Mustafa Al-Bassam

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Mustafa Al-Bassam
Iraqi
Alma mater
AwardsForbes 30 Under 30
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
ThesisSecurely scaling blockchain base layers (2020)
Doctoral advisorGeorge Danezis

Mustafa Al-Bassam (born January 1995) is a British computer security researcher, hacker, and co-founder of Celestia Labs.[1] Al-Bassam co-founded the hacker group LulzSec in 2011, which was responsible for several high profile breaches.[2][3] He later went on to co-found Chainspace, a company implementing a smart contract platform, which was acquired by Facebook in 2019.[4][5] In 2021, Al-Bassam graduated from University College London, completing a PhD in computer science with a thesis on Securely Scaling Blockchain Base Layers.[6][7] In 2016, Forbes listed Al-Bassam as one of the 30 Under 30 entrepreneurs in technology.[8]

Early life and education

Al-Bassam was born in Baghdad, Iraq in January 1995, and migrated to London, United Kingdom when he was five years old.[9] He received a BSc in Computer Science from King's College London,[10][11] and is currently a PhD student[needs update?] at University College London.[12]

Hacktivism

Main article: LulzSec

In 2011 as a 16 year old teenager, Al-Bassam was one of the six core members of

News International, Nintendo and the CIA.[3]

He was also affiliated with the online association of

HBGary Federal.[15]

Arrest and legal proceedings

On 20 July 2011, it was announced on Fox News and other press outlets

London's Metropolitan Police had arrested a 16-year-old student in London who was alleged to have used the nickname "Tflow" in a series of high-profile attacks on fox.com,[19] the FBI affiliate "Infragard",[20] PBS[21][22] and Sony.[23] For legal reasons, his name could not be disclosed for nearly two more years. On 9 April 2013, Tflow's full name was revealed along with his picture on multiple news outlets throughout the Internet.[24] He pleaded guilty to computer misuse and received a 20-month suspended sentence with 320 hours of unpaid community service work.[25] A nearly two-year internet ban imposed by police has since expired.[26][27]

Career and research

Distributed ledgers

Al-Bassam has published research on scaling blockchains and cryptocurrencies.

Libra project.[4][5] Al-Bassam has since been critical of Libra, stating that "the road to dystopia is paved with good intentions, and I'm concerned about Libra's model for decentralization".[4]

Privacy and surveillance

In 2014 Al-Bassam volunteered for

whistleblower Edward Snowden.[30]

In an article for

JTRIG himself.[31]

Awards and honours

In 2016, Al-Bassam was listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 in the technology section for his work on uncovering government surveillance.[8]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mustafa Al-Bassam.
  1. ^ "Celestia". celestia.org. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  2. ^
    OCLC 890807781.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  3. ^ a b Robertson, Adi (16 May 2013). "LulzSec hackers sentenced to between one and three years in prison by UK court". The Verge. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  4. ^
    ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Facebook Makes First Blockchain Acquisition With Chainspace: Sources". Cheddar. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  6. ^ Al Bassam, Mustafa (28 December 2020). "Securely Scaling Blockchain Base Layers". UCL (University College London).
  7. ^ "Mustafa Al-Bassam - Research Homepage". www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Mustafa Al-Bassam". Forbes. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  9. OCLC 1051237704.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  10. ^ Bano, Shehar, Mustafa Al-Bassam, and George Danezis. "The road to scalable blockchain designs." USENIX; login: magazine (2017).
  11. ^ "Cyber defence unit 'may use hackers'". 22 October 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  12. ^ "Despite high-profile hacks, companies still aren't behaving securely: ex-LulzSec hacker". www.cso.com.au. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  13. ^ Bright, Peter (10 March 2012). "With arrests, HBGary hack saga finally ends". Ars Technica. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  14. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  15. ^ a b Fogarty, Kevin (4 March 2011). "Congress eyes dirty tricks from HBGary, Chamber of Commerce". ITworld. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  16. ^ "Leading Member of LulzSec Hacker Squad Arrested in London". Fox News. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  17. ^ Bright, Peter (20 July 2011). "FBI arrests 16 Anons across US; UK police pick up LulzSec member". Ars Technica. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  18. ^ "Hacker Arrests May Have Included Core Member Of LulzSec". Forbes. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  19. ^ "Fox.com Hacked By Group Lulz Security". Huffingtonpost.com. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  20. ^ Satter, Raphael G. (5 June 2011). "LulzSec Hackers Claim Breach Of FBI Affiliate Infragard Atlanta". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  21. ^ "PBS website hacked, defaced after WikiLeaks documentary evokes online ire". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. 30 May 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  22. ^ "Sites Hacked; Readers' Data Not Compromised". PBS NewsHour. 30 May 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  23. ^ Albanesius, Chloe (3 June 2011). "Sony LulzSec Hack: What You Need to Know". PCMag.com. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  24. ^ "Mustafa Al-Bassam". NakedSecurity.sophos.com. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  25. ^ How I Hacked The US Government Aged 16 | Minutes With | @LADbible TV, retrieved 11 September 2021
  26. ^ "Mustafa Al-Bassam (musalbas) on Twitter". Twitter.com. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  27. ^ "Were you banned from the internet for two years like Jake Davis? | ask.fm/musalbas". Ask.fm. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  28. ^ "Mustafa Al-Bassam - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  29. S2CID 1360317
    .
  30. ^ McLaughlin, Jenna (26 August 2015). "The Way GCHQ Obliterated The Guardian's Laptops May Have Revealed More Than It Intended". The Intercept. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  31. ^ Al-Bassam, Mustafa (29 July 2016). "British Spies Used a URL Shortener to Honeypot Arab Spring Dissidents". Vice. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
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