exp ...

and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

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 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

. 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 Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...

journalist".Tim Ring
"Respected Information Security Journalist Steve Gold Dies"
''SC Magazine'', 13 January 2015 In 1984, Gold and fellow journalist/hacker Robert Schifreen demonstrated an "ad hoc penetration test" of a

Prestel Prestel was the Brand#Brand names and trademark, brand name of a videotex service launched in the UK in 1979 by BT Group#Post Office Telecommunications, Post Office Telecommunications, a division of the British Post Office Limited#History, Po ...

network which, according to the writer Nick Barron, used "a combination of clever shoulder surfing and good old-fashioned hacking skills". 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 The National Museum of Computing is a UK-based museum that is dedicated to collecting and restoring historic computer systems, and is home to the world's largest collection of working historic computers. The museum is located on Bletchley Par ...

in Bletchley. Gold and Schifreen were convicted in 1986, (after a series of pre-'trials') at

Southwark Crown Court The Crown Court at Southwark, usually referred to as Southwark Crown Court, is a Crown Court venue at 1 English Grounds (off Battlebridge Lane) on the south bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge in London. It operates ...

on a charge of misusing passwords: the actual charge sheet read "uttering a forgery", under the

Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 The Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 (c. 45) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which makes it illegal to make fake versions of many things, including legal documents, contracts, audio and visual recordings, and money of the U ...

. 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 during the Thatcher era. Their case, it has been said, "led directly to the introduction of the 1990

Computer Misuse Act The Computer Misuse Act 1990 (c. 18) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced partly in response to the decision in ''R v Gold & Schifreen'' (1988) 1 AC 1063. Critics of the bill complained that it was introduced hastily, w ...

". Gold was 'de facto' author of the fourth edition of '' The Hacker's Handbook'', previous editions of which had been completed by "Hugo Cornwall", owProfessor

Peter Sommer Peter Sommer Christensen (born 28 August 1974 in Skanderborg) is a Danish singer and songwriter. His lyrics are often characterized by interesting puns and word plays. Besides his solo career, he was in the duo Superjeg with Carsten Valentin La ...

. Gold died on 12 January 2015. and is commemorated by webpage Silent Modems created by friends and followers in his memory.

References

2015 deaths British technology writers 1956 births {{England-writer-stub

See also

References