I Hacked The US Government Aged 16 | Minutes With Podcast |

Mustafa Al-Assam was once part of the notorious Anonymous organisation, hacking into the world’s biggest websites and databases.
He then started his own hacker group, taking down the entire PlayStation network for three weeks and leaking the details of 73,000 X Factor contestants… all whilst still a teenager in school. Mustafa explains how he got away with it all for so long and the moment he was eventually caught.
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Extraordinary Lives is a podcast from the team behind LADbible’s Minutes With.
We speak to remarkable people who each have a unique story to tell - spies, terrorists, hackers, gangsters, killers, people with particular conditions, and those who’ve lived unreal experiences. These are the stories that resonated the most with LADbible’s audience when they were originally told on Minutes With.
In this podcast, LADbible’s Ben Powell-Jones sits down with those individuals for a more in-depth conversation, revealing untold tales for the first time.
Host: Ben Powell-Jones, Twitter: @BenPowellJones
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[@LADbible]

Thanks to Mustafa Al-Bassam for joining us!

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

First to reply here. Hehe

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

One of my good online friends is named Mustafa. Hehe :3 He's Jordanian.

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

:3 Red Hat Hacking

[@058Jacko]

Need to update your description.

[@dietpepsimax]

his name is spelled incorrectly in your video description btw! just thought you guys should know

[@lorellgingrich6603]

This was fascinating. This guy was clearly extremely smart as a child. During the interview my thought was that these people being hacked should really have been thankful that non-malignant people were pointing out the flaws in their systems, but instead, ego takes over... I wish him every success.

[@juliebrooke6099]

Governments and large corporations should be snapping up these hackers, employing them to point out their security flaws.

[@theblazedbro]

They do that. But if they vetted him out and thought he wasn’t a good fit, then you land on LADBIBLE 🤣

[@moosesnWoop]

White hats

[@arthurraff]

Some do.

[@JoshLathamTutorials]

Ah yes, let's give clearance to someone who has a conflicting ideology.

[@user-wn6ik9xz1y]

@@theblazedbro blackhats earn 100 or even a 1000x what a whitehat hacker could make there’s no money in abiding by the laws

[@Hotkife]

It amuses me how often large cooperations still fail so hard to pre-pubescent kids with a computer.

[@Crowald]

Building defenses robust enough to protect from every kind of attack is both expensive and tedious. Redundancy is the name of the game in security, I'd imagine (I know nothing about internet/computer security in any case) regardless of that you're still right, it is VERY funny.

[@robertmartin2262]

It still very common for large corporations to have amateurs running very large and important systems, because it is very easy for people to blag into the job. I spoke to a girl who runs a large medical database, she didn't even know the difference between difference data structures, which is very important when running such databases as it effects the speed of access and the physical safety of the data. She blatantly didnt have a clue about security too.

[@nerd26373]

He seems like a very strategic person to be able to pull something like that off. Happy Holidays to everyone.

[@richardjowi7561]

The CEO of a cyber security company using the same password across all platforms is crazy 🤣🤣😂

[@user-wn6ik9xz1y]

Cybersecurity professionals are spuds 🥔 if only people knew how much money blackhat criminals get away with for them it’s only damage control there’s only a finite number of cyber criminals even if they steal alot of money it’s something they can’t stop they can just limit the amount

[@mack8488]

Its BEYOND crazy

[@pri.sci.lla.]

The problem is they don’t pay well enough or hire the best people so stuff like this is able to happen. The FBI should be embarrassed a kid could hack them… a huge national security risk.

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

:3 Red Hat Hacking

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

Plus, plenty of them are really fat, just shoving things in their mouths (lol sounds dirty like a Dark Web mystery box lol), mostly non-vegans, and very corrupt to begin. Fractional reserve banking is the biggest cancer of them all (mostly owned by Whites, unlike what Ye's warped view would love to think with his very warped views).

[@Thomas-ut5bd]

Not true, sorry.

[@jas_bataille]

They hire the kids tho... sometimes. At least they should.

[@George_Avgeris]

We live in a world that a "certificate" makes someone "pro" among others. If you want a "PRO" on something .. look around you - not on "flashy" tags and joke "degrees" . If companies are hiring people by the "certificate bulk" a hiree can provide .. there .. you got the answer on "why so much incompetence?" .. (by personal experience)

[@drumcdoo9050]

Brings back memories of the ilm 'Catch me if you can' There's so many very smart kids who get a buzz out of hacking and use it as a toy. They don't need to be put behind bars, but to be offered secure jobs by companies who can use their talents to save themselves from losing millions...

[@jas_bataille]

Exactly.

[@gazoakleychef]

Really interesting & fascinating guy, obviously also a super genius

[@danw506]

Well he did get caught lol

[@OfficialYeat]

@@danw506 everyone gets caught u idiot

[@sami4j1]

@@danw506 wasn’t his fault tho another member snitched

[@djking44151]

Love the format of these videos!

[@thewhitbyphotographer]

One name that fascinated me with Lulzsec was Barret Brown. I don't even think he hacked, yet served the most time for the HB Garry Federal Hack. Rather than let prison break him he continually challenged the prison system and won awards for his Journalism from within his cell. I think he was the one Mustaffa talked about being in rehab.

[@Avrohomperl]

The first member to be arrested now has a podcast with the FBI agent who arrested and flipped him, it's excellent. 👌 You'll hear his POV on his arrest etc. "Hacker and the fed"

[@killerofothers]

A teenager with all that guts and the knowledge to defend himself against law and not breaking?? Amazing Respect

[@petrabrook1998]

I love these videos, always so interesting!

[@sophiageorge-nj2oz]

Wow. Such an interesting interview. This dude is clearly very intelligent, and eloquent. Loved this. Thank you xxx

[@danw506]

The interviewer is a credit to ladbible. What a great job he does. I would have been interested to know more about his CIA and Pentagon breaches, but I assume you weren’t allowed to talk about those?

[@HassanKhan-vt6zb]

Yh they can only reveal so much

[@tianshi2006]

Eh, the info is everywhere dude

[@AadamSaleem390]

This Was A Great Video And A Incredible Interview Keep Up The Good Work And I Can’t Wait For The Next One Keep It Up

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

:D Red Hat Hacking

[@scissoroarscissoroar3214]

No it’s not - it’s a dork talking about hacking nerds

[@mcc568]

How fitting to have a vpn promo when you have a literal hacker on the pod🤣🤣

[@notthisguyagain4635]

The only problem I have with hacking is that Sony was hacked around Christmas time years ago and I couldn’t get online to play games with my friends.

[@NotInAsia]

I'm so sorry for your loss, I hope you can learn to rebuild your life and move on from that traumatic event.

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

Imagine your security is so bad that a 16 year old can hack your systems

[@ragetobe]

I’m 50 years old and my 9 year old child can hack and I didn’t teach him, I could have because my career is IT and that background. My son sees hacking as an unlimited playground. I think it is a bit dumb to under estimate todays youth and the fact that you think it’s shocking a 16 year old is capable of this crime says more about you than the 16 year old.

[@shrisiva4016]

@@ragetobe He's saying that it's shocking that grown professional adults can't build security that can't be breached by children lmao

[@DavidManouchehri]

@@shrisiva4016 A 16 year old is not a child, at least when it comes to the ability to retain and use technical skills.

[@Financialguide2023]

@@ragetobe no one's saying kids can't hack, he's saying a kid shouldnt be able to hack a government. Especially when back when the guy was younger technology was much less advanced and there was less information in how to hack

[@oneoflokis]

16 year old kids (and younger) have been doing just that for the past few decades..

[@watjejanssen7535]

just wow, enjoyed watching thanks !

[@TheMrChugger]

Gotta start harnessing guys like Mustafa, you want them on your side, not in a prison

[@vicki9132]

What a fascinating guy,extremely intelligent aswell,can't believe big organisations use obvious passwords

[@MichaelTruong95]

"What we''ll do straight away now is get into [the hack] in a lot more detail.... but just going back to the beginning can you tell me what your childhood was like?"

[@manorathbhatt9217]

WOW 😳 , THIS MAN IS NUTS, I APPRECIATE LADBIBLE TV FOR POSTING SUCH INFORMATIVE CONTENT SO THAT NO ONE MAKES THE KIND OF MISTAKES,THAT THESE PEOPLE MADE 👍👍

[@sultanabdull7354]

The way he’s talking I can tell he’s a genius!

[@michaelmurphy1468]

brilliant interview , interesting listening to him , top of the range guy

[@upupup-fx3yx]

Cannot believe these conversations are all free ❤

[@theWorldgottalent]

be queit

[@user-yl5mm1uz1k]

May God bless you, my son You are our pride ❤

[@djxorcist591]

Just watched a video about a dude who messed with anonymous and went on to regret it. The company was HB Gary, and the dude was the one who was running it. It's insane seeing one of the people behind the hack.

[@catherinegrace2366]

Years ago, Anonymous was somewhat trustworthy, after Steubenville they were infiltrated and any “good” Anonymous was cancelled in one way or another.

[@gmshadowtraders]

Respect!

[@msscrazybuthappy]

I want to know so much more about this!

[@skyhawk_4526]

I don't know if that's just a weird UK thing, but in the US, regardless of the number of crimes listed (counts) on the arrest paperwork, it is still just one arrest, and therefore, would only require one reading of the "Miranda" advisement. (In other words, one charge or 84 charges is still one arrest and one advisement.) Also, in the US, the lawyer, if already obtained, would be present for the interview (which does not sound like it was the case here - only a consultation prior to interview?), and the lawyer/defendant can terminate the interview at any time by simply saying, "I do not/my client does not want to answer any more questions." The differences between the two legal systems are interesting.

[@StreetsOfRage2]

Yeah, I don't understand what he's going on about there.

[@Davey-Boyd]

At 16 his lawyer was with him. I've been through many UK 'No Comment' police interviews with my lawyer present. Here you cannot terminate an interview - you just sit there while they ask questions that never get answered or you answer "No Comment" to everything. I've never had a different arrest for each charge at the same time. Most times for multiple charges it's one arrest and one reading of your rights. BUT I have been charged for one offence, then when bailed after the 24 hour limit immediately charged with a second offence thus they can hold for a further 24 hours - and so on. All my offences were for activism.

[@SamS-uv2ql]

The guy is chatting rubbish (or trash). You get arrested once for one crime and they can charge you with as many instances of that crime as they want. They would usually arrest you for the most serious crime. I don't think you can be arrested for crime x and then charged with a more.serious crime without being arrested again. Both here and the US, you can say "I don't want to answer any questions", but that doesn't mean you get to stop the interview.

[@noneyayeast]

@@Davey-Boyd at 16 his parents can be in the room while interviewed too. In the US anyway.

[@Davey-Boyd]

@@noneyayeast Yeah I think it's the same here too.

[@Way2sublime77]

Nice timing moving to the UK in 2000

[@ShaxHC]

Legend !

[@hannahj8099]

It’s quite amusing to have a nord vpn sponser in this specific video 😅

[@jemmmmyeah]

Love this guy.

[@jas_bataille]

I think a lot of people miss the point here. It's not that the system is bad because a 16 years old can hack it; is that it's not good enough against those people. Think about it : when you're 16 you don't have any responsibilities and you can have enough experience (in this case 10 years) and enough time on your hands to be able to do that. Also it's not that one person, it's the efforts of hundreds of young hackers.

[@mack8488]

I think you are wrong in assuming that... and besides, we have watched the same interview as you did...so nobody realy needs you to point out the OBVIOUS

[@owennaugle1784]

Funny how the sponsor was security website whilst they were interviewing a hacker

[@guilhermeschitzamaral8627]

0: Good 001: Uniqueness 01: Consent 1: Ethics 2: Problem-Solution 6: What? Who? Why? When? How? Where? 10: Net 11: Justice 21: Solving Problems With Ethics 99: Revolution 100: Liberation

[@SamSepiol127]

I wish I could ask this man “teach me” 😅

[@Pun1sher4u]

Someone like this will know a lot more then you think. Internet donny from the narm.

[@i-am-mercurial]

Ayo the interviewer is defo getting hacked after admitting he uses same password for everything

[@DMWBN3]

Whoever ever does tht is a proper a wa@ker., how would it benefit anyone ??? If a hack does a bank. Fair play.

[@mga59xbd38]

The US should go have him work for them rather than seeking to prosecute. Hackers are extremely valuable assets.

[@effexon]

This seems recurring them in all decades computers have been in use.

[@annast.claircorreia2802]

And here's me at 23 trying to remember the coding language of a basic software.

[@tishw4576]

I worked for a very large financial services company and it was rumoured there was a cyber area. The company paid a huge amount of money to hackers to break into the system as their system would get bombarded up to millions per week.

[@BleakDeath]

It’s called bug bounties

[@andy-james-]

Police:- We want to help you, only guilty people have lawyers, and we're your friends.... Answer:- lawyer lawyer lawyer.

[@abc_cba]

If he was single, i can definitely take him out on a date. I am obsessed with his kindess and intellect.

[@Catnipqueen]

Dr Mustafa is a genius!!!

[@goodone8049]

So this was one of the guys in 2011 that prevented me from playing online multiplayer on my ps3 in 2011 😂 I was a pissed off 12 year old then

[@francishatton6683]

There was a young kid who played the stock market at school...made millions and crashed it .I believe they employed him .

[@SomeGuy-mu9mt]

You should get Gary Mckinnon on. The US tried to extradite him on trumped up, bullshit charges too.

[@cwenga1469]

....and he was never seen again

[@nkululekomasilonkululeko4426]

THANKS

[@mikeofbosnia]

This guy repaired TV's and satellite dishes for Delboy and Rodney.

[@fjs7753]

South east Peckham huh how ?

[@user-vr3jm8le6t]

he’s so attractive!! And super genius

[@Aquarius444K]

How dare anyone say he looks like Mr. Robot! He's fine as hell 😳🤣 what an incredible brain.

[@moosesnWoop]

Fired his lazer a bit too much

[@user-cj4fu8qq9b]

legend

[@scouse_sherpa]

Imagine moving to Iraq and doing that.. Oh to move to a country that just allows you to do it and live

[@79series]

If these hackers can find everyone's details and hack it all. Can't these guys hide even deeper than other hackers.

[@jas_bataille]

Yes obviously, but it takes money. You need to be able to do a virtual machine inception. Meaning you run a virtual machine, inside another virtual machine, etc before it hits the hardware. That way even if you're technically hacked they're hacking into nothing. But it takes a massive amount of money to have a computer this powerful running 24/7.

[@BrunoSckulps]

@@jas_bataille im sorry but this is highly inaccurate. The more u know about networking and digital forensics, the less chance u have of getting caught. u can make it impossible for even the NSA to track u 100% free.

[@77se7en4]

Surely with the 80 odd charges he could have been kept 24 hours for each charge lol …

[@jakhaughton1800]

I know the modern public under 30 years old think this is harmless. Technically it’s akin to breaking in and in certain situations could have serious consequences.

[@chandleraskew6496]

I see what you’re saying but if they are exposing things like the government lying then why shouldn’t they?

[@jas_bataille]

That's really not true. If anything we are much more aware than most of the danger of hacking. And believe me, I was hacked by a friend I trusted and I definitely know how it feels.

[@elgee6202]

I have no idea how people hack. Like... you go on the Internet but then what? I don't even get what they 'do' on a website to begin the hacking process. I'm more baffled yet at how kids on their own know what to do.

[@BleakDeath]

Because this is the age of the digital presence many average people which are not very smart do not care about their online security. You be surprised the average population are very stupid and pathetic. People get hacked all the time because they never learn how to properly secure themselves the fact that you’re amazed that this is even possible is very scary, this is who people look as a target you….

[@mack8488]

The informer got in the claws of the FBI

[@micnamalahan]

I see ads, what’s the point of KZbin prime !?😊

[@dimo8463]

the fact that yall still got no timestamps is so petty...

[@siddhantyadav6652]

10:00 why would the Arizona police department kill their own cops ?

[@mtb5778]

wow, old head on young shoulders. I would have cacked myself if I had been arrested at age 16 and probably now.

[@rollandmousseaux]

"a racketeer is someone who tries to get prestige, power and money from entrenched prestige, power and money" - Frank Costello [racketeer]

[@jfb_ventures]

Dr Hacker Well, I am impressed! 😏

[@jstanovic]

As long as humans are involved, downloading malwear, sloppy passwords, fishing, etc.... there will be hacking

[@nik.b430]

I wonder if he ever came across alien documents lol

[@RosieandFriends1]

That thing about the smiley faces and being a girl is so funny 😂 I use so many emojis all the time 🙃 I didn’t realize that it’s a girl trait 💁‍♀️

[@Yours.Gift_]

He looked in the fbi to see what his homie said

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

Red Hat Hacking

[@msimpson2779]

How can I get hold of him

[@ricknaughty1016]

They don't just have 24 hours they can ask for an extension of time

[@davematthews7771]

They also don’t need to arrest you 84 times to charge you 84 times

[@Redlousou]

They can ask the court for more time, it doesn't seem to have been the case though. Also, bear in mind he was a minor so it might have been trickier to get the extension.

[@DJREN2]

Sounds like he started lieing around 10.15 ish. Lol.

[@user-pw1pp6jd5i]

The son of Iraq and what is Iraq? 😂😂❤

[@BigSpuds]

What I don't understand is when the government, CIA, and MI5, find guys like this guy why don't they employ these people there better on the inside than the outside? I mean you've got some guy head of cyber security who has the same password for everything 🤦😂😂 might as well have these people working for you

[@KapteinFruit]

This guy seem like the most down to earth hacker Ive seen. No weird blue hair, no weirdness with him. Well besides his vitiligo, his skin, but thats not something you choose.

[@JF1908x]

Just sounds like Kermit the frog

[@Danielle-nz9tn]

@@JF1908x LOL, too funny. I think it’s the his speech cadence. I can kind of hear it, and that made me chuckle. I find it kind of funny how he is so matter-of-fact about doing such crazy things. Like he seems to kind of enjoy talking about it, but also I’m not sure if he totally understands how extraordinary this seems to the average person. Like how is he so casual and fearless about what he was doing and the risks involved!

[@KapteinFruit]

@@Danielle-nz9tn You both have really weird aliases so I dont know whats going on. Hate on his voice. I dont care. It shows more about both of your characters.

[@ashleyraposo285]

Vitiligo isnt weird....

[@KapteinFruit]

@@ashleyraposo285 Stop being so sensitive, its different then, if that makes it better. I didnt mean it as anything bad. I think that was very obvious, but you couldnt help yourself.

[@Liammac1878]

Sounds identical to lando norris

[@thefacelessquestion3333]

Did he say the FBI arrested him in the UK?

[@matthewwoods2641]

Wouldn’t ever happen. FBI has zero jurisdiction in the UK. They tried to threaten him that the FBI might try extraditing him to the US.

[@thefacelessquestion3333]

@@matthewwoods2641 Of course....thanks for clearing that up.

[@jas_bataille]

@@thefacelessquestion3333 The FBI can arrest someone anywhere in the world.

[@RooiT]

@@jas_bataille not everywhere but many places.

[@orenJF]

It's amazing how simple the processes can be for hacking , a lot of the big major hacks have been done by carrying out phishing and acessing email passwords and using ready made ddos software

[@BleakDeath]

Simple no you obviously don’t have any knowledge of hacking maybe even technology. Hacking is actually a very long process of a lot of thinking and it’s time-consuming that’s like saying driving a car is this and that when you’ve never driven a car

[@orenJF]

@@BleakDeath im not saying that lol . Im just saying some of the biggest " hacks " you have heard about have been done without writing any code or programming, a lot of it has to do with using software, tools , and bots programmed by someone else .

[@orenJF]

@@BleakDeath some "hacks" just involve literally tricking or asking someone for their details

[@BleakDeath]

@@orenJF yes it’s called phishing about half of emails sent a year are phishing attacks. And their are varieties. I’m well aware…

[@BleakDeath]

@@orenJF and depends on what your targeting.

[@Jackson-pu7gd]

So when they call them hackers they arent actually hacking into systems they are just finding peoples passwords. Do any systems actually get hacked in the true sense of the word?

[@halo8783]

thats what I thought too....not much of a hacker.

[@Jackson-pu7gd]

​@Mark Cyrus Leonardo your mostly talking about social engineering and human based trickery. It could just be me but i dont consider that hacking. I guess systems are hack-proof these days but not people-mistake-proof.

[@RosieandFriends1]

When I was playing a lot of online games I knew some people that would do DDOS attacks. 😅 They were kids. Around age 14.

[@Liammac1878]

Fuckin hated them kids😂😂

[@DNBCYPHER]

Youv'e spelt his name wrong.. 😑

[@Beastieboy2263]

When he said “everyone but 1 of us were caught” it made me think… maybe the real mole was that guy that “never got caught”. Could’ve been an agent. You’re dealing with the FBI bro. No defense will stop the FBI from eventually finding you if they look hard enough. These aren’t state troopers or county Sherrifs you’re dealing with buddy. The fbi can tap into and/or locate any and everything they want to. Their technology is far more advanced than what you could ever imagine😂😂😂

[@Beastieboy2263]

It would make perfect sense. They would never want to name the real mole if it’s an FBI agent. That would mean that agent is burnt. They found the weakest link out of all 5 of them (a man in his 30s with children to take care of who has more to live for than the other 4 people) and turned him so that he could be named the rat and their agent would never be burnt. Read between the lines.

[@tianshi2006]

Such nonsense They were caught because the leader of their group was a long time, outed fbi informant. Please do not comment on a topic if you have no knowledge. The feds needed xavier/sabu

[@bleakyfinder2692]

Why didn't the US employ him, instead of charging him?

[@zaidnissar356]

George Bush does not like Iraqis...

[@hotchick2541]

he had the option and he did

[@user-lv1np9cb2t]

نفتخر بك كعراقي 🇮🇶❤

[@SamS-uv2ql]

Or AV Unit was a grass. If he has twitter, he can be found

[@997_]

مين جاي من قرية العجائب😂❤

[@user-pw1pp6jd5i]

اني

[@lowe7372]

Btw this guy went to found a company which was acquired by Facebook and he is running another company now in crypto

[@ninja12lawbreaker]

Facsinating

[@mack8488]

Wouldnt go to the USA if i were him😇

[@YasinNabi]

Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out."Robert Collier" a fellow creator...... BTW I Enjoyed your videos :)

[@daigosaito888]

Hacking isnt cool anymore now every 16yr old and their tamagotchi can hack. Its just a class on schools now.

[@Potencyfunction]

Chain of different hakers: white hakers, black hakers, back stabbers, "business hakers", stupid hakers...there are many types . The good things is to distinguish them only by online interactions.

[@BrunoSckulps]

u have no clue what ur talking about its sad. you have never met a real hacker before bc its too rare. Unless u can pass many CompTIA+ exams and u mastered binary and multiple programming langs and muchhh more then ur not anywhere close to a hacker.