Raúl Barragán

Raúl Horacio "Yuyo" Barragán (–2013) is considered to be the first Argentinian hacker, despite not knowing how to program.

Born in Concordia, he worked as a salesman for Aerolíneas Argentinas when he discovered the gateway through SITA's system. He used his telex to generate free airline passages, and began making money by selling them on the black market after being fired from the company in 1979.

Many details from his life are not known. He was arrested by the Federal Police of Brazil and the Argentine Federal Police, avoiding conviction both times. It is also known that he assisted the Argentine Air Force during the Falklands War.

Yuyo was preventatively arrested in May 1994 for being suspected of illegally selling passages for the band Los Pericos. He spent three years in jail as he was already being processed in other legal cases.

After his release, he lived with his mother in Concepción del Uruguay and died at 56 years-old.

Work on Areolíneas Argentinas

Yuyo was born in , in a prominent family in Concordia, but raised in Concepción del Uruguay.

Yuyo worked as a salesman for the Concordia branch of Aerolíneas Argentinas. He had a telex directly connected with Santa Fe, but it often didn't work. One day, he received an order for the delivery of several passages and a large sum of cash. The goods were to go to Buenos Aires and from there they were to be sent to London. As he was going to receive a commission for the trip, and the communication with Buenos Aires was down due an overload of orders from the World Cup, he directly asked SITA, the company responsible for the emission of passages in the entire world, for the confirmation codes of the passage, and he received the confirmation in minutes. After realizing the breach on SITA's system, he tested his new access by creating a flight from New York supposedly bought with pre-paid boleto, and it was immediately approved.

In 1978, Yuyo was named manager. He was engaged with a Colombian woman that worked for Aerolíneas Argentinas in Caracas, and he wanted to meet her every week. He did have the right to take some free flights, but he did not feel that the allowance was large enough. He asked his superior for more flights, but his request was denied. He then sent a message to his superior asking for permission again, and hacked the telex system to create the information that a message was also sent to the general manager in Buenos Aires, Juan Carlos Pellegrini. A few days later, he sent a fake message to his boss supposedly signed by the general manager giving him permission to take the flights that he wanted. According to a source heard by Damián Kuc, Yuyo supposedly helped paramilitaries from Costa Rica with fake passages, and briefly dated Freddie Mercury. He used to take lexotanil and valium.

During the Falklands War, Yuyo cooperated with the Argentine Air Force. His role during the conflict is unknown, but there are rumors that he generated chaos inside the United Kingdom, including by generating fake passages on UK airlines. In 1983, the brother of a prostitute he was friends with went to Varig to confirm the authenticity of his passage to Chicago, and Yuyo was arrested by the Federal Police of Brazil. The company agreed to release him if he showed his modus operandi. Yuyo agreed to meet then on the next day in a hotel, and he gave two passages and a compensation check to the police officer for his good work. He then hacked Varig again and came back to Buenos Aires through a flight from San Pablo; his check bounced. He was banned from Brazil because of the incident. He died on 1 August 2013, in Concepción del Uruguay. He is recognized as such by other hackers, including Daniel Sentinelli, and has participated several times on the Susana Giménez talk show wearing a balaclava.