From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   Kevin David Mitnick (1963–2023) was an American computer security   
   consultant, author, and convicted hacker. He is best known for his   
   high-profile 1995 arrest and 5 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.   
      
   Mitnick later ran the security firm Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC. He was   
   also the Chief Hacking Officer and part owner 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 was born in Van Nuys, California. He grew up in Los Angeles and   
   attended James Monroe High School in North Hills, during which time he became   
   an amateur radio operator and chose the nickname "Condor" after watching the   
   movie Three Days of the    
   Condor. He was later enrolled at Los Angeles Pierce College and USC. For a   
   time, he worked as a receptionist for Stephen S. Wise Temple.   
      
   At age 12, Mitnick got a bus driver to tell him where he could buy his own   
   ticket punch for "a school project", and was then 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.   
      
   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 that   
   Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) used for developing its RSTS/E operating   
   system software. He    
   broke into DEC's computer network and copied the company's software, a crime   
   for which he was charged and convicted 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 voicemail computers. After a warrant was   
   issued for his arrest, Mitnick fled, becoming a fugitive for 2.5 years.   
      
   According to the U.S. Dept of Justice, Mitnick gained unauthorized access to   
   dozens of computer networks while he was a fugitive. He used cloned cellular   
   phones to hide his location and, among other things, copied valuable   
   proprietary software from some    
   of the country's largest cellular telephone and computer companies. Mitnick   
   also intercepted and stole computer passwords, altered computer networks, and   
   broke into and read private emails.   
      
   After a well-publicized pursuit, the FBI arrested Mitnick on Feb 15, 1995, at   
   his apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina, on federal offenses related to a   
   2.5-year period of computer hacking which included computer and wire fraud. He   
   was found with cloned    
   cellular phones, more than 100 cloned cellular phone codes, and multiple   
   pieces of false identification.   
      
   In December 1997, the Yahoo! website was hacked, displaying a message calling   
   for Mitnick's release. According to the message, all recent visitors of   
   Yahoo!'s website had been infected with a computer worm that would wreak havoc   
   on Christmas Day unless    
   Mitnick was released. Yahoo! dismissed the claims as a hoax and said that the   
   worm was nonexistent.   
      
   Mitnick was charged with 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.   
      
   Mitnick was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, but it was not used as evidence   
   at his trial. In 1999, Mitnick pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud,   
   two counts of computer fraud, and one count of illegally intercepting a wire   
   communication, as part    
   of a plea agreement before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of   
   California in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison plus 22   
   months for violating the terms of his 1989 supervised release sentence for   
   computer fraud. He    
   admitted to violating the terms of supervised release by hacking into Pacific   
   Bell voicemail and other systems and to associating with known computer   
   hackers, in this case co-defendant Lewis De Payne.   
      
   Mitnick served five years in prison—four-and-a-half years' pre-trial and   
   eight months in solitary confinement—because, according to Mitnick, law   
   enforcement officials convinced a judge that he had the ability to "start a   
   nuclear war by whistling into    
   a pay phone", implying that law enforcement told the judge that he could   
   somehow dial into the NORAD modem via a payphone from prison and communicate   
   with the modem by whistling to launch nuclear missiles. In addition, a number   
   of media outlets reported    
   on the unavailability of kosher meals at the prison where he was incarcerated.   
      
   Mitnick was released on Jan 21, 2000. During his supervised release, which   
   ended on Jan 21, 2003, he was initially forbidden to use any communications   
   technology other than a landline telephone. Under the plea deal, Mitnick was   
   also prohibited from    
   profiting from films or books based on his criminal activity for seven years,   
   under a special judicial Son of Sam law variation act.   
      
   In Dec 2001, an FCC judge ruled that Mitnick was sufficiently rehabilitated to   
   possess a federally issued amateur radio license.   
      
   Mitnick's criminal activities, arrest, and trial, along with the associated   
   journalism, were all controversial. Though Mitnick has been convicted of   
   copying software unlawfully, his supporters argue that his punishment was   
   excessive and that many of the    
   charges against him were fraudulent and not based on actual losses.   
      
   John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura, who had both been part of the pursuit of   
   Mitnick, wrote the book Takedown about Mitnick's capture.   
      
   The case against Mitnick tested the new laws that had been enacted for dealing   
   with computer crime, and it raised public awareness of security involving   
   networked computers. The controversy remains, however, and the Mitnick story   
   is often cited today as    
   an example of the influence that newspapers and other media outlets can have   
   on law enforcement personnel.   
      
      
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