Susan Headley (born 1959, also known as Susy Thunder or Susan Thunder) was a

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 ...

and early computer

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

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 t ...

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 Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 49,967. Its county seat is Galesburg. Knox County comp ...

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 ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

where she worked as a teenage prostitute and was a rock 'n' roll groupie, claiming all four former members of the Beatles among her conquests. She met computer hacker

Kevin Mitnick Kevin David Mitnick (born August 6, 1963) is an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker. He is best known for his high-profile 1995 arrest and five years in prison for various computer and communications-related crim ...

(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 ...

. In ''

The Hacker's Handbook ''The Hacker's Handbook'' is a non-fiction book in four editions, each reprinted numerous times between 1985 and 1990, and explaining how phone and computer systems of the period could be 'hacked'. It contains candid and personal comments from ...

'', 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 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 many others, the clerk is appointed to their post. In the UK, a Tow ...

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-largest ...

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
Living people 1959 births American computer criminals California City, California {{US-crime-bio-stub