Editing Karl Koch (hacker)

{{Short description|German hacker (1965-c. 1989)}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
|name        = Karl Koch
|image       = Karl Koch 1985.jpg
|caption     = 
|birth_name=Karl Werner Lothar Koch
|birth_date  = {{Birth date|1965|07|22}}
|birth_place = [[Hanover]], West Germany
|death_date  = {{circa}} {{Death date and age|1989|05|23|1965|07|22}}
|death_place = [[Celle]], West Germany
|other_names = 
|known_for   = [[Cold War]] [[Hacker (computer security)|hacker]]
|occupation  = [[Hacker (computer security)|hacker]]
}}

'''Karl Werner Lothar Koch''' (July 22, 1965 &ndash; c. May 23, 1989) was a German [[Hacker (computer security)|hacker]] in the 1980s, who called himself "'''hagbard'''", after [[Hagbard Celine]]. He was involved in a [[Cold War]] computer [[espionage]] incident.

==Biography==
Koch was born in [[Hanover]]. His mother died of cancer in 1976; his father had alcohol problems and in August 1984 also died of cancer. 

Koch was interested in astronomy as a teenager and was also involved in the state student's council. In 1979 Karl's father gave him the 1975 book, ''[[The Illuminatus! Trilogy|Illuminatus!]] – [[The Golden Apple (book)|The Golden Apple]]'' by [[Robert Anton Wilson]] and [[Robert Shea]], which had a strong influence to him. From his income as a member of the state students' council, he bought his first computer in 1982 and named it "FUCKUP" ("First Universal Cybernetic-Kinetic Ultra-Micro Programmer") after [[The Illuminatus! Trilogy]]. In 1985 Koch and some other hackers founded the ''Computer-Stammtisch'' in a pub of the ''Hanover-Oststadt'', which developed later into the [[Chaos Computer Club]] Hanover. During this time Koch began to use hard drugs. In February 1987 Koch broke off a vacation in Spain, because of this, and had himself admitted to a [[psychiatric clinic]] in [[Aachen]] for rehab treatments, where he stayed for three months.

==Hacking==
He worked with the hackers known as DOB (Dirk-Otto Brezinski), Pengo (Hans Heinrich Hübner), and Urmel ([[Markus Hess]]), and was involved in selling hacked information from United States military computers to the [[KGB]]. [[Clifford Stoll]]'s book ''[[The Cuckoo's Egg]]'' gives a first-person account of the hunt and eventual identification and arrest of Hess in March 1989. Pengo and Koch subsequently came forward and confessed to the authorities under the espionage amnesty, which protected them from being prosecuted.<ref name="Phrack25">{{cite web
 | date=March 29, 1989
 | url = http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=25&id=10#article
 | title = Phrack Inc. - Volume Three, Issue 25, File 10 of 11
 | publisher = [[Phrack]]
 | access-date = 2009-01-06
 | last=Knight Lightning
}}</ref>

==Death==
In May 1989 Koch left his workplace in his car to go for lunch;{{when|date=May 2020}} when he had not returned by late afternoon, his employer reported him as a missing person.

German police were alerted to a long abandoned car in a forest near [[Celle]] on June 1, 1989. The remains of Koch—at this point just bones<ref name="Stoll">{{cite book |last=Stoll |first=Clifford |title=The Cuckoo's Egg}}</ref>—were discovered close by with a patch of scorched and burnt ground surrounding them and with his shoes missing. The scorched earth itself was controlled in a small circle around the corpse even though it had not rained in some time and the grass was perfectly dry.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} 

Despite his death being officially ruled a suicide,<ref name="Phrack27">{{cite web
 | date=June 20, 1989
 | url = http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=27&id=12#article
 | title = Phrack Inc. - Volume Three, Issue 27, File 12 of 12
 | publisher = [[Phrack]]
 | access-date = 2009-01-06
 | last=Knight Lightning
}}</ref><ref name="brain-pro">{{cite web
 | date=July 2002
 | url = https://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brain-pro.de%2FSeiten%2Fhacker%2Fhacker.htm&langpair=de
 | title = Dead Hackers do not talk anymore! All that remains is the memory? (auto translate from German)
 | publisher = brain-pro
 | access-date = 2009-01-06
 | last=Marko Rogge
}}</ref> His death fueled conspiracy theories, with speculation ranging from suicide due to psychological struggles and drug addiction to retaliation by intelligence agencies. His death remains controversial, symbolizing both the dangers of hacking and the psychological toll of his lifestyle. Koch's story inspired books, films, and enduring myths about hackers and conspiracies.
<ref>{{cite web
 |title=Einer der ersten deutschen Hacker
 |url=https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/karl-koch-alias-hagbard-celine-tod-eines-hackers-a-1268203.html
 |website=Spiegel Geschichte
 |publisher=Spiegel Gruppe
 |date=2019-05-23
 |access-date=2025-01-18
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mungo |first1= Paul |last2=Clough |first2=Bryan |title=Approaching Zero: The Extraordinary Underworld of Hackers, Phreakers, Virus Writers, and Keyboard Criminals}}</ref> No suicide note was ever found.<ref name="Stoll"/>

==Karl Koch in media==

===Books===
*{{cite book| last = [[Katie Hafner]], [[John Markoff]]| title = CYBERPUNK: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, Revised| date = November 1995| edition = November 1, 1995| pages = [https://archive.org/details/cyberpunkoutlaw000hafn/page/400 400]| publisher = Simon & Schuster| isbn = 0-684-81862-0| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/cyberpunkoutlaw000hafn/page/400}}

===Movies===
A German movie about his life, entitled ''[[23 (film)|23]]'', was released in 1998. While the film was critically acclaimed, it has been harshly criticized as exploitative by real-life witnesses. A corrective to the film's take is the documentation written by his friends.<ref>[http://seti23.org/karlkoch/  Karl Koch aka. Hagbard Celine 22.7.1965 - 23.5.1989] - mostly in [[German language|German]]</ref>

In 1990, a documentary was released titled ''The KGB, The Computer and Me''.

===Music===
*Koch was memorialized by [[Clock DVA]] at the opening of their music video for "The Hacker" and in the liner notes for "The Hacker" on the album ''[[Buried Dreams]]'' (1989).

==See also==
* [[Tron (hacker)|Boris Floricic a.k.a. Tron]], a computer hacker who allegedly suffered a similar fate

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q216269|title=23}}
* [http://paolodelbene.pbworks.com/w/page/45345822/Karl_Werner_Lothar_Koch ''Story of a Grey Hacker'']
* [http://paolodelbene.pbworks.com/w/page/45348035/WikiLeaks ''WikiLeaks and Karl Werner Lothar Koch'']
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Karl}}
[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:1989 suicides]]
[[Category:German spies for the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:People from Hanover]]
[[Category:Suicides by self-immolation]]
[[Category:Hackers]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:Suicides in West Germany]]