| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Mitnick had previously been convicted in 1981 of destroying data over a computer network and with stealing operator's manuals from the telephone company. In 1983 he was convicted of breaking into a Pentagon computer over the ARPANET from a USC campus teminal room. Several years later he went underground for more than a year after being accused of tampering with a TRW credit reference computer; an arrest warrant was issued, but it later vanished from police records without explanation. He was convicted of stealing software from the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) in December 19871987 is a common year starting on Thursday. Events January January 1 Nunavut's capital changes it name to Iqaluit from Frobisher Bay. January 3 Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. January 4 An Amtrak train. In 19881988 is a leap year starting on Friday (click on link for calendar). Events January January 2 Georgia celebrates its bicentennial statehood. January 9 Connecticut celebrates its bicentennial statehood. January 26 Australia celebrates its bicentennial day. Mitnick pleaded guilty to one count of computer fraud and one count of possessing illegal long-distance access codesA telephone card or phone card for short, is a small card, usually resembling a credit card, used to pay for telephone services. The exact system for payment, and the way in which the card is used to place a phone call, depend on the overall telecommunica after being caught for nightly attacks attempting to gain entry to Digital's corporate computer network, known as Easynet, in order to steal a copy of Digital's VMS minicomputer operating system.
It was the fifth time that Mitnick had been apprehended for a computer crime, and the case attracted nationwide attention because, in an unusual plea bargain, he agreed to one year in prison and six months in a counseling program for his computer "addiction." It was a strange defense tactic, but a federal judge, after initially balking, bought the idea that there was some sort of psychological parallel between the obsession Mitnick had for breaking in to computer systems and an addict's craving for drugs.
After he finished his jail time and his halfway-house counseling sentence, Mitnick took a job at the Tel Tec Detective Agency. Soon after he began, someone was discovered illegally using a commercial database system on the agency's behalf, and Kevin was once again the subject of an FBI investigation. In September the Bureau searched his apartment. Two months later a federal judge issued a warrant for Mitnick's arrest. When the FBI came to arrest him, Kevin Mitnick had vanished.
Mitnick eluded the police, US Marshalls, and FBI for over two years. His downfall was his ChristmasChristmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a traditional holiday in the Christian calendar which takes place on the twenty-fifth day of December and celebrates the nativity of Jesus Christ. Christmas is also celebrated as a secular holiday throughout mu 1994 break-in to Tsutomu ShimomuraTsutomu Shimomura is a scientist and computer security expert, who gained fame when he, together with computer journalist John Markoff, tracked down and helped the FBI arrest hacker Kevin Mitnick. Markoff and Shimomura later told the story in Takedown: Th's computers in San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego is a city located in the southwestern corner of the state of California (and thus in the southwestern corner of the continental United States). It is the county seat of San Diego County, California. The city is noted for its temperate climate an. Less than two months later, Tsutomu had tracked him down after a cross-country electronic pursuit.
Following his 1995 arrest, Mitnick was held without bail for over two years before sentencing. He has said that he set some kind of United States record by being held for four and a half years without a bailThis article is about the legal term. A bail can also refer to the smaller sticks placed on top of the stumps to form a wicket in the sport of cricket. Bail is some form of capital which is deposited or pledged to a court in order to convince it to releas hearing, while also held in solitary confinementSolitary confinement is a punishment in which a prisoner is denied contact with any other persons, excluding guards. In most states, prisoners are entitled to an hour per day of exercise time. During the other 23, prisoners have no contact with anyone els for eight months "in order to prevent a massive nuclear strike from being initiated by me via a prison payphone." The course of his trial and punishment became a cause célèbre amongst the hacker community. This movement was spearheaded by 2600's "Free Kevin" campaign.
He was released from prison in January 2002, but banned from using the Internet until the midnight of January 21, 2003. On January 21, 2003, on the live television show The Screen Savers on TechTV, Kevin Mitnick visited the first website since his release, Labmistress.com, the weblog of his girlfriend, TechTV producer Darci Wood. Mitnick is now working in consulting and is CEO of the security company Defensive Thinking.
His arrest is detailed in the book Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw-By the Man Who Did It (BooksEnthsiast.com). Other media inspired by Mitnick's story include the movie, also with the name Takedown, sometimes mistitled as Hackers 2: Takedown. A counterpoint view to the events surrounding Mitnick was written by journalist Jonathan Littman, in The Fugitive Game: Online with Kevin Mitnick (BooksEnthsiast.com).
Mitnick is also the subject of a two-hour documentary by 2600 entitled Freedom Downtime. It is from the perspective of a fellow hacker and offers a very different view of his case than found in Takedown or most other media today. The film is the winner of the Audience Award for Documentaries at the 2002 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.
As a hacker, Mitnick is best known for his use of social engineering. He wrote a book on this subject after leaving prison but before returning to the Internet: The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security. It was published in October 2002. The first chapter of the book was omitted by the publisher. It gives some details of his own "career" and his grievances against journalist John Markoff. The chapter has since been made available elsewhere.