Kevin David Mitnick
Kevin Poulsen, Kevin Mitnick and Adrian Lamo
Born	October 06, 1963 (1963-10-06) (age 43) Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Computer Consultant, Mitnick Security Consulting author
Website	Kevin Mitnick

Kevin David Mitnick (born October 6, 1963) is a controversial computer cracker and convicted criminal in the United States. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 82 KB) Summary Group photo of Adrian Lamo, Kevin Mitnick, and Kevin Lee Poulsen circa 2001. ... Kevin Lee Poulsen (far right), pictured circa 2001 with Kevin Mitnick and Adrian Lamo Kevin Lee Poulsen (born 1965 in Pasadena, California, USA) is a former black hat hacker. ... Adrian Lamo (born 1981) is an infamous former grey hat hacker and journalist, principally known for breaking into a series of high-security computer networks, and his subsequent arrest. ... October 6 is the 279th day of the year (280th in Leap years). ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC previouly known as Defensive Thinking is the information security company founded by Kevin Mitnick and Alexis Kasperavičius. ... Authorship redirects here. ... is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Black hat (disambiguation). ...

Mitnick was convicted in the late 1990s of illegally gaining access to computer networks and stealing intellectual property. Though Mitnick has been convicted of computer related crimes and possession of several forged identification documents, his supporters argue that his punishment was excessive. For the 2006 film, see Intellectual Property (film). ...

Mitnick served five years in prison, of which four and a half years were pre-trial, and eight months were in solitary confinement.^[1] He was released on January 21, 2000. During his supervised release, which ended on January 21, 2003, he was initially restricted from using any communications technology other than a landline telephone. Mitnick fought this decision in court, and the judge ruled in his favor, allowing him to access the Internet. Solitary confinement, colloquially referred to as the hole (or in British English the block), is a punishment in which a prisoner is denied contact with any other persons, excluding guards, chaplains and doctors. ... is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Mitnick now runs Mitnick Security Consulting, a computer security consultancy.^[1] Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC previouly known as Defensive Thinking is the information security company founded by Kevin Mitnick and Alexis Kasperavičius. ...

Early life

Kevin Mitnick began social engineering or perhaps discovered his first engineerable situation at the age of 12. He realized he could bypass the punchcard system used for the Los Angeles bus system: by buying his own punch, he could get free bus rides anywhere in the greater LA area. Social engineering became his primary method of obtaining information, whether it be user names and passwords, modem phone numbers or any number of other pieces of data. Social engineering has several meanings: Social engineering (political science) Social engineering (computer security) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ...

In high school, he was introduced to phone phreaking, the activity of manipulating telephones which was often used to evade long distance charges.^[1] Phreaking is a slang term for the action of making a telephone system do something that it normally should not allow—in the words of one former practitioner, making the phone company bend over and grab its ankles. Sometimes, phreaking will be considered illegal, like in the act of...

Computer cracking

Mitnick broke into his first computer network in 1979, when a friend gave him the phone number for the Ark, the computer system at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) used for developing their RSTS/E operating system software. He broke into DEC's computer network and copied DEC's software, for which he was later convicted. This was the first of a series of run-ins with the law. The DEC logo Digital Equipment Corporation was a pioneering American company in the computer industry. ... RSTS/E (an acronym for Resource Sharing Time Sharing Extended) was a multi-user time-shared operating system developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) for the PDP-11 series of 16-bit minicomputers, and used primarily during the 1970s and 1980s, although some installations were still being upgraded well into... For the scientific and engineering discipline studying computer networks, see Computer networking. ...

Shifting identities

Kevin Mitnick would change his identity by exploiting how the identification system worked in the United States. He would obtain the birth certificates of recently deceased newborns and very young children (around the ages of 1 to 3 years old), as the government had no distinct record of their death since they never worked nor were involved in society. Furthermore, the certificates would have to be from someone who was born and died in places far apart, as it was more difficult to trace back to the original source. He changed his identity about three or four times, any time he changed jobs. He claimed to have learned most of this information through a book titled Paper Trail, written by Barbara Snow Gilbert.

Mitnick was arrested after the FBI obtained a search warrant, searched his house, and found his wallet with numerous fake IDs. He was caught in an accident by having the fake identification still in his possession. Once out of jail, he was able to evade the FBI and police for a relatively long time. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...

Controversy

Kevin Mitnick's criminal activities, arrest, and trial were controversial, as was the journalism surrounding his conviction.

The controversy is highlighted by the differing views offered in two books: John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura's Takedown, and Jonathan Littman's The Fugitive Game. Littman made four notable allegations: John Markoff (born October 24, 1949) is an American writer and journalist. ... Tsutomu Shimomura Tsutomu Shimomura is a Japanese scientist and computer security expert based in the United States, who gained fame when he, together with computer journalist John Markoff, tracked down and helped the FBI arrest hacker Kevin Mitnick. ...

• journalistic impropriety by Markoff, who had covered the case for the New York Times
• overzealous prosecution of Mitnick by the government
• mainstream media over-hyping Mitnick's actual crimes
• Shimomura's involvement in the matter being of unclear or dubious legality

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. The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Takedown (2000), also known as Track Down, is a film about computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, based on the book Takedown by John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura. ...

The case against Mitnick 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 computer criminal although his exploits are less notable than his notoriety suggests.

Supporters of Mitnick have asserted that many of the charges against him were fraudulent^[2] and not based on actual losses.^[3]

Falsehoods have also surrounded Mitnick's exploits. For example, many mistakenly believe that Mitnick was once in the FBI's most wanted list. Federal prosecuter Kent Walker said in an interview with the New York Times that Mitnick "…was arguably the most wanted computer hacker in the world, he allegedly had access to corporate trade secrets worth millions of dollars. He was a very big threat".^[4] The headline of the resultant article, "A Most-Wanted Cyberthief Is Caught in His Own Web," was later picked up by Associated Press, Time Magazine and Reuters, thus perpetuating the myth. The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949, during a game of Hearts between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson,[1] International News Service (the predecessor of the United Press International) Editor-in... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ... (Clockwise from upper left) Time magazine covers from May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ... Reuters Group plc (LSE: RTR and NASDAQ: RTRSY); pron. ...

While Mitnick's actual actions may not have justified the level of official concern they did, the fact that his activities were criminal is not disputed. Mitnick's first adult criminal sentence was considerably shorter than is the norm today.

The film Freedom Downtime, a documentary that centers on the topics of Kevin Mitnick's incarceration in a maximum security prison, Miramax's film's screen adaptation of Takedown, and the "FREE KEVIN" movement, was made in 2001 by Emmanuel Goldstein and produced by 2600 Films. Left to right: Deth Vegetable, Eric Emmanuel Golstein Corley, Joe630 on the supplementary DVD of Freedom Downtime Freedom Downtime is a 2001 documentary film sympathetic to hacker Kevin Mitnick, directed by Emmanuel Goldstein and produced by 2600 Films. ... Takedown (2000), also known as Track Down, is a film about computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, based on the book Takedown by John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura. ... Left to right: Deth Vegetable, Eric Emmanuel Goldstein Corley and Joe630 in Freedom Downtime Eric Gorden Corley is a member of the computer hacker community and goes by the name Emmanuel Goldstein, after the leader of the underground in George Orwells classic, Nineteen Eighty-Four. ...

Attacks on Mitnick's sites

On August 20, 2006, Kevin Mitnick's site was defaced by Pakistani crackers with offensive messages against him. The domain names defensivethinking.com, mitsec.com, kevinmitnick.com and mitnicksecurity.com displayed the vandalism for hours before the affected files were replaced. is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Defacement is a term used in heraldry and vexillology to refer to the addition of a symbol to a background. ... 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. ... Defacement is a term used in heraldry and vexillology to refer to the addition of a symbol to a background. ...

Mitnick commented:

The Web hosting provider that hosts my sites was hacked, fortunately, I don't keep any confidential data on my Web site, so it wasn't that serious. Of course it is embarrassing to be defaced—nobody likes it.

As a notorious figure, Mitnick has been targeted by hackers who wish to bolster their status and for people seeking to prove their abilities.^[5] The term Hackers can refer to several things: Hacker - a type of person interested in exploration, usually of a computer or electrical engineering background. ...

Zone-H reports that on one occasion, there was a struggle between different black hat and white hat hackers when some defacers put their nicks on Mitnick's site and fans replaced the vandalized copy with an original unmodified one. This went on for a full day.^[6] A black-hat is a term in computing for someone who compromises the security of a system without permission from an authorized party, usually with the intent of accessing computers connected to the network. ... A Whitehat, also rendered as White hat or White-hat, is, in the realm of Information technology, a name that describes a person who is ethically opposed to the abuse of Computer systems. ...

Recent activity

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items into other sections and removing inappropriate items. (August 2007)

• Kevin Mitnick is now a professional computer consultant (doing business as Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC), and has co-authored two books on computer security: The Art of Deception (2002), which focuses on social engineering, and The Art of Intrusion (2005), focusing on real stories of security exploits.
• He co-authored (with Alexis Kasperavicius) a social engineering prevention training course and certification: CSEPS.
• On August 20, 2006, A Syrian editor, Nidal Maalouf, accused Mitnick of stealing his domain name (Syria-news.com). He falsely claimed that Mitnick is the FBI's No.1 wanted person for illegal acts against a number of internet sites. Maalouf was interviewed by the local newspaper "Bourses & Markets", and the interview was quoted by Al-Ayham Saleh on his personal website.^[7]
• Mitnick occasionally appears on the late night radio show Coast to Coast AM. He has also hosted the show, interviewing Steve Wozniak (on April 30, 2006) and others.
• Mitnick has spoken at events: IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals) Privacy Academy in Las Vegas, October, 2005 (keynote speaker); National Youth Leadership Forum on Technology in San Jose, CA, in the summer of 2004; the Fifth H.O.P.E. in New York, NY, July, 2004 (keynote speaker); ITESM Monterrey Tec, in February 2003 (keynote speaker).
• Kevin Mitnick was a "surprise guest" in the 40th TWiT podcast when he ran into Steve Wozniak by chance in Las Vegas. Wozniak was on the line with fellow TWiT hosts via Skype on his notebook computer, and Mitnick remained with Wozniak for much of the remainder of the show.
• Kevin Mitnick appeared on "Thebroken", an online videozine marketing itself as 'borderline legal.' He appeared on the third episode of the show, but was given mention in the first.
• Mitnick guest starred in a first season episode of Alias. The casting was an in-joke, since Mitnick played a CIA hacker. Due to the conditions of his parole, however, the computer he used in the scene was a prop.
• Kevin Mitnick appeared on the South African actuality programme "Carte Blanche".
• On 2 March 2007, the WELL declined his application for admission, refunding his membership fee. [1][2]

Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... The Art of Deception is a book by Kevin Mitnick that covers the art of social engineering. ... Social engineering has several meanings: Social engineering (political science) Social engineering (computer security) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Art of Intrusion is a book by Kevin Mitnick that is a collection of stories about social engineering as performed by other hackers. ... Alexis Kasperavičius (aka Alex Kasper or Alex Kasperavicius) is a well known security consultant and trainer in the computer and legal security field as well as a multimedia producer. ... Social engineering has several meanings: Social engineering (political science) Social engineering (computer security) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Certified Social Engineering Prevention Specialist (CSEPS) refers to both an individual Mitnick Security Consulting certification and a broader professional certification program. ... is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Coast to Coast AM is a late-night syndicated radio talk show in the United States which deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate either to the paranormal, or to alleged conspiracies. ... Stephan Gary Woz Wozniak (born August 11, 1950 in San Jose, California) is a U.S. computer engineer and the co-founder of Apple Computer (now Apple Inc. ... is the 120th day of the year (121st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... IAPP logo The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), headquartered in York, Maine, is a global association of privacy and security professionals. ... Vegas redirects here. ... The National Youth Leadership Forum (abbreviated: NYLF) is a non-profit private education organization that runs career/leadership programs for high school students throughout the United States with the goal of career preparation. ... Hackers on Planet Earth or HOPE is a conference series sponsored by the hacker magazine 2600 The Hacker Quarterly. ... ITESM Main Building (Rectoría) and mural ITESM is the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, also known as the Tec de Monterrey, or simply Tec. Originated in Monterrey, Mexico, it has currently over 30 satellite locations throughout the country. ... . The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions. ... Stephan Gary Woz Wozniak (born August 11, 1950 in San Jose, California) is a U.S. computer engineer and the co-founder of Apple Computer (now Apple Inc. ... This article or section contains too much jargon and may need simplification or further explanation. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Alias is an American Spy-fi television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006, spanning five seasons. ... An in joke is a joke whose humour is clear only to those people who are in a group that has some prior knowledge (not known by the whole population) that makes the joke humorous. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... It has been suggested that Medical parole be merged into this article or section. ... is the 61st day of the year (62nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Look up well in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In popular culture

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items into other sections and removing inappropriate items. (August 2007)

• Mitnick is referenced by a fictional radio caller in the video game Grand Theft Auto III. The crazy caller rants and raves about the National Security Agency's ECHELON system and government conspiracies. At the end, he is asked if he wants to say anything else and answers "yes", and then shouts "FREE KEVIN!", but is immediately cut off. "Free Kevin" is a reference to the controversy over Mitnick's trial and incarceration.
• Kevin Mitnick is mentioned in episode 18 of the anime "Black Lagoon".
• The video game "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines" features a Nosferatu hacker named Mitnick.
• Mitnick is played by actor Skeet Ulrich in the movie Takedown.
• Mitnick's voice can be heard in the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas". During WCTR's "Area 53" conspiracy theory show, an unnamed caller talks about being kept in solitary confinement for 8 months because 'I can launch nuclear missiles by just whistling into a phone!'. The caller is none other than Kevin Mitnick himself. The host of the show, Marvin Trill, asks if the caller can blow up all the other radio stations in town, to which Mitnick replies 'Hey, I don't do that anymore. I only use my powers for good.'.
• Mitnick is referenced in Sam & Max Season One, Episode 6, "Bright Side of the Moon." When you speak to Harry the Moleman upon arriving on the moon, the dialogue tree option "Are you still a criminal?" yields the following:

  Sam: Are you still a notorious criminal?
  Max: Or an obscure one, like Kevin Mitnick? Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Grand Theft Auto III (sometimes abbreviated as GTA III or GTA3) is an action computer and video game developed by DMA Design (now Rockstar North), published by Rockstar Games in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2 video game console, May 2002 for Windows-based personal computers, and in November 2003... This article is about the spy network. ... “Animé” redirects here. ... Serialized in Sunday GX Original run 19 April 2002 – ongoing No. ... “Computer and video games” redirects here. ... Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is a role-playing computer game played from the first-person shooter perspective and is developed by Troika Games using Valve Softwares Source engine. ... This articles content is specific to the fictional setting known as the World of Darkness. ... Bryan Ray Skeet Ulrich (born January 20, 1970) is an American actor who starred in the CBS drama Jericho. ... Takedown (2000), also known as Track Down, is a film about computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, based on the book Takedown by John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura. ... “Computer and video games” redirects here. ... Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the fifth video game in the Grand Theft Auto series. ... This page is for Telltales episodic Sam & Max games. ... Bright Side of the Moon is the season finale to Sam & Max Season One. ...

See also

• List of convicted computer criminals

This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

References

• Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw-By the Man Who Did It, by Tsutomu Shimomura (1996, ISBN 0-7868-8913-6)
• The Fugitive Game: Online with Kevin Mitnick, by Jonathan Littman (1996, ISBN 0-316-52858-7)
• Cyber Punk - Outlaws and Hackers On The Computer Frontier, by Katie Hafner & John Markoff (1995, Hardcover ISBN 1-872180-94-9, Paperback ISBN 0-684-81862-0)

• The Art Of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind The Exploits Of Hackers, Intruders, And Deceivers, by Kevin Mitnick (2005, Hardback ISBN 0-7645-6959-7, Paperback ISBN 0-471-78266-1)
• The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security, by Kevin Mitnick (2002, Hardback ISBN 0-471-23712-4, Paperback ISBN 0-7645-4280-X)
• Littman, Jonathan. "The Invisible Digital Man", Playboy, June, 2007. 
• Fost, Dan. "Movie About Notorious Hacker Inspires a Tangle of Suits and Subplots", San Francisco Chronicle, May 4, 2000. Retrieved on 2007-04-24. 

This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Categories: Stub ... #REDIRECT Revision3 Corporation This sandbox uses a very effective approach to familiarize users and editors with Wiki functions. ... Tsutomu Shimomura Tsutomu Shimomura is a Japanese scientist and computer security expert based in the United States, who gained fame when he, together with computer journalist John Markoff, tracked down and helped the FBI arrest hacker Kevin Mitnick. ... Katie Hafner is a journalist who writes books and articles about technology. ... John Markoff (born October 24, 1949) is an American writer and journalist. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Kevin Mitnick

• 2600 Live Mitnick interview, 2600 Magazine, Released January 2003, Run time: 1 hr 18 min 5 sec
• Mitnick Security Consulting (formerly known as Defensive Thinking), Kevin Mitnick's new company.
• TAKEDOWN, last accessed May 7, 2006
• A CNN Interview with Kevin Mitnick, last accessed September 15, 2006
• Freedom Downtime, the 2600 documentary.
• The Kevin Mitnick/Tsutomu Shimomura affair - lots of information on the case.
• The missing Chapter 1 of Mitnick's book (or from a site where it appeared earlier, but in Microsoft Word format only.)
• Mitnick interview February 5, 2003
• Kevin Mitnick Buys Hacker Stories for Upcoming Book Titled The Art of Hacking
• Bio of Kevin Mitnick from the Rotten Library
• A Joy of Tech comic strip on Kevin ref TWiT Episode-40
• Mitnick interview on Norwegian broadcasting (2006).
• The interview for HACK.pl