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Bryce Case Jr. (born August 23, 1982), otherwise known as YTCracker (pronounced "''whitey cracker''"), is an American
rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...
from La Mirada, California. His
stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...
derives from having formerly been a
black hat hacker A black hat (black hat hacker or blackhat) is a computer hacker who violates laws or ethical standards for nefarious purposes, such as cybercrime, cyberwarfare, or malice. These acts can range from piracy to identity theft. A black hat is often r ...
. Case is best known for his contributions to the hacking community along with
nerdcore Nerdcore is a genre of hip hop music characterized by subject matter considered of interest to nerds and geeks. Self-described nerdcore musician MC Frontalot has the earliest known recorded use of the term (to describe this genre) in the 2000 ...
hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
subculture. During his criminal career, he became known for defacing the webpages of several federal and municipal government websites in the United States, as well as several in the private industry at the age of 17.


Biography


Childhood

Case was born in
La Mirada, California La Mirada is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities, on the border with Orange County, California, Orange County. The population was 48,008 at the 2020 ...
,
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. He has stated in interviews that he was exposed to computers by his father and mother, learning to program
BASIC Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...
from age 4. From there, his father taught him how to navigate MSDOS and
System V Unix System V (pronounced: "System Five") is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by AT&T and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, numbered 1, 2, 3, an ...
. Before long, he was involved in the local
bulletin board systems A bulletin board system (BBS), also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user performs functions such as ...
and learning various other programming languages by reading books and examples. 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. According to an interview, his stage name is a combination of Yours Truly, a Kourier (delivery person) from the
Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...
cyberpunk novel
Snow Crash ''Snow Crash'' is a science fiction novel by the American writer Neal Stephenson, published in 1992. Like many of Stephenson's novels, its themes include history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryp ...
, and the hacker term Cracker, meaning someone who breaks into computer systems.


Hacking activities

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, YTCracker gained a following in the hacking world due to his programs he had written, exploits in the AOL World and hacking and defacing websites. He was most known for gaining access and creating exploits on INT and OH Internal Admin accounts. In 1999, Case gained notoriety, media coverage, and a
restitution Restitution and unjust enrichment is the field of law relating to gains-based recovery. In contrast with damages (the law of compensation), restitution is a claim or remedy requiring a defendant to give up benefits wrongfully obtained. Liability ...
bill for defacing the web site of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
’s
Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C., in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC ...
with a modified frontend for a commonly used msadc.pl exploit. Other
United States government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...
websites that were hacked include the
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
's national training center and the
Defense Contract Audit Agency The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense under the direction of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller). It was established in 1965 to perform all contract audits for the Department o ...
. At least 40 other websites were tampered with by Case, including Airspace USA, the bank Altamira,
Nissan Motors is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and '' Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house performance tuning ...
,
Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...
, the monitoring station for the
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...
and the
Texas Department of Public Safety Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous state in the South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and has an international border wi ...
. 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. In May 2000 Case was charged with criminal mischief and computer crime for breaking into the
Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...
city website, causing an estimated $25,000 in damages, though all $25,000 are costs of "time lost" to users. 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 In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyberattack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host co ...
attacks on Yahoo, eBay, Gay.com, and other well-known websites in 2000. In 2005, Case founded a hacker collective called Digital Gangster, which was at its core an internet forum. Some of its members reportedly claimed responsibility for many high-profile hacks of the 2000s and 2010s, including the
Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Hilton was born in New York City and raised there partially; shuttling between Los Angeles and New York City; she is a great-grandda ...
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...
breach in 2005, the
Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( , born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director. Regarded as a contemporary pop icon, Cyrus has been recognized for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. She is ...
hacked email scandal of 2008, the
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
hack of
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
and others in 2009, and the DNS hijacking of
Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is a privately held American company operating a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussi ...
in 2014. Case is also a self-identified member of the hacker group
Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...
, and was an associate of
LulzSec LulzSec (a contraction for Lulz Security) is a Grey hat, grey hat computer hacking group that claimed responsibility for several high profile attacks, including the 2011 PlayStation Network outage, compromise of user accounts from PlayStation N ...
, writing the official theme song of
Operation AntiSec Operation Anti-Security, also referred to as Operation AntiSec or #AntiSec, is a series of hacker (computer security), hacking attacks performed by members of the hacking group LulzSec and Anonymous (group), Anonymous, and others inspired by the ...
, featured in the 2014 documentary '' The Hacker Wars''.


Music

Case performs as an MC and a DJ under the name YTCracker. He is best known for his work in the genre of Nerdcore hip-hop, 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 ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
as a "classic of the style." In
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
, Case performed in 2006 at the
Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
, and in has regularly performed at the
Players Ball The Players Ball is an annual gathering of pimps, held in Chicago, Illinois. Other Players Balls take place across the country, most notably in Miami and Atlanta. Presently, there are "Players Ball" events in Las Vegas and Memphis, Tennessee. O ...
, appearing with mainstream rappers such as
Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...
,
Xzibit Alvin Nathaniel Joiner (born September 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Xzibit (pronounced "''exhibit''), is an American rapper, actor, television presenter, radio personality, and record executive. He began his musical career in 1992, ...
,
Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...
, and
Too Short Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by his stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper. A pioneer of West Coast hip-hop, Shaw was among the first acts to receive recognition in the genre during the late ...
. He has also performed at several
DEF CON DEF CON (also written as DEFCON, Defcon, or DC) is a Computer security conference, hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993 and today many attendees at DEF CON include comp ...
events. 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. On January 3, 2023, Case released a collaborative single with the electronic musician
deadmau5 Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981), known professionally as deadmau5 (pronounced "dead-mouse"), is a Canadian electronic music producer and disc jockey, DJ. His musical style mostly includes progressive house and electro house music, ...
; "Antisec", released under mau5trap, and has been featured in several major Deadmau5 tours.


Discography

*''categoryFive'' (1999) (solo effort) *''spryngz thuggin (2000) (solo effort) *''AOL Rules'' (2001) (solo effort) *''spam 2k2'' (2002) (solo effort) *''stc is the greatest'' (2004) (as a member of spamtec) *''Nerdrap Entertainment System'' (2005) (solo effort) *''still the greatest'' (2006) (as a member of spamtec) *''Rhyme Torrents Volumes I & II'' (2006) (compilation) *''Nerd Life'' (2006) (solo effort) *''Dirty Nerdy'' (2007) (featuring many other nerdcore artists) *''8-Bit Diagrams'' (2008) (as a member of 8-Bit Boys) *''Serious Business EP'' (2008) (featuring Elijah Lucian) *''The Digital Gangster LP'' (2008) (with
MC Lars Andrew Robert Nielsen (born October 6, 1982), known professionally as MC Lars, is an American rapper, producer, educator, and founder of Horris Records. A graduate of Stanford University and the University of Oxford, he is credited as a pioneer ...
) *''Invasion of the Mic Snatchers'' (2008) (As part of the Sinister Six) *''dcpd bangerz vol. 1'' (2009) (featuring the Dekalb County, Georgia Police Force) *''Chrono Nurga vol. 1'' (2009) (solo effort) *''______ every day'' (2010) (with Hairetsu and spamtec) *''Space Mission'' (2010) (featuring Elijah Lucian, Hairetsu) *''Who Live Like This EP'' (2012) (featuring Hairetsu) *''EarthBound: adventures of the sound stone vol. 1'' (2012) (solo effort) *''Bitcoin Baron'' (2013) (solo effort) *''Introducing Neals'' (2014) (solo effort) *''Strictly for My Streamers '' (2017) (solo effort) *''A Side Quest for Fractional Cents '' (2022) (solo effort) *''Antisec'' (2023) (collaboration with deadmau5) *''Advertising Neals'' (2024) (solo effort)


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ytcracker 1982 births Living people American rappers Nerdcore artists People from La Mirada, California American cybercriminals 21st-century American rappers Anonymous (hacker group)