February 2005: Paris Hilton is hacked
Hackers exploit a vulnerability in T-Mobile’s website and trick a customer service representative to gain access to data from Paris Hilton’s Sidekick — including phone numbers for her celebrity friends and “photos of a topless Hilton locked in an intimate embrace with a female friend,” as the Washington Post explains in a story based on an interview with one of the hackers.
Paris survives, and so does the Sidekick brand, but it’s a key privacy lesson for T-Mobile and the rest of the wireless industry.
Next: Google acquires Android, sets stage for mobile push
- The Beginning: Danger is formed by three Apple veterans
- Spring 2001: Danger’s mysterious plans start to draw attention
- September 2001: Danger unveils the Hiptop
- December 2001: Woz is on board
- October 2002: Hiptop debuts on T-Mobile as the Sidekick
- Fall 2004: Celebrities embrace a new Sidekick
- February 2005: Paris Hilton is hacked
- Fall 2005: Google acquires Android, sets stage for mobile push
- February 2008: Microsoft acquires Danger
- October 2008: Danger server meltdown melts the Sidekick
- April 2010: Microsoft launches the Kin, briefly
- February 2011: End of the Sidekick’s Danger era
- March 2011: Sidekick goes Android