Kevin Mitnick

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Kevin Mitnick (2008)

Kevin David Mitnick (born August 6, 1963 in Van Nuys , California ) is an American former hacker , expert in social engineering and managing director of an IT security company.

Life

Time as a hacker

Kevin Mitnick was a member of the "Roscoe Gang" under the code name "Condor " . He is said to have penetrated the United States Department of Defense network more than 100 times, as well as that of the NSA a few times . In particular , however, he denies the intrusion into the NORAD network.

In 1988 Mitnick was sentenced to 12 months of solitary confinement and a subsequent three-year suspended sentence. On February 15, 1995, Mitnick was arrested again by the FBI and charged with breaking into "some of the most secure computer systems" in the United States . He was detained for two years without a trial and four and a half years without a bail hearing . A worldwide Free Kevin movement, led by the hacker magazine 2600 , campaigned for Mitnick. Mitnick was eventually sentenced to prison.

In January 2000, Mitnick was released from prison after almost five years. As a condition of probation, the judges ordered a three-year ban on the use of EDP ​​systems . The public prosecutor commented that " Mitnick could start a nuclear war by whistling on the phone ".

Author and security advisor

After his release from prison, Mitnick worked as an author and security advisor. He published the book "The Art of Deception" ( "The Art of Deception" ) . It is about the techniques of social engineering . Using examples, he describes the techniques of social engineers and provides help on how to protect your company from this.

In 2011 he published the book Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker , in which he describes his time as a hacker. He was only allowed to do so by conditions seven years after his release.

The consulting firm "Defensive Thinking" he founded supports companies in protecting their information against social engineering through lectures and employee training.

Media reception

The film " Takedown " (also known as Hackers 2 ), released in 2000, provoked the protests of many hackers, part of the media and also from confidants with nods.

A two-hour documentary by the hacker magazine 2600 magazine Freedom Downtime , published in 2002, sheds light on the events surrounding Mitnick from a benevolent perspective. He won the "Audience Award for Documentaries" at the "New York International Independent Film & Video Festival" in 2002.

Mitnick had a role in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , created by Rockstar Games , as a phone caller on a show called Area 53 that runs on WCTR. In addition, his character is also taken up in the game Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines , released in 2004 .

In 2001 Mitnick played the CIA computer expert "Agent Burnett" in the ABC television series Alias ​​- The Agent in the fifth episode of the first season.

The German film director Werner Herzog attacked in his 2016 documentary What is dreaming of the Internet? Mitnicks story as well.

Fonts

  • with William L. Simon: The Art of Deception. Controlling the Human Element of Security. Wiley, New York NY et al. 2002, ISBN 0-471-23712-4 .
    • German: The art of deception. Human risk factor. Verlag modern industry book, Bonn 2003, ISBN 3-8266-0999-9 .
  • with William L. Simon: The Art of Intrusion. The real Stories behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders & Deceivers. Wiley Publishing, Indianapolis IN 2005, ISBN 0-7645-6959-7 .
    • German: The art of burglary. IT risk factor. mitp-Verlag, Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 3-8266-1622-7 .
  • with William L. Simon: Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker Little, Brown and Company, New York NY 2011. ISBN 978-0-316-03770-9 .
    • English: The Phantom on the Net: The Autobiography of the Most Wanted Hacker in the World. Riva-Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 3-86883-200-9 .
  • mit Robert Vamosi: The art of invisibility: the world's most famous hacker teaches you how to be safe in the age of Big Brother and big data. Little, Brown and Company, New York et al. a. 2017, ISBN 978-0-316-38050-8 .
    • German: The art of anonymity on the Internet: how to protect your identity and your data. MITP, Frechen 2017, ISBN 978-3-95845-635-8 .

literature

  • Jeff Goodell: Cyber ​​Thief and Samurai. A real internet thriller. Rowohlt, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-87134-277-7 .
  • Katie Hafner , John Markoff : Cyberpunk. The world of hackers. Econ-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Düsseldorf et al. 1993, ISBN 3-612-26035-9 ( Econ 26035 ECON non-fiction book ).
  • Jonathan Littman: The Fugitive Game. Online with Kevin Mitnick. Little, Brown & Co., Boston MA et al. 1996, ISBN 0-316-52869-2 .
  • Tsutomu Shimomura, John Markoff: Data Zone. The hunt on the Internet. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-20086-3 ( dtv 20086).

Web links

Commons : Kevin Mitnick  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Mitnick, Kevin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mitnick, Kevin David (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American manager and former hacker
DATE OF BIRTH August 6, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Van Nuys , California