by Charles Miller

Last month the Information Technology (IT) world mourned the passing of one of the world's most notorious computer hackers, who turned respected security consultant, author, and public speaker. Kevin David Mitnick's life story portrayed in the news media, documentaries, books, and movies mirrors the evolution of society's grasp of the nuances of computer hacking.

A product of a broken home in a bleak Los Angeles suburb, Kevin was an overweight and troubled child, who later in life was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. His first serious brush with the law was at age 17 when he brazenly walked into a Pacific Bell Telephone Company office and took computer manuals and codes to digital door locks. A federal judge sentenced him to a year in a rehabilitation center.

For the next 14 years Kevin was in and out of trouble with the law, including three years on the run from the FBI which ended in his highly-publicized 1995 arrest. After that arrest he was kept in strict solitary confinement for months and not even allowed phone calls. The authorities were so overcome with FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) they convinced judges that if Kevin was even allowed in the same room with a phone that he could start World War III merely by whistling the tones to launch a nuclear first strike.

But he never hacked for money. A computer file containing stolen credit card numbers was found on Mitnick's computer but there is no evidence he ever used any of them. That contributed to federal authorities being unable to charge him with financial crimes and ultimately after being behind bars almost five years resulted in a plea agreement for wire fraud that saw him released for time served. Companies including Motorola, Novell, Nokia, and Sun Microsystems claimed Kevin had caused them millions in damaged by stealing their software, but that was not possible to substantiate. Many young hackers of that era did what they did for nothing more than bragging rights and free long-distance calls.

Upon his release from prison in January 2000 Mitnick told reporters his "were simple crimes of trespass. I wanted to know as much as I could find out about how phone networks worked." In the 2000s Kevin went on to achieve success as a computer security consultant even though for several years the terms of his parole were that he could not touch a computer, cell phone, or anything connected to the internet and could not speak publicly. Soon though he went from being hunted by the FBI to working alongside them. Kevin's earlier years of illegal hacking came at a time when authorities and the public were learning how to better distinguish between serious computer crimes and mischievous troublemaking.

In his testimony before a U. S. Senate committee hearing in March 2000, when asked by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, about what motivated him, Mitnick answered "My hacking activity actually was a quest for knowledge, the intellectual challenge, the thrill and the escape from reality." Kevin Mitnick left us too soon; he was 59.

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Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant with decades of IT experience and a Texan with a lifetime love for Mexico. The opinions expressed are his own. He may be contacted at 415-101-8528 or email FAQ8 (at) SMAguru.com.

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