It took a while for the Australian Federal Police to take hacking seriously, but when they finally did, the party was over. The Realm Hackers were charged with new laws which had never been tested in the courts. No-one knew what to expect from the judge. They were the canary in the coalmine and a new hacker group, headed by Julian Assange was watching closely.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melbourne hackers were getting a reputation around the world, and none more so than the group known as The Realm. Phoenix, Electron and Nom antagonised system administrators and computer security experts around the world, even shutting down NASA for an entire day. The police needed to act and they were starting to catch up. Credits:  News clips (ABC Library Sales) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(If you’re from the US and haven’t heard that term, better look it up). The beginning of Hacktivism. The Wank Worm infected thousands of computers around the world. Its target was NASA and there was a strong political message. Although it’s never been proven who was responsible, the hackers left some unique clues which helped investigators trace it back to Melbourne.  Credits:  Midnight Oil: 1984 (Madman Films) Morris Worm news clip (GBH Archives) News clips (SBS Archives) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Computer hacking started off innocently enough. Teenage boys, bored with life in the outer suburbs, exploring a new technology. Hacking credit cards and buying flowers, cans of coke and concert tickets for their girlfriends. They were known by their online handles. In this episode, we meet Optimus Prime, Bit Mapper and Optic Surfer, hackers who were showing authorities what was possible with these new home appliances. It caught police off guard to say the least, there were no hacking laws and their first encounter with a computer hacker didn’t go well. 

Introducing Motherlode, a Ranieri and Co. production. The gripping story about the birth of computer hacking from an unlikely centre - Melbourne, Australia. It was here teenage boys, and they were mostly boys, hacked into some of the biggest organisations in the world. It’s also where a young hacker, Julian Assange, cut his teeth on computers and went on to develop Wikileaks, the most disruptive website the world has seen. But Wikileaks didn’t just spring up out of nowhere. It was 20 years in the making. Motherlode reveals the technological and political motivations behind it.