dang / mods: if anyone passing deserves the HN black banner, I think Mitnick deserves the banner.
The man who put the term "hacker" on the map, for better or for worse.
Kevin Mitnick has died
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Re: Kevin Mitnick has died
#102dang / mods: if anyone passing deserves the HN black banner, I think Mitnick deserves the banner.
Hear hear
Re: Kevin Mitnick has died
#103dang / mods: if anyone passing deserves the HN black banner, I think Mitnick deserves the banner.
As one of the people whose credit card number was stolen from Netcom, I would strongly object to this. I'm not here to speak poorly of the dead, but I'm definitely here to judge those who think too highly of him.
As the black hats at 2600 would say, "It was just for educational purposes."
Re: Kevin Mitnick has died
#104If you're looking for other stories, The Art of Deception (Mitnick specific) and The Art of Intrusion (not all Mitnick) have a ton.
Re: Kevin Mitnick has died
#105Mitnick was a hacker hero of mine in my youth. I think I’ve understood his role as jester prior to conviction less as I’ve grown older, but there’s something about the boyhood charm of being so divorced from the potential consequences of one’s actions that is almost unique. Mitnick had so many stories that entranced the people around him. I heard one second hand of Mitnick dealing with a bank who had early voice veri…
How would he have known the CEO's bank account number? Did the CEO write him a check at some point? Or maybe a bank's CEO traditionally gets account number 1…
Mitnick was exceptionally gifted at social engineering information out of various company departments over the phone.
Re: Kevin Mitnick has died
#106Serious question: why revere Mitnick, but not someone like SBF? Mitnick is admired for his technical skill and social engineering prowess, but the same argument could be made that SBF is also exceptional in this regard on an even larger scale. Both are (alleged) criminals. Genuinely curious what makes Mitnick morally good in the eyes of HN. Was it his redemption arc as a “white hat”?
Mitnick was not just skilled, he was creative, pushed things too far, and the internet rallied around him nonetheless. He went after corporations that people didn't like, even if he did it for personal gain.
SBF seems like an average white collar criminal next to Mitnick. He wanted to become those big corporations with their names on stadiums.
Re: Kevin Mitnick has died
#107Re: Kevin Mitnick has died
#108Serious question: why revere Mitnick, but not someone like SBF? Mitnick is admired for his technical skill and social engineering prowess, but the same argument could be made that SBF is also exceptional in this regard on an even larger scale. Both are (alleged) criminals. Genuinely curious what makes Mitnick morally good in the eyes of HN. Was it his redemption arc as a “white hat”?
The term "hacker" describes someone skilled at tricking systems into doing what they can't. Mitnick was not only one of the first popular hackers he also had many famous exploits. His arrest was a major rallying cry for the hacker community at large (now known as the overly corporate "infosec community"). There's no redemption arc. You do not need to do what society considers "good" to be considered righteous. There'…
On one hand you assert there’s no such thing as moral good, yet you describe him as righteous? That word is a superlative for “good” steeped in religious tones!
Anyway, I suppose you could make the case that Mitnick was taking on “the Man” which is more utilitarian, but that’s a bit anemic imo.
Re: Kevin Mitnick has died
#109dang / mods: if anyone passing deserves the HN black banner, I think Mitnick deserves the banner.
@Dang
Re: Kevin Mitnick has died
#110He certainly was an interesting person. It was always amazing the degree to which law enforcement prosecuted his hacking and cracking, when it seems like much more impactful crimes involving computers go uninvestigated. Plenty of people are hounded by threats of violence into leaving their jobs and homes, that seems far more impactful than Mitnick's crimes. And FYI, while he died unexpectedly young, a 57-year-old man…
Everything is high school. A rebel thumbing their nose at the system must be punished, while the conventionally corrupt deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Wow, this comment is the most profound thing I've read in a while on HN. I find myself a) intuitively agreeing and b) trying to pick it apart. Society as a whole seems to have a very complicated love/hate relationship with rebellion and rebels. But with Mitnick it's like he personified Chaos vs law enforcement's Order in an almost mythological, Jungian sense that goes beyond any utilitarian justification.