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Ask Kevin Mitnick
Posted by
Roblimo
on Mon Jan 20, 2003 12:00 PM
from the he's-as-free-as-a-bird-now dept.
from the he's-as-free-as-a-bird-now dept.
Okay, Kevin Mitnick is getting back online and can start taking email tomorrow, January 21. We've spoken with Kevin by phone, and he agrees that a Slashdot interview is a fine way to help celebrate his return to the Internet, especially since he has a book to sell and a consulting business to build. (Don't forget: Kevin hasn't been able to make much money for a number of years, and has a lot of lost time to make up for.) One question per post, please. We'll email Kevin 10 of the highest-moderated questions, and post his answers shortly after he gets them to us.
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How about.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How about.... (Score:5, Funny)
Delete spam. Tons of spam.
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No Offense meant, but.. (Score:5, Insightful)
he has a book to sell and a consulting business to build. (Don't forget: Kevin hasn't been able to make much money for a number of years, and has a lot of lost time to make up for.)
Knowing all this as the result of your choice, would you choose this path again? If so, why?
What do you say? (Score:5, Interesting)
Thoughts (Score:5, Interesting)
Or is is the old, I just gotta do this feeling?
Life Without the Internet (Score:5, Interesting)
What's Different? (Score:5, Interesting)
-theGreater Ponderer.
Your finest moment in court (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes? (Score:5, Interesting)
Do you feel... (Score:5, Interesting)
Skill sets? (Score:5, Interesting)
How do you find it? (Score:5, Interesting)
What do you think of todays internet?
Re:How do you find it? (Score:5, Funny)
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Which OS? (Score:5, Interesting)
Hmmm, maybe you will try them all? You are a sneaky one.
Scapegoat Sweepstakes? (Score:5, Interesting)
How many of the charges brought against you were unfair? What do you feel would have been a fair set of charges to levy against you?
The more things change... (Score:5, Interesting)
The slammer (Score:5, Interesting)
Welcome back.
Your wrongs... (Score:5, Interesting)
Free Kevin! (Score:5, Interesting)
Was Your Penalty Fair and Will It Deter? (Score:5, Insightful)
Future vs Past (Score:5, Interesting)
How do you see yourself? (Score:5, Insightful)
In what light and or combination of these types do you see yourself now, is that different from how you were 20 years ago, and do you see yourself as a champion of these things in the future or do you intend to just mix back into society and get a "normal" life back (after your book of course)?
The speed of change (Score:5, Interesting)
As a side note, if you're interested in game programming, let me know!!
Prison Life (Score:5, Interesting)
still possible (Score:5, Interesting)
clueful authorities? (Score:5, Interesting)
>How clueful are they?
>In your opinion, how did the each party (prosecution, your lawyer, and most
>important - the judge) look when it came to their understanding of
>technology? Did they know every nook and cranny, or seem lost in a maze of
>confusion? Do you think an understanding of the issues in question was a
>significant factor in court proceedings?
I know you spoke of this briefly in that lost chapter of your book, in that the companies who said they were victimized significantly overstated their losses (and admitted to it), and the judge went beyond prosecution's suggestion for punishment. But I'm curious to know how competent you think the feds are in these types of legal matters.
For better or worse... (Score:5, Insightful)
Philosophical changes (Score:5, Interesting)
Have your recent law-related experiences (for lack of a more elegant term) brought about any major philosophical changes in your life ? By this, I mean not necessarily computer related changes, but in all aspects of your perception of the world.
Did you know you'd get caught? (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess what I'm most curious about is whether you knew the risks and took them anyway, or whether you thought you were covering your tracks and that the risks were minimal. It would be interesting to know if you knew you'd eventually get busted or whether you thought you were relatively "safe" from discovery.
question (Score:5, Interesting)
Seeing.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Maeryk
Was signing away your rights vs early trial (Score:5, Interesting)
I enjoyed your bio, it's a pitty it was cut from your book.
Can you tell me why it was better to stay in prison and sign away your rights, than to go to trial early with a less prepared lawyer?
Weren't you just keeping yourself in prison longer that you should have been?
Do you really think that you would have got an even worse treatment if you went to trial earlier?
Question about Trust (Score:5, Interesting)
I realize that you may have put your cracking days behind you but can you really address the question of trust in the computer security industry.
How has your move into the security industry been recieved by the establishment, and how have you been dealing with the obvious question of you being trusted in the very area you manipulated.
Social Engineering (Score:5, Interesting)
Do you think that social engineering still plays as big a part now as it did in your heyday? Moreso maybe?
Re-Educating yourself for today's tech world. (Score:5, Interesting)
Published Stories vs. Reality (Score:5, Interesting)
What's it like? (Score:5, Interesting)
You are a notable exception. What's it like being a rock star, and how great is it that you'll now be able to fully capitalize on your fame in the financial sense? Would you be in as promising a position today had you not run afoul of the law?
Out of the Loop (Score:5, Interesting)
How did you/do you stay current on technologies without actual experience, and was it difficult without having an opportunity to put theory into practice?
Security Precautions (Score:5, Interesting)
Big question (Score:5, Funny)
Thanks in advance!
Social Engineering (Score:5, Interesting)
Do you have any stories about Social Engineering gone awry? That is, a situation where the mark saw right through your ruse and you just couldn't pull it off.
Welcome back Kevin (Score:5, Interesting)
There was a very interesting (and well balanced) program about you I saw in England a while ago, and in it it mentioned that you were put into solitary confinement (AFAIK) for 6 months, and weren't allowed to use (let alone go near) a telephone under the misaligned fear that you could "blow up the country with one call".
My question is: How does it make you feel when there are such ignorant and misinformed people who are in a position of authority (i.e. judges, police, government) and are there any ways in which you can use your experience to change these attitudes/problems for the good?
Did rehabilitation work? (Score:5, Interesting)
My question is therefore, "Did you learn that it is wrong to intentionally destroy others' work for your own amusement? If so, what part of the punishment was most effective? And, if not, what additional punishment might have changed your mind?"
This is a serious question. I'm not just trolling.
Do u have a keygen for Wind0zes xp? (Score:5, Interesting)
How Do You Plan on Getting Up to Speed? (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't get me wrong, but you can only advise people on social engineering and easy passwords for so long...what kind of knowledge did you already have on PKI, VPNs, Firewalls, IDSes? There seems to be so much that has changed that just a cursory understanding of the principles behind these technologies does not seem sufficient to serve as a consultant (or at least one I would pay for)
Since so much has changed radically in the last few years, how have you kept up or do you plan to keep up at the moment? I can't see just reading a book on the latest OS specs and administrative tasks and being able to consult on them without hands on experience, and in your case you have quite a few years of language, os, security, and other operational technology advances to get up to speed with, etc.
So basically....what's you game plan to get back to a modern day equivalent of the proficiency you had several years ago?
Time Flies (Score:5, Interesting)
Yours is a unique perspective - almost like a kid that has had full run of the candy store and was taken outside and forced to watch (face pressed to the glass). Now you're allowed back in to a drastically changed candy landscape. (Pardon the candy analogy, but I'm fond of sugary things).
In your opinion, what technology has changed the greatest since you were actively involved in the scene?
What will be your primary technology focus when you get back online - in terms of getting back up to speed?
Do you feel intimidated at the prospect of catching up on so many things? Are there areas that you will simply ignore out of necessity but would like to learn more about if you had the time?
Do you have any desire to hack just for the joy of hacking/discovery or have you been turned off of that in light of the consequences?
Thank you for your answers and welcome back!
public opinion (Score:5, Interesting)
Addiction (Score:5, Interesting)
Unauthorized? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What are the ten worst Windows vulnerabilities? (Score:5, Insightful)
"What are the ten worst Linux vulnerabilities to hacking, how would you attack such systems, and what has to be done with Linux to prevent such vulnerabilities?"
Surely you don't actually believe that Linux is unhackable? Wouldn't finding out what Linux's weakest areas are and fixing them before Linux becomes widspread enough on "Dumb User" hardware that it becomes the next great hacking target?
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