Kevin Mitnick, who was as soon as one of many world’s most wished laptop hackers, has passed away at 59 on July sixteenth. Based on his obituary, Mitnick battled pancreatic most cancers for greater than a 12 months and was present process remedy on the College of Pittsburgh Medical Middle. “[M]uch of his life reads like a fiction story,” his obituary reads, and that is maybe the right strategy to describe his story. The primary time Mitnick infiltrated a pc system was approach again in 1979, however it wasn’t till 1988 that he was convicted and sentenced to 12 months in jail for copying an organization’s software program.
He broke into Pacific Bell’s voicemail computer systems when he was underneath supervised launch after which continued to hack into cell networks, in addition to firm and authorities web sites, as a fugitive within the 90s. Mitnick was additionally concerned within the theft of hundreds of recordsdata and bank card numbers, however his obituary says he “by no means took one dime from any of his ‘victims.'” He was ultimately caught in 1995 and charged with unlawful use of a phone entry machine and laptop fraud. Apparently, authorities believed he had entry to company commerce secrets and techniques price tens of millions of {dollars} on the time.
Mitnick spent 5 years in jail, which he described as a “trip” by the point he was freed. From there, he modified the course of his profession and selected to turn into a White Hat hacker and cybersecurity advisor. In 2011, he grew to become half proprietor and chief hacking officer of KnowBe4, which supplies safety consciousness coaching and a simulated phishing platform to shoppers. Earlier than all these occurred, Mitnick discovered learn how to recreation LA’s public transportation system at 12 years outdated by memorizing bus schedules and punch playing cards after which acquiring his personal punch instrument methods so he may experience buses all day. Mitnick is survived by his spouse, Kimberley Mitnick, and their unborn little one.
Trending Merchandise
