Kevin Mitnick (Kevin Mitnick)

Kevin David Mitnick (born August 6, 1963) is a computer security consultant and author. He was a world-famous controversial computer hacker in the late 20th century, who was, at the time of his arrest, the most wanted computer criminal in United States history.

Early life

At the age of twelve Kevin Mitnick used social engineering to bypass the punchcard system used in the Los Angeles bus system. After a friendly bus driver told him where he could buy his own ticket punch, he could ride any bus in the greater LA area using unused transfer slips he found in the trash. Social engineering became his primary method of obtaining information to include user names and passwords, modem phone numbers or any number of other pieces of data.



In high school, he was introduced by "Petronix" to phone phreaking, a method of manipulating telephones, which he often used to evade long distance charges. He also became handy with amateur radios; using radio equipment, he reportedly managed to gain unauthorized access to the speaker systems of nearby fast food restaurants.

Computer cracking

Mitnick gained unauthorized access to his first computer network in 1979, at the age of sixteen, 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 DEC's software, a crime he was charged and convicted for in 1988. He was sentenced to twelve months in prison followed by a three year period of supervised release. Near the end of his supervised release, Mitnick hacked into Pacific Bell voice mail computers. Mitnick fled after a warrant was issued for his arrest, becoming a fugitive for the next two and a half years.

Source: Wikipedia

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