Jonathan "c0mrade" James shocked the computing world when he hacked into Pentagon and NASA systems in 1999 at age 15, becoming the youngest person to be incarcerated (for six months) under the federal cybercrime law. Now 23, James talks about his motives and the state of online security

Q: What were your reasons for targeting the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA back in 1999?

Answer: Well, I had read the book The Cuckoo's Egg [by Clifford Stoll], which probably had a lot to do with it. Also, my choice of who to hack was pretty much government targets or corporate targets, and corporate targets didn't have the intrigue of the military ones. It was a good feeling knowing I had access to the computers of the most powerful military in the world. I'm surprised my head didn't explode.