Kevin Mitnick

Kevin Mitnick (born August 6, 1963) is one of the most famous criminal hackers to be jailed and convicted. Mitnick's last arrest was by the FBI on February 15, 1995 -- he was charged with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computer systems. Photo of Kevin Mitnick by Monty Brinton - John Wiley & Sons from the press kit for The Art of Deception: http://www. ... August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining. ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... A celebrity is a person who is widely recognized in a society. ... Cracker could refer to: Cracker, a type of biscuit Christmas cracker Computer cracker, sometimes incorrectly called a hacker Cracker, a British television series Cracker an American television series also known as Fitz. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Computer security is the effort to create a secure computing platform, designed so that agents (users or programs) cannot perform actions that they are not allowed to perform, but can perform the actions that they are allowed to. ...

Mitnick had previously been convicted in 1981 of destroying data over a computer network and with stealing operator's manuals from the telephone company. In 1983 he was convicted of breaking into a Pentagon computer over the ARPANET from a USC campus terminal room. Several years later he went underground for more than a year after being accused of tampering with a TRW credit reference computer; an arrest warrant was issued, but it later vanished from police records without explanation. He was convicted of stealing software from the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) in December 1987. In 1988 Mitnick pled guilty to one count of computer fraud and one count of possessing illegal long-distance access codes after being caught for nightly attacks attempting to gain entry to Digital's corporate computer network, known as Easynet, in order to steal a copy of Digital's VMS minicomputer operating system. 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1983 is an integer and composite number that represents a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Pentagon, looking east with the Potomac River and Washington Monument in the distance. ... ARPANET logical map, March 1977. ... The University of Southern California (also known as USC), Southern Californias oldest private research university, is located in the urban center of Los Angeles, California. ... Campus is Latin for field or open space. English gets the words camp and campus from this origin. ... Tarantella, Inc. ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about telephone cards, also called calling cards. ...

It was the fifth time that Mitnick had been apprehended for a computer crime, and the case attracted nationwide attention because, in an unusual plea bargain, he agreed to one year in prison and six months in a counseling program for his computer "addiction". It was a strange defense tactic, but a federal judge, after initially balking, bought the idea that there was some sort of psychological parallel between the obsession Mitnick had for breaking in to computer systems and an addict's craving for drugs. Addictive redirects here. ...

After he finished his jail time and his halfway-house counseling sentence, Mitnick took a job at the Tel Tec Detective Agency. Soon after he began, someone was discovered illegally using a commercial database system on the agency's behalf, and Kevin was once again the subject of an FBI investigation. In September the Bureau searched his apartment. Two months later a federal judge issued a warrant for Mitnick's arrest. When the FBI came to arrest him, Mitnick had vanished.

Mitnick eluded the police, US Marshalls, and FBI for over two years. His downfall was his Christmas 1994 break-in to Tsutomu Shimomura's computers in San Diego, California. Less than two months later, Tsutomu had tracked him down after a cross-country electronic pursuit. Christmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a holiday in the Christian calendar, usually observed on December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus. ... Categories: People stubs | Hackers ... City nickname Americas Finest City City flower Carnation City urban tree Jacaranda City native tree Torrey Pine Mayor Dick Murphy* City Attorney Michael Aguirre City Council District One District Two District Three District Four District Five District Six District Seven District Eight Scott Peters Michael Zucchet Toni Atkins Tony...

Following his 1995 arrest, Mitnick was held without bail for over two years before sentencing. He has said that he set some kind of United States record by being held for four and a half years without a bail hearing, while also held in solitary confinement for eight months "in order to prevent a massive nuclear strike from being initiated by me via a prison payphone." Jail officials stated that Mitnick could have launched the deadly nuclear strike by whistling into the phone and pressing a few numbers on the dialpad. The course of his trial and punishment became a cause célèbre amongst the hacker community. This movement was spearheaded by 2600's "Free Kevin" campaign. Traditionally, bail is some form of property which is deposited or pledged to a court in order to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail (skipping bail is also illegal). ... Solitary confinement is a punishment in which a prisoner is denied contact with any other persons, excluding guards. ... A cause célèbre (plural, causes célèbres) is a common French phrase used in English to describe an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy or heated public debate, paticularly famous legal cases. ... A hacker community is a group of programmers who share code, exchange improvements and teach one another tricks or better methods or writing. ... (Redirected from 2600 The Hacker Quarterly) Fall 2004 (21:3) 2600 Issue 2600: The Hacker Quarterly is a traditional (printed) magazine named for the fact that phreakers in the 1960s found that the transmission of a 2600 Hertz tone (which could be produced perfectly with a plastic toy whistle given...

He was released from prison in January 2002, but banned from using the Internet until the midnight of January 21, 2003. On January 21, 2003, on the live television show The Screen Savers on TechTV, Kevin Mitnick visited the first website since his release, Labmistress.com (http://www.labmistress.com), the weblog of his girlfriend, TechTV producer Darci Wood. Mitnick is now working in consulting and is CEO of the security company Defensive Thinking. 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Screen Savers (May 11, 1998 - March 18, 2005) was a live American cable and satellite television program shown on G4 (formerly G4techTV). ... TechTV (May 11, 1998 - May 28, 2004) was a 24-hours per day technology cable and satellite television channel based in San Francisco, California, featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. ... The first use of the term weblog. ... TechTV (May 11, 1998 - May 28, 2004) was a 24-hours per day technology cable and satellite television channel based in San Francisco, California, featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. ... Defensive Thinking is the information security company founded by Kevin Mitnick and Alex Kasper. ...

His arrest is detailed in the book Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw-By the Man Who Did It (ISBN 0786889136). Other media inspired by Mitnick's story include the movie, also with the name Takedown, sometimes mistitled as Hackers 2: Takedown. A counterpoint view to the events surrounding Mitnick was written by journalist Jonathan Littman, in The Fugitive Game: Online with Kevin Mitnick (ISBN 0316528587).

Mitnick is also the subject of a two-hour documentary by 2600 entitled Freedom Downtime. It is from the perspective of a fellow hacker and offers a very different view of his case than found in Takedown or most other media today. The film is the winner of the Audience Award for Documentaries at the 2002 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. (Redirected from 2600 The Hacker Quarterly) Fall 2004 (21:3) 2600 Issue 2600: The Hacker Quarterly is a traditional (printed) magazine named for the fact that phreakers in the 1960s found that the transmission of a 2600 Hertz tone (which could be produced perfectly with a plastic toy whistle given... Left to right: Tsutomu Shimomura, Eric Emmanuel Golstein Corley, Kevin Mitnick on the supplementary DVD of Freedom Downtime The documentary centers around the fate of Kevin Mitnick, and how they feel it was misrepresented in the reality-based movie Takedown produced by Miramax and adapted from the book by the...

As a cracker, Mitnick is best known for his use of social engineering. He wrote a book on this subject after leaving prison but before returning to the Internet: The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security (ISBN 0471237124). It was published in October 2002. The first chapter of the book was omitted by the publisher. It gives some details of his own "career" and his grievances against journalist John Markoff. The chapter has since been made available elsewhere. Its sequel, The Art Of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind The Exploits Of Hackers, Intruders, And Deceivers (ISBN 0764569597) was published on February 11, 2005. In the field of computer security, social engineering is the practice of obtaining confidential information by manipulation of legitimate users. ... This article is about the writer. ... February 11 is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Controversy

Kevin Mitnick's criminal activities, arrest, and trial were controversial, and have caused some computer industry journalists to raise legal and ethical questions concerning the events surrounding him.

The core of the controversy came from two books that presented varying facts that were at odds with one another: John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura's Takedown, and Jonathan Littman's The Fugitive Game. In particular, Littman made allegations of journalistic impropriety against Markoff, of overzealous prosecution of Mitnick by the government, of main stream media over-hyping of Mitnick's actual crimes, and of the legality of Shimomura's involvement in the matter. Further controversy came over the release of the movie Takedown, with Littman alleging that portions of the film were taken from his book without permission. Categories: People stubs | Hackers ...

The case against Mitnick was an important one. It tested then nascent laws that had been enacted for dealing with computer crime, and it raised public awareness of security issues involving networked computers. The controversy remains, however, as Mitnick is often used today as an example of the quintessential criminal hacker, despite the fact that his activities are thought to have been far less damaging and significant than those of other computer criminals of the time.

Radio

Kevin also usually makes semiannual appearances on the popular, late-night radio show Coast to Coast AM. Coast to Coast AM is a late-night syndicated radio talk show that deals with paranormal issues. ...

External links

• Mitnick Security Consulting (formerly known as Defensive Thinking) (http://www.mitnicksecurity.com), Kevin Mitnick's new company.
• Free Kevin (http://www.freekevin.com), The Official Kevin Mitnick Site, home of the Free Kevin movement.
• Freedom Downtime (http://www.freedomdowntime.com), the 2600 documentary.
• Takedown (http://www.takedown.com/) - the timeline, the evidence (including Mitnick's online sessions and voice calls) and other information on the Mitnick's break-ins and the resulting pursuit and finally - arrest.
• The Kevin Mitnick/Tsutomu Shimomura affair (http://www.gulker.com/ra/hack/) - lots of information on the case.
• The missing Chapter 1 of Mitnick's book (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/28835.html) (or from a site where it appeared earlier (http://littlegreenguy.fateback.com/chapter1/Chapter%201%20-%20Banned%20Edition.doc), but in MS Word format only.)
• Mitnick interview, February 5, 2003 (http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/02/04/2233250&mode=nocomment&tid=103&tid=123&tid=172)
• Kevin Mitnick Buys Hacker Stories for Upcoming Book Titled The Art of Hacking (http://www.hackwire.com/comments.php?catid=2&id=3)
• thebroken.org (http://www.thebroken.org/) has a video interview with Kevin Mitnick in Episode 3 (released January, 2004)