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I recommend to watch movie based on Kevin Mitnick story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_Down I couldn't say it's very accurate story but it's still fun to watch.
99% of it never happened and what actually "happened" was over-dramatized. They exaggerated so much that Mitnick was sent to a maximum security jail.
(Mitnick-specific I can also recommend the docu Freedom Downtime and the book Ghost in the Wires but I've seen both already covered in other posts.)
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Because of how unjustly he was treated. Held for 5 years without trail, most of that in solitary confinement, because the government thought if he got to a phone he could launch nuclear weapons (seriously). Mitnick was in it for the knowledge, and exploration, not financial gain, not destruction, or anything like the script kiddies of today.
He seems like more or less the archetype of the modern script kid (he was using other people's exploits --- and in an era where you could exploit a lot of vulnerabilities with simple shell scripts, no less). What makes you think otherwise? How much do you know about his motives? a little later: When talking about his sentence, it's useful to compare it to that of Lewis DePayne, his accomplice. They're both charged wi…
"In his 2002 book, The Art of Deception, Mitnick states that he compromised computers solely by using passwords and codes that he gained by social engineering. He claims he did not use software programs or hacking tools for cracking passwords or otherwise exploiting computer or phone security." [1]
> When talking about his sentence, it's useful to compare it to that of Lewis DePayne, his accomplice. They're both charged with essentially the same crimes. But DePayne isn't going on a hacking spree while on supervised release, and gets probation.
You mean he didn't get caught, and DePayne went screwing with Mitnick's girlfriend.
I recommend to watch movie based on Kevin Mitnick story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_Down I couldn't say it's very accurate story but it's still fun to watch.
This movie is known as Takedown in the rest of the world, and it is not fun to watch, nor does it cover Mitnick's side of the story: "Track Down (also known as Takedown outside the United States), is a 2000 film about computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, based on the book Takedown by John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura." Watch the documentary Freedom Downtime by Eric "Emmanuel Goldstein" Corley and read Mitnick's book, Ghos…
But what's Mitnick's side of this story supposed to be? The crimes he was sentenced for got his co-conspirator probation, right? It seems pretty clear that Mitnick mostly got punished for being a recidivist. Even Mitnick doesn't claim to be innocent of the charges; in fact, he's spent the last 10 years trading on his criminal reputation.
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He seems like more or less the archetype of the modern script kid (he was using other people's exploits --- and in an era where you could exploit a lot of vulnerabilities with simple shell scripts, no less). What makes you think otherwise? How much do you know about his motives? a little later: When talking about his sentence, it's useful to compare it to that of Lewis DePayne, his accomplice. They're both charged wi…
> He seems like more or less the archetype of the modern script kid (he was using other people's exploits --- and in an era where you could exploit a lot of vulnerabilities with simple shell scripts, no less). What makes you think otherwise? "In his 2002 book, The Art of Deception, Mitnick states that he compromised computers solely by using passwords and codes that he gained by social engineering. He claims he did n…
Kevin Mitnick absolutely did use other people's tools.
I don't know what your last sentence means. DePayne was charged as an accomplice, convicted, and given probation. He obviously did "get caught".
I grew up as a huge Mitnick fan, and I still am. He was vilified and used as the poster boy for all computer hackers, phreakers, and the lot - unfairly I think. Takedown was one of the most dry and dull books I've ever read, and John Markoff should be ashamed of himself. Read Mitnick's book, Ghost in the Wires. So much better.
I can't speak to "Ghost in the Wires", however a book that contemporaneous to "Takedown" that does a better job, I think, is "The Fugitive Game", by Johnathan Littman: https://www.amazon.com/Fugitive-Game-Online-Kevin-Mitnick/dp...
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I can't speak to "Ghost in the Wires", however a book that contemporaneous to "Takedown" that does a better job, I think, is "The Fugitive Game", by Johnathan Littman: https://www.amazon.com/Fugitive-Game-Online-Kevin-Mitnick/dp...
I've read all three (_Ghost in the Wires_, _Takedown_ and _The Fugitive Game_) and all three were interesting in their own way. The first was from Mitnick's view, the second from the FBI/Shimomura's point of view (and man, does Shimonura come across as a jerk). The last is really from neither (or both) but does tend to fill in details not mentioned by the prior two.
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Were there others as high profile at the time? He might have just been the first widely known when “hacking” and the Net was new for a lot of people.
Yes, and they set an interesting counter-example: Kevin Poulsen, Mark Abene, Elias Ladopoulos, and others took things in a sinister direction. Mitnick wasn't like that, and I think that really set him apart, but because he was the best the government had to make an example out of him.