Karl Koch

Karl Werner Lothar Koch (July 22, 1965 – c. May 23, 1989) was a German hacker in the 1980s, who called himself "hagbard", after Hagbard Celine. He was involved in a Cold War computer espionage incident. 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, Illuminatus! – 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.