Susan Headley (born 1959, also known as Susy Thunder or Susan Thunder) is an American former

phreaker Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term ''phreak'' is a sen ...

and early computer

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 ...

during the late 1970s and early 1980s. A member of the so-called Cyberpunks, Headley specialized in social engineering, a type of hacking which uses

pretexting Pretexting is a type of social engineering attack that involves a situation, or pretext, created by an attacker in order to lure a victim into a vulnerable situation and to trick them into giving private information, specifically information that ...

and misrepresentation of oneself in contact with targeted organizations in order to elicit information vital to hacking those organizations.

Biography

Born in

Altona, Illinois Altona (formerly LaPier & Walnut Grove) is a village in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The population was 531 at the 2010 census, down from 570 in 2000. It is part of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Altona was origin ...

, in 1959, Headley claims to have dropped out of school in the eighth grade after a difficult childhood. She later moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where she worked as a teenage prostitute and was a rock 'n' roll groupie, claiming all four former members of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

among her conquests. She met computer hacker

Kevin Mitnick Kevin David Mitnick (August 6, 1963 – July 16, 2023) was an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker. In 1995, he was arrested for various computer and communications-related crimes, and spent five years in prison ...

(also known as Condor) in 1980, and together with another hacker, Lewis de Payne (also known as Roscoe), formed a gang of

phone phreaks Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term ''phreak'' is a sen ...

. In '' The Hacker's Handbook'', Headley is referred to as "one of the earliest of the present generation of hackers" and described as successfully hacking the US phone system as a 17-year-old in 1977. On October 25, 1983, Headley testified in front of the Governmental Affairs oversight committee as to the technical capabilities and possible motivations of modern-day hackers and phone phreaks.

Public service

Headley was elected to public office in California in 1994, as

City Clerk A clerk (pronounced "clark" /klɑːk/ in British and Australian English) is a senior official of many municipal governments in the English-speaking world. In some communities, including most in the United States, the position is elected, but in ma ...

California City California City is a city located in northern Antelope Valley in Kern County, California, United States. It is north of the city of Los Angeles, and the population was 14,973 at the 2020 census. Covering , California City has the third-larg ...

Personal life

Headley is married, and lives in the Midwest. She is a coin collector.

References

External links

Esquire magazine article on Mitnick, including interview with Susan Thunder

Cyberpunks: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier
Book by Katie Hafner
Hendon Mob poker players' database entry for Susy Thunder

Searching for Susy Thunder
by Claire L. Evans Living people 1959 births American cybercriminals California City, California Groupies Hackers {{US-crime-bio-stub