Great story but ultimately Kevin Mitnick got fucked by the law and unjustly served years in jail. They made ridiculous statements like he could start a nuclear war by using a telephone. I think he's unfortunately an example of what happens when you push too far, a.k.a. FAFO.
Kevin Mitnick Hacked California Law in 1983
51–60 of 92 posts
Re: Kevin Mitnick Hacked California Law in 1983
#52Ghost in the Wires is a great book. It's full of fabulous stories like this, all true. Upon reading it years ago, I finally learned the explanation for why Netcom never billed me for years of continuous dial-up CSLIP service. Kevin had hacked Netcom and deleted their accounting records.
wow, would that have been 90/91? while at UK uni a few of us had a shell account at Netcom. we'd X25 from our uni to a telnet relay in london and used netcom for unix/shell access. we did not get reliably billed for a long time! thought at the time it was just UK/US banking issues. i wonder if Mitnick was why! will have to re-read the book. thanks for the memory!
Not sure if Kevin's Netcom escapades are responsible for you not getting billed for a shell account. I had two Netcom accounts (actually one account with two services). I was continuously billed ($19/mo?) for the shell account, but I was never billed ($6/hr) for the CSLIP account. Somewhere I read that Kevin had wiped the accounting records for CSLIP. I'm not sure of the level of detail described in his book. Maybe I'll read it again.
I ran that CSLIP connection continuously for many years. I would have paid them if they had ever billed me.
Re: Kevin Mitnick Hacked California Law in 1983
#53Did Mitnick ever pay restitution for his decades of crimes?
only by defacing the public image of hackers for the rest of time.
Re: Kevin Mitnick Hacked California Law in 1983
#54He was an idol within the 2600 community, for those who remind that. 2600 was the original “hacker news”.
2600 was amazing along with early phrack. @Efnet around that time was a lot of fun and learning.
2600 is alive through I don’t know how well lol. One of my favorite tshirts is the one they made with blue box schematics on the front and various Free Kevin news snippets on the back.
Re: Kevin Mitnick Hacked California Law in 1983
#55[deleted]
Re: Kevin Mitnick Hacked California Law in 1983
#56Ghost in the Wires is a great book. It's full of fabulous stories like this, all true. Upon reading it years ago, I finally learned the explanation for why Netcom never billed me for years of continuous dial-up CSLIP service. Kevin had hacked Netcom and deleted their accounting records.
wow, would that have been 90/91? while at UK uni a few of us had a shell account at Netcom. we'd X25 from our uni to a telnet relay in london and used netcom for unix/shell access. we did not get reliably billed for a long time! thought at the time it was just UK/US banking issues. i wonder if Mitnick was why! will have to re-read the book. thanks for the memory!
Natwests main security limitations was a few seconds to a dial up account in order to upload a batch file of bank accounts to transfer money around.
Re: Kevin Mitnick Hacked California Law in 1983
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I met him briefly years ago at CES, it was like meeting a childhood hero. I confess I was really excited..
The one time I met him he told me to go fuck myself. (I was taping his talk, pro bono for the con, and asked him to speak into the mic for a sound check since we'd had issues with the previous speaker.)
But did he say that into the mic?
Re: Kevin Mitnick Hacked California Law in 1983
#58See also: the Yellowstone Zone of Death:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_Death_(Yellowstone)
Re: Kevin Mitnick Hacked California Law in 1983
#59Decades of "sovereign citizens" trying the same thing get less respect. It's all in the public relations. Fellate the right reporters and you're set for life.
“Sovereign citizens” at least at the moment mostly seem to be basing their arguments on false and ridiculous ideas like “the country has been secretly turned into a corporation so can’t legally enforce the law” or “An agreement between King John of England and some rebel barons in 1215 overrides the law in the US or Australia etc.”
Exploiting a technicality in the actual, existing, applicable law is very different from basically trying to completely make up your own laws…
Re: Kevin Mitnick Hacked California Law in 1983
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>FREE KEVIN > PUT KEVIN BACK Registered a throwaway over Tor just for this thread. Kevin shouldn't be in prison, because prisons should be abolished, but be careful where you put... that . There's a notorious story about him being physically ejected from a fundraiser for refusing to pay the entry. (Redacting some details to stick to the fun parts) On my end, I was working my way up to maybe flirting with someone I'd…
As far as hacker cons go, Defcon is not CCC Defcon is basically run by a gang that values loyalty and dedication above most things.. which has historically low standards of ethics for their goons and attendees (albeit has improved somewhat over the years)
>Defcon is basically run by a gang
No, Derby was run by a gang. (The 303 could probably be RICO'd)
I cannot confirm or deny that Defcon is where the event occured, especially since it was technically just an event at a casino, as many things occuring on the same days as Defcon occur.
>a gang that values loyalty and dedication above most things.. which has historically low standards of ethics for their goons and attendees
I actually was told by someone at my last Defcon they were boycotting CCC because they allowed Nazi imagery or something to that effect, which surprisede me given... you know... Germany.
I've never been to CCC.
I can tell you that Defcon is changing though. I volunteered with a village rather than as a goon since I don't want to kiss ass to war criminals.
(A lot of their security is ex Navy Seals. I will hold the goddamn door open when it comes time to batman people to the Hague, I don't like people who volunteered to do war crimes then walk around Las Vegas with a gun on their hip whining about weed.)
Anyways... I never felt welcome at Defcon, it was like being in high school at the pool table -- you can pay like anyone else to play, but... there's a line... for lack of a better analogy.
Maybe I should check out CCC but part of the appeal of Defcon was cost... for an American, it's pretty cheap for a hotel and airfare compared to going to Europe, a place I may never return to since standing up for folks in the Me Too era + standing against white nationalism has resulted in me being blacklisted from infosec.