The King of Hackers

Kevin Mitnick is considered to be the greatest and most popular hacker of all time. From 1992 to 1995, Mitnick led the FBI on a manhunt after breaking into computer networks and stealing software from companies like motorola and Novell. Mitnick used social networking rather than actual hacking, and would leave traps for the FBI in order to stay one step ahead of them.

The idea of using social networking, however, is what separates Mitnick from other hackers. He would control touch phones and call employees, convincing them to give him information. For example, he was able to call an employee at Motorola and convince her to send him the code for the MicroTAC Ultra Lite cell phone; he would manipulate the telephone network and set up call-back numbers within Motorola's campus. Convincing a manager in operations to tell one of the employees to read off his RSA SecurID code any time he needed it, Mitnick was able to access the network remotely. He had complete access to Motorola's internal network and then was able to use technical means to hack into their development servers for cell phones.

Doing these things, however, did not seem wrong in Mitnick's eyes. Instead, he viewed hacking as a challenge; a huge puzzle that needed to be solved. Like the Motorola case, Mitnick did not want to sell the source codes to anyone; he didn't care about making money. His real prize was the satisfaction of breaking into four different layers of security to get the codes. After all, in the 70's, there were no laws against hacking. Mitnick had been using telephones to hack in since the internet wasn't really around back then.

Mitnick ended up in jail after being caught by authorities in 1995. He even served a year in solitary confinement because the judge feared he would take revenge by hacking into NORAD and launching an ICBM. After his subsequent release in 2002, Mitnick launched a security consultancy and has a lucrative speaking deal which takes him all around the country. Once a fugitive hacker, Mitnick is now a wiser and reformed man who still uses the same skills today that got him arrested 15 years ago; only difference now is that he's doing it legally.

How does this tie in with the lectures on cyber-terrorism? I think Mitnick is a great example of the difference between a terrorist and a hacker. Mitnick didn't find out secrets and codes and sell them to bad people. He didn't hack into a bank and steal all of its funds. Mitnick simply hacked into places for the fun of it in order to gain an "intellectual prize" rather than a monetary or physical one. Though Mitnick's actions were wrong, they in no way constitute terrorism, as some authorities had labeled him in 1995. Once America's most wanted computer hacker, Mitnick has taken that 180 degree turn, realizes his mistakes, and now hunts down and tries to convince present day hackers of his faults, hoping they don't fall into the same trap as he did.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10269348-83.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1L2uZDjzy8