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Kevin Mitnick referred to himself as the “hacker poster boy”; the Department of Justice called him “the most wanted computer criminal in United States history”.  He even found fame on the big screen in the movies “Freedom Downtime” and “Takedown”.

Mitnick showed an interest in rearranging the system when he was twelve years old.  He bypassed the Los Angeles bus punch card system by buying himself a punch for free rides.  A few years later, he continued his hacking education by phone phreaking (manipulating telephone systems to avoid long distance charges).  Kevin Mitnick’s hacking took him across the United States for two and a half years, stealing corporate secrets, scrambling phone networks and breaking into the National Defense Warning System. 

In the late 1990s, Kevin Mitnick hacked into the home computer of Tsutomu Shimomura, computer expert and ‘white hat’ hacker (more about Shimomura in a future post).  Bad move for Mitnick.  Tsutomu Shimomura teamed with the FBI; the partnership resulted in Mitnick’s arrest.  He was ultimately convicted for stealing software from Digital Equipment Corporation after breaking into that company’s computer network. 

He was released from his five-year prison sentence, eight months of which were spent in solitary confinement, in January, 2000. 

Mitnick now has a different outlook on computer security.  He owns Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC, has co-authored two relevant books, The Art of Deception (2002) and The Art of Intrusion (2005).  He also collaborated with Alexis Kasperavicius to bring to fruition CSEPS, a social engineering prevention training course.  In addition, Mitnick is gaining notoriety as a speaker to professional organizations and youth groups and makes appearances, hosts, and conducts interviews on the late night radio show Coast to Coast AM.