Julian Paul Assange (born 3 July 1971) is an Australian computer programmer, political asylum seeker, accused on a British arrest warrant for breach of bail, and, of course, the founder of WikiLeaks.
From 1987, Assange began hacking under the name Mendax. He and two others – known as “Trax” and “Prime Suspect” – formed a hacking group they called the International Subversives. He is believed to have participated in the WANK (Worms Against Nuclear Killers) hack of NASA in 1989, although this has never been confirmed.
In September 1991, Assange hacked into a Canadian multinational telecommunications company, Nortel. The Australian Federal Police tapped Assange's phone line (using a modem), raided his home in late October, and in 1994 he was charged with thirty-one hacking attacks.
In December 1996, he was found guilty of twenty-five charges and had to pay restitution of $2,100 to be released.
After studying at the University of Melbourne, Assange and others founded WikiLeaks in 2006.Assange is a member of the organization's advisory board and describes himself as its editor-in-chief. From 2007 to 2010, Assange traveled extensively on WikiLeaks operations, visiting Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
WikiLeaks published secret information, leaked news, and classified material from anonymous sources.
WikiLeaks of leaks by Chelsea Manning. These leaks included the Collateral Murder video (April 2010), the Afghanistan War logs (July 2010), the Iraq War logs (October 2010), and CableGate (November 2010). Following the 2010 leaks, the United States federal government launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks and sought assistance from allied countries.
In November 2010, Sweden issued an international arrest warrant for Assange for sexual assault and rape. Assange denied the allegations and said it was all a plot by America to trap him.
Assange was handed over to UK police on 7 December 2010, but was released on bail within 10 days but breached his bail and absconded. He was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012 and remained in the Embassy in London until his arrest in April 2019.
