Susan Headley
| Susan Headley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Susan Headley 1959 (age 66–67) Altona, Illinois, United States |
| Other names | Susy Thunder, Susan Thunder |
| 💼 Occupation | Former phreaker, hacker, social engineer |
| 📆 Years active | 1977–1983 (hacking/phreaking) |
Susan Headley (born 1959), also known as Susy Thunder or Susan Thunder, is an American former phreaker and early computer hacker who was active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Headley specialized in a type of hacking which uses pretexting and misrepresentation of oneself in contact with targeted organizations in order to elicit information vital to hacking those organizations.[1] She called this "psychological subversion"; it is also called social engineering.[2]
Biography
Born in Altona, Illinois, in 1959, Headley said she dropped out of school in the eighth grade after a difficult childhood.[3] She later moved to Los Angeles, California, where she worked as a sex worker and was a rock and roll groupie.[4][2]
As a young person, she developed interest and expertise in telephone networks and circumventing systems.[5] According to The Hacker's Handbook, she successfully hacked the US phone system as a 17-year-old in 1977 and was "one of the earliest of the present generation of hackers".[6] For a while in the late 1970s and early 1980s, she collaborated with computer hacker Kevin Mitnick (also known as Condor) and phone phreaker Lewis de Payne (also known as Roscoe) on hacking into Pacific Bell systems and other systems, although there were conflicts between the group members.[7][8] In 1981–1982, she testified against Mitnick and de Payne in a theft case related to Pacific Bell, and provided evidence against de Payne in a case related to hacking U.S Leasing, in exchange for immunity.[4][7][9]
In 1982, Headley gave an interview on the television show 20/20 about circumventing security systems, including the technique of "garbology": dumpster diving to find system manuals and other useful information thrown away by telephone company staff.[10][11] On October 25, 1983, Headley testified in front of the United States Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs about the technical capabilities and motivations of hackers and phone phreaks.[12][13][14] In the 1980s, she worked as a security consultant and a professional poker player.[15][5][8] In 1995, Headley presented a talk at DEF CON about "Social Engineering and Psychological Subversion of Trusted Systems", including about using seduction as part of strategies for social engineering.[16][8]
In 1991, journalists Katie Hafner and John Markoff published a book, Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, about Headley, Mitnick, de Payne, and other hackers.[17] She was one of few women among early phone phreaks and is noted as "one of the earliest known female hackers".[1][18] Writer Claire L. Evans described her as "a mythological figure in hacking history".[19]
Public service
Headley was elected to public office in California in 1994, as City Clerk of California City.[2]
Personal life
Headley is married and lives in the Midwest.[2] She is a coin collector and coin expert.[2][18][20]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Barth, Bradley (10 July 2017). "Female blackhats". SC Media. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Evans, Claire L. (26 January 2022). "Searching for Susy Thunder". The Verge. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
- ↑ Thorton, Mary (21 May 1984). "Hackers Ignore Consequences Of Their High-Tech Joy Rides". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Hafner, Katie; Markoff, John (1991). Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 16–17, 51, 56. ISBN 0-671-68322-5. Search this book on
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Rosenfeld, Megan (1989-12-18). "At Surveillance Expo, Sneak Peeks at the Sweet Spy and Buy". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
- ↑ Cornwall, Hugo; Gold, Steve (1990). Hugo Cornwall's New Hacker's Handbook (4th ed.). London: Century. pp. vii, 65. ISBN 978-0-7126-3454-0. Search this book on
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Hafner, Katie (August 1995). "Kevin Mitnick, unplugged". Esquire. 124 (2): 80(9). Retrieved 2026-01-17.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Gehl, Robert W.; Lawson, Sean T (2022-03-08). "Penetrating: The Desire to Control Media and Minds". Social Engineering: How Crowdmasters, Phreaks, Hackers, and Trolls Created a New Form of Manipulative Communication. The MIT Press. pp. 145, 147, 150. doi:10.7551/mitpress/12984.003.0011. ISBN 978-0-262-36892-6. Search this book on
- ↑ Markoff, John (1982-07-26). "Sentence meted out to 'phreak'". InfoWorld. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. 4 (29): 1 – via Google Books.
- ↑ Gehl, Robert W. "Trashing the Phone Company with Suzy Thunder". Hack_Curio. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
- ↑ Gehl, Robert W.; Lawson, Sean T. (2022-03-08). "Trashing: From Dumpster Diving to Data Dumps". Social Engineering: How Crowdmasters, Phreaks, Hackers, and Trolls Created a New Form of Manipulative Communication. The MIT Press. pp. 70–83. doi:10.7551/mitpress/12984.003.0008. ISBN 978-0-262-36892-6. Retrieved 2026-01-17. Search this book on
- ↑ Computer Security in the Federal Government and the Private Sector: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, first session, October 25 and 26, 1983. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1983. pp. 22–29. Search this book on
- ↑ Len, Ackland (1983-10-30). "Lawmakers hear tales of computerized capones". Chicago Tribune. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
- ↑ Kluepfel, H.M. (October 1989). "Foiling the wiley hacker: more than analysis and containment". Proceedings. International Carnahan Conference on Security Technology: 15–21. doi:10.1109/CCST.1989.751947 – via IEEE Explore.
- ↑ Day, John S. (1983-10-26). "'Hackers' crack secret data banks". The Bangor Daily News. p. 25. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
- ↑ "DEF CON III Archives". DEF CON. 1999-07-28. Retrieved 2025-11-15. Unknown parameter
|orig-date=ignored (help) - ↑ Mosley, Walter (August 11, 1991). "All the Bright Young Criminals". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Watkins, Stephen; Mays, George; Bandes, Ronald M.; Franklin, Brandon; Gregg, Michael; Ries, Chris (2006-11-06). Hack the Stack: Using Snort and Ethereal to Master The 8 Layers of An Insecure Network. Elsevier. p. 369. ISBN 978-0-08-050774-3. Search this book on
- ↑ Chiotakis, Steve (2022-02-17). "Phone 'phreakers' in 1980s LA: Digging up the forgotten era". KCRW. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
- ↑ Zupek, Rachel (2009-04-26). "10 Creative Ways to Earn Extra Money". Florida Today. p. 49. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
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