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Kevin MitnikThe progenitor of hackers, programmer
Date of Birth: 06.08.1964
Country:  USA |
Content:
- The Progenitor of Hackers: Kevin Mitnick
- Contested Biographies
- Early Life and Influences
- Diving into Cybercrime
- Clashes with the Law
- The 1980s: Honeying Skills
- 1987-1995: A Spiral of Arrests and Evasions
- The Post-Release Era: Elusive and Erratic
- Unexplained activity occurred on the judge's credit account.
- For over two years, Mitnick remained elusive.
- "He
The Progenitor of Hackers: Kevin Mitnick
In the formative years of adolescence, some embark on poetic endeavors while others flee from home. Kevin, too, escaped - into the realm of computer networks. There, he emerged as a virtuoso of hacking, a poet of the virtual.
Contested Biographies
Crafting a biography of Kevin Mitnick poses challenges due to conflicting accounts, inconsistent dates, and variations in names (e.g., Lenni DiCicco, who turned Mitnick in to the FBI in 1989, is alternately referred to as Lenny or John). A more nuanced issue lies in the interpretive biases that shape the presentation of facts and the characterization of the individual.
Journalists, notably John Markoff, have painted a striking image of Mitnick: an autistic sociopath with a sullen face, manically "vandalizing government, corporate, and university computer systems" with an intent to inflict harm on those who wronged him and humanity at large – a modern-day "mad scientist." However, many hackers have disputed this portrayal, and Mitnick himself has seemingly found it troubling. The media's fervor intensified when Mitnick declined to grant them free interviews (Markoff and Shimomura reportedly received $75,000 for their book chronicling Mitnick's capture, and film and video game adaptations were in the works).
Reconstructing the sequence of events from written sources is arduous, but interpreting their significance proves even more challenging. Thus, this account aims to present the facts systematically, including the interpretive context. The reader is left to navigate the complexities and draw their conclusions.
Early Life and Influences
Kevin D. Mitnick was born in 1964 in North Hills, USA. His parents divorced when he was three, leaving him with a characteristic trait of many hackers: an absent father. He resided in Los Angeles with his mother, a waitress who provided limited attention to her son. This lack of parental presence may have driven Kevin to seek solace in the virtual world, where he found freedom and a sense of empowerment.
Diving into Cybercrime
In his teenage years, Mitnick's hacking exploits began when he infiltrated the administrative system of his high school. Significantly, he refrained from altering grades, despite the temptation. Instead, the act itself and the admiration of his fellow hackers, teenage outcasts like himself, fueled his motivation.
Their primary form of entertainment involved elaborate telephone pranks (e.g., assigning payphone status to someone's home phone, resulting in a recording requesting 20 cents each time the phone was lifted).
Clashes with the Law
Mitnick's first run-in with the authorities occurred in 1981 when he playfully hacked into the North American Aerospace Defense Command computer system in Colorado. At 17, he possessed an insatiable thirst for knowledge, particularly in telephone switching systems. Unlike many of his peers, he opted against pursuing a college education, remaining an autodidact throughout his life.
To acquire manuals and software on COSMOS and MicroPort, Mitnick had to infiltrate the corporate computers of Pacific Bell. His actions led to his arrest and conviction, resulting in three months at the Los Angeles Juvenile Hall and a year of probation. Mitnick promptly violated the terms of his probation by hacking into a local university computer system (using it to connect to the Pentagon's APRANET), which earned him six months in prison. This prison stint became his unconventional university.
Upon his release, Mitnick had mastered the intricacies of the world's largest computer network (the telephone system) as well as the top specialists at Bell Labs. He learned how to create free phone numbers, make calls under someone else's number, disconnect lines at will, and eavesdrop on any conversation.
Within the hacker community, he adopted the moniker "Condor," inspired by a Robert Redford film in which the protagonist outsmarts the CIA using his phone manipulation skills. To the phone company, however, he became James Bond, with an unlisted number ending in 007.
The 1980s: Honeying Skills
Throughout the 1980s, Mitnick honed his craft, playing practical jokes over the phone and computer networks (sometimes even at the expense of his friends) and successfully eluding law enforcement. He moved to Thousand Oaks, California, with a girlfriend he met in a computer literacy class during summer school. However, his respite from the limelight proved short-lived.
1987-1995: A Spiral of Arrests and Evasions
In December 1987, Mitnick was apprehended for stealing computer programs from Santa Cruz Operation, resulting in three years of probation. Less than a year later, he faced another arrest for stealing proprietary computer code from Digital Equipment Corp.'s research lab in Palo Alto.
Ironically, Mitnick's downfall was precipitated by his friend and fellow hacker, Lenni DiCicco, with whom he had collaborated on nocturnal raids into Digital Equipment's computers in an attempt to duplicate the VMS operating system. Reports indicate that when FBI agents apprehended Mitnick in a multi-level garage parking structure (a scene straight out of a Hollywood thriller), Mitnick confronted DiCicco, asking "Why did you do this?" DiCicco reportedly replied, "Because you're a menace to society."
The court echoed DiCicco's sentiment, denying Mitnick's bail. The assistant prosecutor declared, "This man is very dangerous and needs to be kept away from a computer." Detective James M. Black, head of the Los Angeles Police Department's computer crimes division, stated, "He is orders of magnitude beyond the average hacker."
Mitnick was sentenced to a year in a low-security prison, eight months of which were served in solitary confinement. Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer also ordered a six-month mandatory treatment program for "computer addiction," recognizing that preventing a hacker from accessing computers could lead to severe psychological distress. Federal prosecutors imposed additional phone restrictions, fearing that Mitnick would find ways to access external computers.
Analyzing Mitnick's psychology, rehabilitation services director Harriet Rosetto emphasized the compensatory nature of his addiction: "Hacking gives Kevin a sense of self-esteem that he lacks in real life. It's not about greed or a desire to inflict harm... He's like a big kid playing 'Dungeons and Dragons.'"
Upon his release in 1990, Mitnick was required to abstain from using computers or modems. A probation officer was appointed to monitor his behavior.
The Post-Release Era: Elusive and Erratic
Following his release, strange events began to transpire:His probation officer's phone mysteriously disconnected, much to the bewilderment of the phone company.
Unexplained activity occurred on the judge's credit account.
All records of Mitnick's arrest and subsequent conviction disappeared from the Santa Cruz courthouse computer.
According to one source, Mitnick briefly violated his travel restrictions and visited friends in Israel.
On the surface, Mitnick appeared calm and collected, working as a researcher and providing paid consultations. He embraced a healthier lifestyle, shedding 100 pounds by June 1992. His face lost the sallow pallor characteristic of computer underground dwellers. He even adopted a vegetarian diet.
However, tragedy struck when Mitnick's brother died (reportedly from a heroin overdose), triggering a relapse. In September 1992, the FBI obtained a warrant to search Mitnick's Calabasas, California residence. He was suspected of unauthorized access to the California Department of Motor Vehicles computers, causing an estimated $1 million in damages. (His method involved impersonating a police officer to obtain a wealth of confidential information, including driver's licenses with photographs.)
Authorities also suspected Mitnick's involvement in hacking into an Army computer system and accessing FBI files. Most intriguing, however, were allegations that he had eavesdropped on phone conversations involving security personnel at Pacific Bell.
Unwilling to face these accusations, Mitnick fled. By November, Mitnick was declared a federal fugitive. He seemed to vanish into thin air. The FBI speculated that he had fabricated numerous identification cards, a feat well within his capabilities. (For those unfamiliar with the concept, watch the movie "The Net.") At one point, a mistaken identity led to an arrest, but it was not Mitnick.
For over two years, Mitnick remained elusive.
Resurgence and DownfallSigns of Mitnick's existence resurfaced around mid-1994. Motorola reported that software used to control cellular communications had been copied from their computer. Dan Farmer, the creator of the renowned SATAN (Security Administrator Tool for Analysing Networks) program, which searches for security vulnerabilities in computer systems, stated that a hacker had stolen an early version of his software. Based on the techniques employed, the FBI concluded that Mitnick was likely the perpetrator.
In July, law enforcement approached Kevin's grandparents in Las Vegas, hoping to persuade them to appeal to their grandson to surrender. His grandmother expressed concerns over his fear of incarceration. Mitnick had suffered severe anxiety during his previous eight months in solitary confinement. However, they declined to intervene, claiming it was beyond their influence.
Authorities nearly apprehended Mitnick in October while investigating complaints from McCaw Cellular Communication Inc. regarding a cracker stealing electronic serial numbers from their cell phones. When police raided Mitnick's apartment in Seattle, where he was living under an assumed name, they found several cellular phones, manuals describing phone number cloning procedures, and a scanner, potentially used to monitor police activity related to his pursuit. He had been living near the University of Washington for the past three months and working as a computer technician at a local hospital.
