10 Tech Geniuses' Downfall: Code to Prison Story

Technology changes the world, but it can also destroy a person. These genius programmers had bright futures ahead, but due to a moment's greed, they chose the path of crime. Their stories are both tragic and thought-provoking.

1. Kevin Mitnick - The Legendary Life of the Social Engineering King

When it comes to hackers, many people first think of Kevin Mitnick. This chubby guy was once the FBI's most wanted.

At age 12, little Kevin did something both amusing and alarming - he hacked the Los Angeles bus system and rode free for a year. At 16, he directly infiltrated NORAD, years before the movie "WarGames."

But Kevin's greatest skill wasn't technical prowess, but his silver tongue. He never brute-forced passwords; instead, he'd simply call you:

"Hi, this is John from IT. We're having some system issues. Could you give me your username and password?"

With just this simple sentence, he gained top-level access to countless companies.

This guy's "social engineering" was absolutely masterful. He'd study target companies like homework, memorizing every department head's name, even knowing what pets they owned. Then he'd call the night shift technician:

"Hey buddy, this is John from Finance. The boss needs a report first thing tomorrow, but my account is locked. Could you help reset my password? Sorry to bother you so late..."

Who could refuse such a "sincere" request?

Kevin was first arrested in 1988, but escaped shortly after. For the next ten years, he played hide-and-seek across America, changing identities while the FBI formed a special task force just to catch him.

Motorola, Nokia, Sun Microsystems... these major companies were all visited by him, losing millions in software and technical data. Strangely enough, Kevin was never in it for money - he just wanted to prove "I can do it."

On February 15, 1995, the FBI finally caught him in North Carolina. Ironically, he was betrayed by another hacker - Tsutomu Shimomura.

He served 5 years, including 8 months in solitary confinement. After release, Kevin completely went legitimate, becoming a cybersecurity expert helping companies find vulnerabilities. His company now generates tens of millions in annual revenue.

Kevin often says: "I still use the same skills, just in a different direction. Before, I proved I could break in; now I prove others can't."

2. Albert Gonzalez - History's Most Audacious Double Agent

This guy's story is more thrilling than any movie. He started coding at 14 and by 18 had become a big shot on the underground hacker forum "ShadowCrew." This forum specialized in selling stolen credit card information, with daily transactions worth millions.

In 2003, the FBI shut down ShadowCrew, and Albert faced 30 years in prison. That's when he made a "smart" decision - become an FBI informant, specializing in catching other hackers.

During his undercover period, Albert performed excellently, helping the FBI catch dozens of hackers and even receiving commendations. The FBI thought this kid was reliable and trustworthy.

But who could have imagined that while helping the FBI catch people, he was secretly running an even bigger operation? Using SQL injection attacks on various payment systems, he obtained 170 million credit card records.

This operation was literally the real-life version of "I'm reporting myself."

Albert's specialty was SQL injection. Simply put, he'd insert malicious code into website input fields, then control entire databases. Major retailers like TJX and Heartland Payment Systems all fell victim.

With money came arrogance. Miami mansions, Lamborghini sports cars, high-end nightclubs... he enjoyed it all. Most outrageous was a birthday party where he literally burned $250,000.

But easy money spent too conspicuously quickly caught FBI attention to the mysterious large sums in his bank accounts.

On May 7, 2008, Albert was arrested at a five-star New York hotel. The FBI found millions of credit card records on his computer, plus chat logs with Russian and Ukrainian hackers.

He was ultimately sentenced to 20 years, setting a US hacker sentencing record.

The judge said during sentencing: "You betrayed the FBI's trust and betrayed innocent people whose credit cards were stolen. Your skills could have protected others, but instead you used them to harm people."

3. Mark Karpeles - 850,000 Bitcoin Vanished Into Thin Air

This French guy's story is the biggest mystery in Bitcoin history. Mark was originally just an ordinary programmer who loved magic tricks and was obsessed with Japanese culture. In 2009, he went to Tokyo to start a small internet company, and in 2011 bought the Mt.Gox exchange from one of Satoshi Nakamoto's early partners.

At the time, Mt.Gox was just a niche platform, but Mark had real skills and quickly made it the world's largest Bitcoin exchange. At its peak, 70% of global Bitcoin trading happened on his platform.

In 2013, Bitcoin skyrocketed from $13 at the start of the year to $1,200, and Mt.Gox became the "central bank" of the Bitcoin world. Mark went from nobody to crypto mogul.

This guy lived in a luxury Tokyo apartment, owned a cat named Tibanne (also his company name), and constantly showed off his wealth on social media.

But the problem was Mt.Gox's technical architecture was a ticking time bomb. For rapid expansion, Mark patched everywhere, making the entire system like a tower of blocks held together with tape, ready to collapse anytime.

Worse yet, Mt.Gox fell into a major Bitcoin protocol trap - the "transaction malleability" vulnerability. Hackers could modify transaction IDs, making the system think transactions failed, then repeatedly send Bitcoin. It was like an ATM malfunction giving you money twice for one withdrawal.

On February 24, 2014, Mt.Gox suddenly stopped all trading, the website went blank. Days later, Mark held a press conference, bowing deeply in apology:

"We're very sorry. We suffered a hacker attack, 850,000 Bitcoin were stolen, and the company is bankrupt."

850,000 Bitcoin - worth $480 million at the time! The entire crypto world exploded.

But things quickly unraveled. Blockchain's biggest feature is transparency - all transaction records are traceable. Investigation revealed massive Bitcoin transfers to wallets controlled by Mark himself!

Even more ridiculous, Mark claimed that of the 850,000 "stolen" Bitcoin, 200,000 were later "miraculously" "found" in an old wallet. This was like claiming your house was robbed of $1 million, then "finding" $200,000 under your bed.

Japanese police searched Mark's computer and found suspicious transaction records plus evidence of him manipulating Mt.Gox account balances. Turns out this guy had been running a "Ponzi scheme" since 2011, robbing Peter to pay Paul, using new investors' money to pay old investors' withdrawals.

In 2015, Japanese police arrested Mark on charges of embezzlement and data manipulation. In 2019, he received a suspended sentence of 2 years and 6 months, but civil lawsuits continue.

To this day, where those 850,000 Bitcoin went remains a mystery. At current prices, those coins are worth over $30 billion!

Mark played victim in court: "I never meant to hurt anyone, I just wanted to keep Mt.Gox running." But victims weren't buying it - they lost not just money, but trust in the entire crypto space.

4. Xu Yujie - The Downfall of a 985 University Graduate

Xu Yujie graduated from a prestigious 985 university's computer science program and was a programming genius in school. He mastered C++, Java, Python, and self-taught network security and reverse engineering - his technical skills were quite strong.

After graduation, he joined a famous internet company with an annual salary of 300,000 yuan, doing well among his peers. But he always felt that with his abilities, this salary was too low.

In 2018, Xu Yujie began studying security vulnerabilities in bank websites. Initially just tech curiosity, but when he discovered a small bank's online banking system had SQL injection vulnerabilities, greed took over.

He wrote a simple script and easily obtained information from several test accounts. Looking at those bank card numbers and balances on screen, his heart pounded - he felt like he'd discovered a new world.

A prestigious university graduate with a high-paying job and bright future ahead, yet he used trojan programs to batch-steal online banking accounts and became a data dealer.

Xu Yujie began systematically creating banking trojans. His trojans were quite sophisticated: monitoring keystrokes, secretly taking screenshots, altering webpage content to show fake balances, even quietly transferring money - truly "invisible killers" for bank accounts.

He soon realized one person couldn't handle such a big operation, so he began building a "startup team" on the dark web: a distribution group specialized in sending phishing emails and malicious links to spread trojans; a money laundering group responsible for cleaning stolen money; a sales group selling bank account information on the dark web; a technical group maintaining trojan programs and fighting the banks' security upgrades.

From 2019 to 2020, Xu Yujie's "online banking empire" reached its peak. The trojan infected over 500,000 computers and obtained tens of thousands of bank account records - the scale was terrifying.

On the dark web, a complete set of bank account information (card number, password, phone verification code) could sell for 500 to 2,000 yuan. Xu Yujie's monthly "revenue" exceeded 1 million yuan, far more than his previous job.

With money came arrogance - buying luxury cars and houses in Beijing, living lavishly daily. But this guy was still quite "dedicated," sitting at his computer every day like going to work, "managing" his criminal business.

Xu Yujie's trojan was indeed sophisticated: shape-shifting technology made each distribution use a different disguise, unrecognizable to antivirus software; professional targeting, specifically customized for major domestic banks' online banking systems; master of stealth - you wouldn't know you were infected, computer worked normally with no anomalies; real-time surveillance, 24-hour monitoring of your banking operations, striking at any opportunity.

In November 2020, the Ministry of Public Security's cybersecurity department discovered abnormal fund flows. Big data analysis exposed Xu Yujie's group's tracks. When police broke down the door, this guy was still "working" at his computer, with rows of bank account passwords scrolling on screen - quite a shocking scene.

Xu Yujie was looking at that day's "performance report" - 138 newly obtained bank accounts involving over 8 million yuan. Perfect timing - caught red-handed with no way to deny it.

In 2021, Xu Yujie was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and fined 5 million yuan. His "partners" also went to prison, sentenced to 3-10 years each.

In court, Xu Yujie was quite "clear-headed": "I know I'm pretty smart, but I used it wrong. If I'd put this energy into legitimate work, I might be some company's CTO by now."

The prosecutor's response was spot-on: "Intelligence isn't an excuse for crime. Technology should benefit society, not harm ordinary people."

5. Grant West - The "Side Business" of a Delivery Driver

Grant West appeared to be just an ordinary London delivery driver, riding his motorcycle around the city daily, delivering food. But who could imagine that besides food, his backpack also contained a modified laptop.

Delivering food by day for living expenses, hacking by night for big money. On the dark web, he was called "Courvoisier," the boss of Europe's largest data black market. This contrast was more dramatic than any superhero story.

Grant was a computer enthusiast from childhood, mastering various programming languages by age 15. Teachers and classmates thought this kid was a genius, but he was introverted and preferred finding validation in the online world.

Initially, Grant studied network security purely out of curiosity. When he found vulnerabilities in small websites, he'd even "kindly" notify the administrators. But when he realized these skills could make money, everything changed.

Posing as a delivery rider, hacking company databases while delivering food. Uber, Sainsbury's, Just Eat... one by one fell victim.

Grant's methods were brilliantly cunning. He'd specifically take delivery orders near office buildings, then during delivery breaks, sit in building cafeterias or lounges, connect to free WiFi, and start "working."

His laptop was specially modified: ultra-long battery life for 12 hours continuous operation; high-gain WiFi antenna to receive signals from greater distances; multiple network adapters supporting various encryption protocol cracking; virtual machine environment running multiple operating systems, using different "identities" for each attack.

Grant's specialty was social engineering attacks. To understand target companies thoroughly, this guy could spend weeks doing homework, even actually applying for temp jobs just to gather inside information.

For example, when attacking Sainsbury's, he first applied for a temporary cashier position, worked two weeks then quit citing "academic pressure." In just those two weeks, he thoroughly understood the company's network architecture, employee habits, and even several IT administrators' employee IDs.

On the dark web, he was called "Courvoisier," Europe's largest black market data dealer.

On the dark web, Grant opened a black market platform called "DataMart" - literally a data supermarket selling everything: personal information packages with names, addresses, phone numbers, emails bundled for $0.5-2 each; credit card information with complete card numbers, CVV, expiration dates for $10-50 each; corporate databases with employee and customer data, priced by scale; VIP packages with detailed information on government officials and celebrities for $500-5,000 each.

Grant's favorite trick was WiFi phishing. He'd set up fake WiFi hotspots near target companies with deceptively named networks like "CompanyName_Guest" or "Free_WiFi."

Once employees connected to these hotspots, all network traffic went through Grant's device. He could do whatever he wanted: steal login passwords, inject malicious code into webpages, redirect to phishing sites, secretly download trojans.

From 2016 to 2018, Grant successfully hacked over 100 companies, stealing millions of personal records. His "customers" were worldwide - identity theft gangs, credit card fraud groups, spam senders - anyone who paid was a friend.

Estimates put his annual "revenue" over £2 million, far more than legitimate work.

With money, Grant became arrogant, living in luxury London apartments, driving expensive cars, frequenting high-end restaurants and nightclubs.

But beneath the glamorous surface, this guy was actually quite empty inside. No real friends, all social relationships built on money. Often sitting alone at his computer in the middle of the night, continuing his "career."

In September 2018, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) through international cooperation finally tracked down Grant. When police raided his apartment, the scene was quite shocking: 15 laptops, hundreds of USB drives, piles of cash, and cryptocurrency wallets.

In 2019, Grant West was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months. The judge was harsh during sentencing: "You used your technical talents for evil, harming countless innocent people. What you did wasn't just crime, but destroying society's trust system."

6. Adrian Lamo - From Wandering Hacker to "Traitor"

Adrian Lamo was an interesting character with no fixed address or stable job. He wandered between coffee shops, libraries, and internet cafes across major US cities, carrying a broken backpack with a secondhand laptop inside.

Despite looking like a homeless person, he was actually one of the world's most dangerous hackers. Using just free WiFi, he could hack the world's most secure network systems.

This guy roamed coffee shops and libraries, using free Wi-Fi to hack The New York Times and Microsoft.

Adrian specifically targeted famous big companies: The New York Times - in 2002, hacked the newspaper's internal network, obtaining all reporters' and editors' personal information; Microsoft - broke into the company's internal network, viewing confidential product development documents; Yahoo - invaded user databases, obtaining millions of user records; Worldcom - compromised this telecom giant's network infrastructure.

Unlike other hackers, Adrian was never in it for money. After hacking systems, he'd proactively contact companies, telling them where vulnerabilities existed, even helping fix them for free.

He once said: "I'm not trying to cause damage. I want to prove how fragile these systems are. If I can get in with a broken laptop and free WiFi, real bad guys definitely can too."

Adrian's specialty was social engineering attacks. This guy could spend months studying target companies, thoroughly understanding employee work habits, organizational structure, even personal lives.

When hacking The New York Times, he first posed as an IT technician, calling newspaper reporters: "Hello, this is IT. We've detected your email might be compromised. For account security, please provide your username and password so we can reset it immediately."

In 2010, Adrian encountered a big situation. A military intelligence analyst named Bradley Manning (later renamed Chelsea Manning) revealed a shocking secret to him.

Manning sought Adrian's help to safely transmit a batch of files. These files were extraordinary: classified reports from Iraq and Afghanistan wars, diplomatic cables, Guantanamo prisoner files, US military "collateral damage" videos from Iraq.

Adrian was torn. As a hacker, he understood the importance of information freedom; but as an American citizen, he knew how serious leaking military secrets was.

After thinking for days, Adrian made a life-changing decision: he reported Manning to the FBI.

Later, he reported Manning, who provided classified documents to WikiLeaks. Some called him a justice warrior, others called him a traitor.

In May 2010, Manning was arrested by the military. In 2013, he was sentenced to 35 years (later commuted by Obama). Adrian also earned the "traitor" label for this.

The hacker community was particularly angry about his reporting, feeling he violated hackers' basic principle - never betray companions. Some extremists even sent him death threats.

Adrian said in interviews: "I know many people hate me and think I'm a traitor. But I think I did the right thing. Those leaked files could have killed US troops on overseas missions."

But he also admitted the decision cost too much: "I lost friends, lost community trust, don't even know who I am anymore. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I'd helped Manning instead?"

After reporting Manning, Adrian became more reclusive. He developed severe depression and was frequently hospitalized.

On March 14, 2018, Adrian Lamo died in a Kansas motel at just 37 years old. The cause of death remains unclear.

When news of his death broke, the cybersecurity community had complex reactions. Some felt it was a pity, others thought it was "karma" for his "betrayal."

Adrian Lamo's life was full of controversy. He was both a technical genius and a morally complex person. His story raises a profound question: when technical ability conflicts with moral responsibility, how should one choose?

As he said in his last interview: "I don't know if I'm a hero or criminal, maybe both, maybe neither. I only know I made choices according to my conscience and bore the consequences."

7. Russian Banking Trojan Gang - Russian Programmers' "Bank Robbery" Business

The core members were all top programmers from Russia and Eastern Europe: Moscow State University computer science graduates, technical backbones from Russia's top IT companies, international programming competition winners - they had it all.

But economic downturn plus dissatisfaction with Western financial systems led these tech talents down the criminal path. Their thinking was simple: since banks have so much money, let's use code to "borrow" some.

They didn't use guns or explosives, just made banks obediently transfer money. A malware called Dridex had banks worldwide in chaos.

Dridex trojan was absolutely their masterpiece, working with artistic precision:

1. Phishing Hook: Disguised as invoices, bank notices, etc., tricking you into opening emails
2. Silent Infiltration: Quietly installed, your computer worked normally with no anomalies
3. Secret Surveillance: Monitored your banking operations, recording all usernames and passwords
4. Sleight of Hand: When you transferred money, quietly changed recipients to their accounts
5. Money Laundering Escape: Through complex operations, cleaned money and transferred overseas

Dridex code was frighteningly complex, capable of customizing malicious JavaScript for different bank websites, not only stealing login information but also seamlessly changing recipients during transfers.

These people organized a highly structured criminal "company":

• Technical Department: Programmers specializing in writing and maintaining malware
• Marketing Department: Responsible for mass phishing emails, casting wide nets
• Monitoring Department: 24-hour surveillance of infected computers, striking at opportunities
• Finance Department: "Accountants" specializing in money laundering and fund transfers
• HR Department: Globally recruiting "money mules" to help transfer stolen funds

Over several years, they fleeced several hundred million dollars worldwide.

These Russians' "customers" were global: over 300 US banks and credit unions were hit, from major banks to small credit unions; UK's Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds - all major banks suffered; German Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank also fell victim; even Swiss banks known for security weren't spared.

Their operational model was like a multinational corporation: headquarters in Russia handled technical development and strategic planning; European branches responsible for Western market "business development"; American partners provided local "customer service"; Asian collaborators handled money laundering and fund transfers.

Most ingenious was their "customer service system." When banks upgraded security, they'd immediately update Dridex to counter new defenses. This cat-and-mouse game lasted years.

But paper can't wrap fire. In 2015, international law enforcement launched "Operation Bugat," a coordinated global crackdown.

FBI, Europol, UK's NCA, and other agencies worked together, simultaneously raiding in multiple countries. Over 30 core members were arrested, servers seized, and the entire network dismantled.

The gang leader, Andrey Ghinkul, was extradited to the US and sentenced to 4.5 years. Other core members received 2-8 years each.

During sentencing, the judge said: "You used your exceptional technical skills to steal from innocent people worldwide. Your intelligence could have contributed to society, but you chose to harm it."

8. Stuxnet Worm - The "Digital Nuclear Bomb" That Shook the World

This was humanity's first true "digital nuclear bomb" - not because of its destructive power, but because of its complexity, target, and impact on industrial control systems.

Stuxnet wasn't created by individual hackers but was a national-level cyber weapon, reportedly jointly developed by the US and Israel specifically targeting Iran's nuclear facilities.

This worm was frighteningly sophisticated: it could spread through USB drives, network shares, and even air-gapped systems; specifically targeted Siemens industrial control systems; could remain dormant for months before activating; precisely sabotaged centrifuge operations while displaying normal data to operators.

In 2010, Stuxnet was discovered at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility. This worm had been quietly sabotaging uranium enrichment centrifuges for months, causing them to spin at abnormal speeds while showing operators that everything was normal.

Estimates suggest Stuxnet destroyed about 1,000 centrifuges, setting Iran's nuclear program back several years.

What made Stuxnet terrifying wasn't just its destructive power, but that it opened Pandora's box for cyber warfare. It proved that code could cause physical destruction in the real world.

After Stuxnet, various countries began developing cyber weapons. The line between cyber attacks and traditional warfare became increasingly blurred.

Stuxnet's technical complexity was unprecedented: it used four zero-day vulnerabilities, had multiple propagation methods, could update itself, and specifically targeted industrial control systems.

More importantly, Stuxnet changed the cybersecurity landscape forever. It made people realize that cyber attacks weren't just about stealing information - they could destroy critical infrastructure and threaten national security.

9. Panda Burning Incense Virus - A Chinese Genius's Destructive Creation

Li Jun was exceptionally talented, self-taught programming from a young age, and was particularly skilled at virus development and system vulnerabilities.

Born in a small Hubei town, Li Jun's family wasn't wealthy, but he showed extraordinary computer talent from childhood. While other kids played games, he studied code.

At 16, Li Jun had already mastered multiple programming languages and began writing his own viruses. Initially just for technical challenge, but he gradually realized this skill could make money.

In 2006, Li Jun created the "Panda Burning Incense" virus. This virus was named for replacing all executable file icons with a panda holding incense sticks.

Panda Burning Incense had strong propagation capabilities, spreading through network shares, removable storage, email, and instant messaging. Once infected, computers would have all executable files replaced with panda icons and become unusable.

Worse yet, this virus could steal user passwords, bank account information, and game accounts, then sell this data for profit.

Within months, Panda Burning Incense infected millions of computers nationwide, causing economic losses in the hundreds of millions.

Li Jun didn't work alone - he organized a complete industrial chain: virus development team responsible for writing and updating virus code; distribution network spreading viruses through various channels; data sales team selling stolen information on underground markets; technical support providing "customer service" to virus buyers.

At its peak, Li Jun's virus empire had monthly revenues exceeding one million yuan.

But success made Li Jun careless. He began living lavishly, buying luxury cars and houses, attracting police attention.

In 2007, Hubei police launched "Operation Thunder," arresting Li Jun and his entire gang.

Li Jun was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment, becoming China's first person criminally prosecuted for creating computer viruses.

During trial, Li Jun said: "I know I was wrong. I just wanted to prove my technical abilities, never thought it would cause such great harm."

The Panda Burning Incense case became a landmark in Chinese cybersecurity history, prompting the government to strengthen cybercrime legislation and enforcement.

Li Jun's story also became a cautionary tale, reminding tech talents that abilities should be used to benefit society, not harm it.

10. Dark Web Silk Road - The Rise and Fall of the "Digital Drug Empire"

Ross Ulbricht was a physics PhD from Penn State, an idealistic libertarian who believed in free markets and minimal government intervention.

In 2011, Ross created "Silk Road" on the dark web - an anonymous marketplace where people could buy and sell anything, including drugs, weapons, and other illegal items.

Ross used the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts" (from "The Princess Bride"), positioning himself as a digital age pirate captain.

Silk Road used Tor network for anonymity and Bitcoin for payments, making transactions nearly untraceable.

The site's technical architecture was quite sophisticated: multi-layer encryption protecting user identities; escrow system ensuring transaction security; reputation system building trust between buyers and sellers; customer service handling disputes and problems.

Within two years, Silk Road became the dark web's largest marketplace, with daily transaction volumes reaching millions of dollars.

Ross took a commission from every transaction, quickly accumulating massive wealth. Estimates suggest he earned over $80 million.

But running such a large illegal marketplace brought enormous pressure. Ross became increasingly paranoid, even allegedly ordering hits on people who threatened to expose him.

In 2013, the FBI launched "Operation Marco Polo," a comprehensive investigation into Silk Road.

Through various technical means and traditional detective work, they gradually closed in on Ross's true identity.

On October 1, 2013, Ross was arrested at a San Francisco library while logged into the Silk Road admin panel.

FBI agents found his laptop with the entire Silk Road database, transaction records, and chat logs with other administrators.

In 2015, Ross was convicted on seven charges including drug trafficking, money laundering, and computer hacking, sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

During sentencing, the judge said: "You created a criminal empire that facilitated drug trafficking worldwide. Your actions harmed countless families and individuals."

Ross's case sparked widespread debate about internet freedom, government surveillance, and the war on drugs.

Supporters argued he was just providing a platform, not directly selling drugs. Critics countered that he profited from others' suffering and should bear responsibility.

Silk Road's closure didn't end dark web marketplaces - numerous successors emerged. But Ross's story became a cautionary tale about how idealism can lead to criminality.

Conclusion

These ten tech geniuses' stories are both tragic and thought-provoking. They all possessed exceptional technical abilities and could have made significant contributions to society.

But they chose the wrong path, using their talents for crime rather than creation.

Their stories teach us several important lessons:

Technology is a double-edged sword - it can benefit humanity or cause great harm, depending on how it's used.

Intelligence isn't everything - without proper moral guidance, even the smartest people can make terrible choices.

Crime doesn't pay - no matter how sophisticated the methods, justice eventually prevails.

Responsibility matters - with great technical ability comes great responsibility to use it ethically.

Prevention is key - society must provide proper guidance and opportunities for tech talents, preventing them from going astray.

In today's rapidly advancing technological era, we need more tech professionals who use their abilities to build rather than destroy, to protect rather than attack, to benefit rather than harm.

Technology should serve humanity, not the other way around. This is a lesson these ten fallen geniuses learned too late, and one we must remember.

Their stories remind us that in the digital age, our choices matter more than ever. We must choose wisely, act responsibly, and use our abilities to make the world a better place.

Only then can we truly harness technology's power for good and avoid the tragic fate of these fallen geniuses.

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What do you think about these cases? How can we better guide tech talents toward positive contributions? Share your thoughts in the comments!