Posted on 07/21/2023 5:55:58 AM PDT by threefinger
By Joshua Wolens
published about 22 hours ago
Kevin Mitnick, one of the most famous computer hackers in the world and the subject of an over two-year manhunt in the 1990s, died of complications from pancreatic cancer last Sunday, aged 59. His death has been confirmed to the New York Times.
Mitnick is a legendary figure, one of those people whose life story reads like an elaborate work of fiction. After getting his start with a punch card machine that let him get free bus rides at age 12, he graduated to phone phreaking and hacking as he got older, breaking into networks owned by corporations like the Digital Equipment Corporation. The police weren't too keen on that, and he was sentenced to a year in prison and three years of supervised release in 1988.
He almost made it through, but right toward the end of his supervised release, a warrant was issued for his arrest over his hack of the Pacific Bell Telephone Company, sparking a manhunt that lasted over two years and ended with his five-year incarceration (he served four and a half of those pre-trial). He spent eight months of that sentence in solitary confinement because, according to him, the police convinced a judge that he could "start a nuclear war by whistling into a phone".
Someone presumably realised how nonsensical a statement that is at some point, though: After ending his supervised release in 2003, the only bit of tech Mitnick was allowed access to for a while was a landline phone.
Mitnick's legal plight turned him into a bit of a cause célèbre in the '90s. "Free Kevin" stickers were a common sight on bumpers and in university IT departments at the time, and both Yahoo and the NYT were hacked to show messages calling for his release. He became, to many, a symbol of the state's authoritarian incomprehension of the anarchic free spirit of the internet. But for me? Well, I have to admit my own first exposure to him was through (of all things) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, via the game's talk radio station.
The caller—named Kevin, and apparently played uncredited by Mitnick himself—harangued the host about being put into solitary confinement for hacking, and ranted that he could "launch nuclear missiles just by whistling into a phone". I have to admit, it stuck with me when I learned it was based on an actual person's absurd, real-life experience.
The world's most wanted hacker eventually made good, though. After his release in the 2000s, Mitnick became a writer, speaker, and security consultant, performing penetration testing services and generally trying to help companies defend themselves against people like, ah, Kevin Mitnick.
Mitnick is survived by his wife Kimberley, who is pregnant with their first child. In an obituary posted to the Dignity Memorial funeral home, it's written that his friends and family "will miss him for the rest of our days, hear his voice in our minds, and look forward to reconnecting with him in whatever version of the 'beyond' we each believe in. To imagine that Kev could be there to greet us, likely playing a prank, or inviting us to share an extraordinary meal and conversation, will be heaven indeed."
Mitnick was an odd bird, stole tens of thousands of credit card numbers but only ever lived modestly. Apparently he did the most of it just for the challenge.
How many times did he launch nukes by whistling into a phone?
He was basically a “gray hat” hacker. It seems he rarely did it for financial profit.
It was more the curiosity and fun.
Good riddance to trash.
“How many times did he launch nukes by whistling into a phone?”
Once, but we got bettah.
He was only 59. Maybe he was vaxxed?
Pancreatic cancer.
“Police said...”
LOL! They are too dumb to realize that to make a call Mitnick would have to be able to whistle two tones simultaneously. That’s impossible. But Ma Bell told them what to do, and they did it.
Really?
Is that one of the side effects too!
Nuclear weapons are air-gapped.
A lot of his hacking was social engineering where he would talk to people and get user names and passwords ,LOL
I had a colleague who (back in the day) would make long distance calls by whistling into the phone. He knew the phone company signal pitches.
There were also ways to mechanically trick a pay phone to get free local calls....
He was always looking for ways to circumvent the system in place, and not just with computers.
As a child, for instance, he managed to get around bus fares by obtaining his own ticket punch and a stack of blank transfer forms. He would punch a blank ticket for his destination and get on a bus as if he just transferred from another bus.
The company I used to work for used his KnowBe4 online computer security training. He introduced each of the videos and narrated most of them.
He was part owner of KnowBe4, provider of an integrated platform for security awareness training and simulated phishing testing,
I just opened Facebook last night to see a post from the wife of a longtime friend (since 1969) with a picture of MD Anderson. Reading into the post, my friend had developed diabetes last year. He suddenly lost a lot of weight. A battery of tests uncovered pancreatic cancer. He had his first chemo last night at MD Anderson. Hoping for the best, but it's an aggressive cancer. Few people beat it.
I worked on a Toll Fraud Detection project for Sprint in the late 80’s. On the Sprint team was a hacker they caught. They didn’t arrest him, they hired him and he was our subject matter expert. At the time, many long distance calling services utilized DTMF (dual tone multi-frequency) tones for access and control. Users entered their credentials by using touch tones generated on their phone to access long distance calling. Obviously, cell phones obviated this PITA. Hackers quickly built hand-held devices to simulate these codes and steal long distance service. This guy would analyze reams of DTMF data and would identify new patterns for us to code to. Sprint later told us our project paid for itself the first day it went live. Facetious? Perhaps, but the point was made.
I recall one of our Sprint lines at work got hacked one time and we were billed several thousand dollars for a call to Israel that was several days in duration.
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