Kevin Mitnick
| Kevin Mitnick | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Kevin David Mitnick August 6, 1963 Los Angeles, California |
| Other names | The Condor, The Darkside Hacker |
| Occupation | |
| Organization | Mitnick Security Consulting |
| Criminal charge | 1995: Wire fraud (14 counts), possession of unauthorized access devices (8 counts), interception of wire or electronic communications, unauthorized access to a federal computer, and causing damage to a computer. |
| Criminal penalty | 1999: 46 months prison plus 3 years' probation 1988: One year prison. |
| Call-sign | N6NHG |
| Website | mitnicksecurity |
Kevin David Mitnick (born August 6, 1963) is an American computer security consultant, author and hacker, best known for his high-profile 1995 arrest and later five years in prison for various computer and communications-related crimes.
Mitnick's pursuit, arrest, trial, and sentence along with the associated journalism, books and films were all controversial.
He now runs the security firm Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC which helps test companies' security strengths, weaknesses, and potential loopholes. He is also the Chief Hacking Officer of the security awareness training company KnowBe4, as well as an active advisory board member at Zimperium, a firm that develops a mobile intrusion prevention system.
Mitnick grew up in Los Angeles and attended James Monroe High School. He was enrolled at Los Angeles Pierce College and USC. For a time, he worked as a receptionist for Stephen S. Wise Temple.
At age 13, Mitnick used social engineering and dumpster diving to bypass the punch card system used in the Los Angeles bus system. After he convinced a bus driver to tell him where he could buy his own ticket punch for "a school project", he was able to ride any bus in the greater LA area using unused transfer slips he found in a dumpster next to the bus company garage. Social engineering later became his primary method of obtaining information, including user-names and passwords and modem phone numbers.
Mitnick first gained unauthorized access to a computer network in 1979, at 16, when a friend gave him the phone number for the Ark, the computer system Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) used for developing their RSTS/E operating system software. He broke into DEC's computer network and copied their software, a crime he was charged with and convicted of in 1988. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Near the end of his supervised release, Mitnick hacked into Pacific Bell voice mail computers. After a warrant was issued for his arrest, Mitnick fled, becoming a fugitive for two and a half years.
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