CNN Interviews Kevin Mitnick 193
phantom writes to tell us that a couple of days ago Kevin Mitnick gave an interview to CNN further deconstructing his past exploits and discussing his current activities.
The flow chart is a most thoroughly oversold piece of program documentation. -- Frederick Brooks, "The Mythical Man Month"
404 (Score:5, Funny)
Damn, he's good.
Re:404 (Score:2)
Nice to see you're back.
May I be the first to say (Score:4, Funny)
Re:May I be the first to say (Score:5, Funny)
Re:May I be the first to say (Score:1)
No. As in Osama.
Re:May I be the first to say (Score:5, Funny)
Re:May I be the first to say (Score:3, Funny)
Re:May I be the first to say (Score:2)
"past exploits" (Score:5, Insightful)
Sigh (Score:5, Insightful)
He was a dick to a bunch of people, he got in trouble, he spent some time in jail. Okay, that sucks for him, but why does everyone drool over him?
Woz was an electronic prankster, but he wasn't a jerk, and he *created things* instead of just making people unhappy. I could see being a Woz fan, but waving a "Kevin" flag is just weird.
Re:Sigh (Score:5, Informative)
Dude, have you *read* the story of Mitnick? Yeah, he did some things he shouldn'ta. He knew it. He was a dick. He also didn't send out P3N15 spam, nor did he do any particular damage to the systems he infiltrated.
But where it gets interesting? His prosecution... He was denied more rights than most people know they have, and was even denied right to a phone call because they feared he could launch bombs by squeaking ringtones into the phone!
Simple absurdity.
wrong (Score:2, Insightful)
the kind of people who admire criminals do so for one overriding reason: for all of their other failures, criminals do have courage
so if you admire kevin mitnick, you admire him because he has the balls to do what you do not
meanwhile if you don't admire kevin mitnick, then good for you: you probably have a modicum of courage about your character, without the failures of character mitnick has/ had
as for his prosecution, well if that's what gets you fired up, then yo
Re:wrong (Score:1)
I keed!
Re:wrong (Score:1, Flamebait)
you obviously do NOT have a clue about the kevin story, and are an egotistical maniac who can't stand anyone being in the spot light as it might detract from you.
kevin didn't do much of anything wrong, he never harmed a soul, but thanks to a certain IDIOT NY times writer he ended up enduring more deprevation of liberties then most people could eve
Re:wrong (Score:2, Funny)
What are you, some little punk? I wish I could see you face to face buddy boy.
No doubt you'd be afraid of the big abusive facist..
"1. Physical property loss and damage do not compare to a strict financial lost (security
audits, re-securing systems, re-engineering security procedures). So you can take your
analogy with the car and house and slide it up your rectum sideways."
See my previous comment. You're a moron! So genius, propert
Re:wrong (Score:2, Informative)
Here's a look at Kevin's record. Still think he was abused?
There's no way he didn't get what he deserved.
Kevin Mitnick's criminal record:
1981
Where: California
Charge: Computer fraud for stealing computer manuals from Pacific Bell
Sentence: One year probation
1987
Where: California
Charge: Computer fraud (no details available)
Sentence: Pleaded guilty, but sentence unknown
==> According to Cyberpunk (Markoff and Hafner) Kevin claims he manipulated the FBI's
system to delete his outsta
Re:wrong (Score:2)
Freud (Score:3, Insightful)
Admira
Re:wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
I want certain rights for everyone, including people I hate.
Re:wrong (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, I know Kevin and he is anything but a dick. He knows that he did some stupid things when he was younger, but it was ages ago. Talking to Kevin, he rarely brings up "those days". If you ask him about "those days", he simply says that he made mistakes, did his time and is getting on with his life. He owns a security company now, does lectures and is happy with his family (girlfriend/step-kid).
It is amazing how people who don't know him call him names and mock/criticize those who show interest in his past. If these people really cared as little as they try to portray, they wouldn't bother posting. It is most likely they are trying to hide a feeling of inferiority
Re:wrong (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:wrong (Score:2)
Davon,
You misspelled 'Slashdot.'
Chuck
Re:wrong (Score:2, Informative)
could NOT care less
Re:wrong (Score:2, Funny)
Ok now whats supposed to happen ?
Re:wrong (Score:3, Insightful)
Mitnick was arrested at a time when failure to provide due process, innocent before being proven guilty and right to a fair trial were still popular ideals.
Yes, he was guilty, yes he served his time, yes it was probably an appropriate amount of time... but!
... the process he went through to get to that outcome was very unfair and ignored his rights.
When you get down to it, Mitnick was a screwed up kid who got a power trip out of manipulating people and accessing secret information. He amassed power t
Re:wrong (Score:2)
deja vu (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:deja vu (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, good thing our wonderful government would never imprison its own citizens without charge or trial [cnn.com].
-Eric
Re:deja vu (Score:1, Troll)
Re:deja vu (Score:2)
are they guilty? (Score:2)
Remember though, these were men that were actively seeking to kill Americans so I have little sympathy for their plight
And I suppose you have positive proof they are guilty, say maybe videos of them conmitting crimes? If so why don't you share that with the military and put them on trial then? Fact is is many were only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong tyme.
FalconRe:Sigh (Score:2)
Never harmed a soul? Read what he did to make his ex-wife's life miserable.
Kevin disappeared while on probation. He violated the terms of his probation. He committed further crimes of the sort that got him on probation in the first place, and he hid for years. He was only caught because he couldn't STOP doing what got him into trouble in the first place. Two words: FLIGHT RISK.
Re:Sigh (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sigh (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sigh (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sigh (Score:2)
Re:Sigh (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Sigh (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Sigh (Score:2)
Re:Sigh (Score:1, Informative)
Why is it that people get so worked up over Mitnick?
Because a) the treatment he got was far worse than the crime he committed, mostly because people fear what they don't understand and the government didn't understand computer crime back then, and b) because he didn't get a trial for a really long time.
Re:Sigh (Score:1)
Re:Sigh (Score:4, Interesting)
The thing that annoyed Digital is that his attacks against the company were mostly around social engineering, not against the OS itself. It didn't quite kill the company but it caused delays to two versions of the operating system and the introduction of Alpha.
Re:Sigh (Score:2)
now he single handedly brought down dec's alpha? that's a new one to me. rather good, but a new one.
maybe people should just wake up and realize the alpha was a crap cpu -- way overpriced for the performance it (didn't) deliver.
Re:Sigh (Score:2)
Mitnick used his social engineering skills to get into the VMS Source cluster. The risk of his having interfered with the code (unlikely as his skills were elsewhere) lead to a line by line analysis of VMS. This delayed the introduction of newer versions and thus the introduction of Alpha support.
Apparently he had been involved in an attack on RSTS/E installations which involved the supply of patch tapes including compromised code to target installs so he did have a cer
Re:Sigh (Score:2)
a friend of mine worked at dec in their unix labs from pre-compaq-merger to the fall of axp and it was interesting to get his insiders view of things.
Re:Sigh (Score:2)
The Itanium fiasco happened purely because of HP. Compaq-Digital were firmly in the direction Alpha, but HP was in a partnership with Intel.
Re:Sigh (Score:3, Interesting)
There were a couple of things that make the case interesting (not worthy of DROOL, of course). The fact that his crimes amounted to, well, being a dick, but the government and his corporate victims pulled a random number out of their ass as "damages" and it was pretty much accepted without question by the court. That has a certain interest. Much greater damage hap
Why do people get so worked up over Mitnick (Score:2)
As far as I'm concerned some of what Kevin did he should of and was made to pay for. My problem wasn't that it was how the government handled it, as far as I'm concerned it was unconstitutional holding him in solitary confinement without allowing representation or charges for years.
You're right, he wasn't anywhere near as likeable or admirable as the Woz. For years I wanted to be like him in creating the Apple. I was in high school when micro/homebrew computers were coming out and I'd go down to Rad Sh
Debunks Some Myths (Score:5, Funny)
He was overheard muttering "I hacked the FBI and wiretapped NORAD."
Re:Debunks Some Myths (Score:5, Funny)
Thats only if you play his interview backwards at 78rpm.
Re:Debunks Some Myths (Score:2)
Thats only if you play his interview backwards at 78rpm.
You won't hear that, you'll hear "Paul is dead." At least I think it was that.
FalconRe:Debunks Some Myths (Score:2)
The Broken Interview (Score:5, Interesting)
He is a reasonable sounding guy, and I think in the interview with "The Broken" sort of dispells some of the myths that were started about him in the book "Cyberpunk" by Katie Hafner and John Markoff.
I read that book when I was in 6th grade and I was totally blow away. I got a modem and started war dialing and memorizing "at" commands just so I could try and be a badass like Kevin Mitnick.
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:1, Funny)
NO CARRIER
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:3)
Yeah. Once upon a time, I knew quite a bit about the Hayes-compatable MODEM command set. It all fell to crap as "compatable" became "hayes-ish". Sad, though, the only ones I actually used over the years:
ATZ - reset the modem to factory defaults.
ATI1, ATI2, ATI3, ATI4, etc. - what kind of modem is this, anyway?
ATDT[phone#] - Dial a phone number.
ATH0 - self evident.
How many do you rememb
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:2, Interesting)
In my freshman year of high school I think that fax machines were getting more and more common - and they had really convoluted AT commands. I think that I was so isolated I just thought the only way to do things was by typing them in manually. I remember trying really hard to memorize all the new commands that came with our brand new 14.4k fax/modem. I even started bringing the manual to school and reading it in class when I had time. Lucki
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:2)
ATA - answer
ATD worked without the "T" for touch-tone. My modem would dial one touch tone digit, wait and see if the phone company recognized it (to see if you had paid the touch-tone fee), and then either continue dialing with tones, or re-dial with pulses.
There were a bunch of tweaks to timing that was possible (maybe AT@0) . I made the dial speed really short and lowered the "time from off-hook to first digit dialed" to the minimum possible. I wrote a program to auto-dial ever
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:2)
Clearly I have some unsettled issues here. I'll be quiet now.
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:2)
The Commodore 64 modem was capable of auto dialling by pulsing the DTR line (which in turn took the line on/off hook) at the correct rates. I wrote some code for my modem on the Amiga which did much the same thing on the modem I had for that. I was about 13 at the time though... maybe i'm not such an old timer
For a while I was also able to dial a phone manually too,
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:1)
Ah I miss the BBS days. Dialing up long distance to download grainy 16 color images of Cindy Crawford and deliver my Qmail packet for the day. Hmm. OK actually no I don't miss it much. But it was fun.
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:2)
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:2)
ATE0, ATE1 - echo off/on
AT.. umm. I used to know a lot of them by heart, but it seems that my wetware is lossy. Wikipedia has an article [wikipedia.org] though, if people feel the need to refresh.
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:1)
old modem commands (Score:2)
ATDP#######
(LINE IS BUSY)
+++
A/
(LINE IS BUSY)
+++
A/
(LINE IS BUSY)
+++
A/
(LINE IS BUSY)
+++
A/
(LINE IS BUSY)
So many lost hours waiting to connect to the local bbs... I should have learned to play basketball.
Re:The Broken Interview (Score:2)
I read that book when I was in 6th grade and I was totally blow away. I got a modem and started war dialing and memorizing "at" commands just so I could try and be a badass like Kevin Mitnick.
There's a slashdot interview [slashdot.org] where he talks about that book and his "relationship" to Markoff. Also good reading is the
Takedown? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Takedown? (Score:5, Insightful)
Truth is, Kevin Mitnick has become a poster boy for hackers, but he was by no means the most "dangerous" or the most skilled by any means. Most famous yes, most "powerful," no.
Re:Takedown? (Score:2)
Re:Takedown? (Score:5, Informative)
There's a good article on Kevin Mitnick [rotten.com] in the Rotten Library that discusses this.
Re:Takedown? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Takedown? (Score:1)
Mitnick spoke at The Fifth Hope (Score:5, Interesting)
Kevin was very personable, and has clearly given a lot of thought to his current phase in life as a security expert. As you might expect from his background, Kevin has a keen mind for remembering details, and observing human interaction. That's part of what I like about his books, as well as from his presentation at The Fifth Hope.
that's ballsy (Score:5, Funny)
Re:that's ballsy (Score:2)
Uhhh (Score:1)
Re:Uhhh (Score:2)
We'll probably start to get a be
Re:Uhhh (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Look at the evidence (Score:2)
and people say mitnick is full of himself? they've obviously never seen that site -- all the chest-thumping by the website author gets rather tiresome.
the website is also hideously ugly, almost as if the author doesn't want you to read it.
Re:Look at the evidence (Score:2)
Don't think one biased-to-hell source will get you over the line.
Re:Look at the evidence (Score:2)
and made to make a mint on the mythical at that time mitnick.
hacker/cracker semantics? (Score:1)
"I get hired to hack into computers now and sometimes it's actually easier than it was years ago. "
"Compared to the time you were an illegal hacker, and the contemporary landscape, how easy is it to hack a computer?"
"..target to visit a Web site, which exploits a technical flaw and allows the hacker
Re:hacker/cracker semantics? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:hacker/cracker semantics? (Score:2)
If the most famous 'cracker' doesn't even use the term, then it's pretty safe to say the hacker/cracker distinction is only in the minds of an unsuccessful subculture trying to push the terms.
Milhouse all grown up (Score:3, Interesting)
MITNICK: No, no, I don't miss it all. I like my life now. I made some really stupid mistakes in the past as a younger man that I regret. I'm lucky that I've been given a second chance and that I could use these skills to help the community.
But now that I've turned over a new leaf and people are interested in my skill-set, now the notoriety of my name helps me in my business.
Make up your mind, are you helping the community or are you helping your own business?
Re:Milhouse all grown up (Score:2)
Social engineering (Score:2)
Re:Social engineering (Score:1)
The one time I did refuse to reset someones password ( because he admitted he wasn't the person the account belonged to, not imme
Re:wtf? (Score:4, Funny)
"Copyright infringement is not theft!"
Okay, now do the one about "theft of service," "stolen kisses," and "stealing your thunder." And can you do the one about Apple's "don't steal music" sticker? I just love that one!
Re:wtf? (Score:1)
Re:wtf? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:wtf? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:wtf? (Score:5, Insightful)
I saw a difference before your post, but now i'm just confused. That's a pretty crazy leap you made to get to your conclusion.
Lets try and make things simpler and see where we end up?
Copying is illegal?
No, distribution is illegal. Therefore it wasn't anything to do with copyright infringement, so both you and the GP are misguided.
Copying files after breaking into a network is stealing?
No that's just copying files after breaking into a network, a different crime i would imagine (it may be theft but not in the sense that your post makes it out to be).
Breaking into a network breaks various laws, copying files after breaking into a network *is* probably against some law or another but its not 'stealing' in a reasonable sense i.e you haven't taken something away from the victim. Although now that i think about it reasonable people will say that if someone copies some private file they have taken something (data) that's not theirs to take, so i guess as usual nothing is simple.
Could it be something else?
Unauthorised copying?
Unauthorised access?
Or perhaps copying data that you gain access to illegally is just a part of any overall legislation that deals with computer crime.
Conclusion
I really don't know.
But it's probably not so 'simple' as your post makes it out to be (in its roundabout way).
Copying files is not illegal in the copyright sense.
Copying files after breaking into a machine/network is undoubtably against the law in most countries.
It may be deemed theft, but not in the sense that you stole a cow or car. More like theft of trade secrets (is there such a thing?).
The End.
Re:wtf? (Score:4, Funny)
Is there a bot on this site that posts stupid mindless two line replys to peoples posts?
It seems to be written something like this:
Perhaps if you actually read my post it I quite clearly made out my position on ILLEGALY breaking into a computer and copying its files. Doing so will see in a very real concrete and steel barred prison.
The crime you have committed isn't neccessarely theft in the traditional sense.
Either your going for the 'quick & witty' mod, or you're stupid, perhaps both?
Plus i dont have a social security number, so copying it would be a bit hard. But if i understand correctly it's not exactly hard to get anyway given the prevalence of its (mis)use in your country.
Re:wtf? (Score:3, Informative)
Unpublished works are more protected, as obtaining a copy deprives the owner of the exclusive right. Especially source code has a real value, often millions, which would be lost if i
Re:wtf? (Score:1)
nitpicking (Score:2)
What you say is that you don't respect him because it's not TECHNICALLY stealing at all.
Essentially, that doesn't make too much sense. Copyright infringement doesn't really come into this, or if it does, what he did goes a bit beyond your average copy protection circumvention (which I'm all for, btw).
But when people come breaking into your computer and copying all you have, you can call it whatever you like
Re:nitpicking (Score:2)
What I think is that he said it to cut through the crap and go on with the interview. Basically it is stealing can mean "I got punished for stealing", "whatever the technical crime, just so you get the picture, imagine I stole something" or it can mean he now views breaking and entering for the purpose of copying stealing.
Why not ask him?
Re:CNN is NOT NEWS! (Score:4, Insightful)
Flooding in eastern states leaves 10 dead [cnn.com] has been on CNN.com's front page since Sunday.
Re:CNN is NOT NEWS! (Score:1)
But my sat tv works..and there was only mention on FOX news... This evening (monday) and this started Saturday night.