Kevin Mitnick

Kevin Mitnick is probably the only hacker who is widely known even among people far from computers. The elusive computer genius, the thunderstorm of computer networks - newspaper publications, the hero of which Mitnick became countless times, did not skimp on the epithets. For millions, his name was associated with the image of a sinister, computer-hacker penetrating everywhere, capable of bringing down the power of technology to people. In adolescents, on the contrary, he always admired. During the 80s. Kevin penetrated into the computer systems of almost all large companies. There was no such protection that he would not be able to crack. But, easily coping with others, the legendary hacker could not cope with himself in time. Which eventually led to a sad end.

Los Angeles

Like many 70s phreakers, Kevin David Mitnick was born into a dysfunctional family. His parents often quarreled, plates flew in the apartment regularly and swearing resounded. The birth of a child did not change anything. When little Kevin was 3 years old in 1966, his parents finally divorced. Mother took her son and moved to Los Angeles, where she settled down as a waitress in one of the local beer bars. Her working day began early in the morning and ended late in the evening; all this time Kevin had to entertain himself. However, he did not have to miss. Almost every day, instead of a boring school, Kevin went on a journey through the streets of the big city. He was attracted by the lights of Los Angeles, the hustle and bustle around. Often he took a bus and went to a new area in order to explore all its nooks in the evening.

For a young boy, such trips were expensive. For some time, Kevin was interrupted by money given out for lunch and pocket money, but soon this was not enough. Trying to solve the problem, he drew attention to the tickets for which public transport could be used as many times as necessary for a certain time. In appearance - an ordinary cardboard card in which its validity period was recorded. It seemed easy to correct the signature, it remained to find a used travel card somewhere. Rummaging in the trash bin of the bus station, Kevin gathered up a full bag of these cards. And after minor editing, he was free to travel around Los Angeles, enjoying freedom. In a short time, he learned the schedules of all the bus routes in the city and was so well versed in the intricacies of the streets that he could unmistakably call where almost any institution was located.

In the 70s, while personal computers were not widely spread, the telephone was the height of excellence in technological communications. And all the first hackers of the planet at the beginning of their “creative journey” were engaged in phreaking, that is, they made phone calls for free. With 12 years and Mitnick entered the cohort of phreakers. An acquaintance with Roscoe, with whom they would soon terrify all US telephone and computer companies, turned out to be a landmark event in the life of a teenager. Together with Susan Sander, Roscoe's girlfriend, who skillfully uses her charms to obtain the necessary information, and Steve Rhodes, they form a “closed club of interests” and soon become the most famous hackers on the Pacific coast.
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Studying phreaks "chips" was like mastering tricks, and Mitnick took up mastering this art with all care, and the desire to be the best in that activity, whatever he was doing, soon made him one of the best phreakers, and he was already slightly teasing at his elders comrades.

The most common joke from Mitnick's arsenal is the transfer of a landline phone to the category of a street payphone. And when the hapless friend picked up the phone to call, the gentle voice of the operator said: "Please, lower 20 cents."

With the advent of computers, a new passion embraced the young man - now he spent hours at school in classrooms, studying modern technology.

From phones to computers

In 1980, Kevin accomplished his first hacker "feat": he hacked into the database of his own school, having received unlimited access to all information relating to educational activities, including the "Table of Ranks" on academic performance. He could suddenly become a round high achiever, but did not do it, but only earned recognition in the emerging hacker environment.

What is remarkable, many more times in his life, Kevin Mitnick will have unlimited possibilities, but will not take advantage of them - he did not want illegal fame and pirate wealth!

On computer courses that Mitnick graduated from after school, he found a vulnerability in the operating system and gained access to all the privileges on the network. No one understood how he did it, however, he was faced with a choice as a result of the intrusion: either working to eliminate existing vulnerabilities or the “children's police school”. Needless to say, Kevin chose the first.

Then he took the nickname Condor, in the same film by Sydney Pollack with Robert Redford in the lead role. Condor easily manipulated phones and people on cinema screens, in the same way Kevin manipulated computer systems in life.

Without ever using his enrichment skills, Kevin could not afford even an inexpensive computer, so he resorted to every opportunity to access the computer network. For example, the “Radio Scheek” store, where you could work on the TRS-80 for anyone who wanted it, however, for a limited time. With his skills, Mitnick had no difficulty in convincing the store personnel to allow him to use these machines from the opening to the closing of the store.

A year later, having advanced significantly in hacking, he penetrated the computer system of the North American air defense forces in Colorado. The generals just shook their fingers, leaving the incident unpunished.

Although the authorities did not give due importance to all the "feats" of the boy, Mitnick was recognized among the "colleagues" and gained certain fame.

Further more. In 1982, he made a loud theft of training materials on COSMOS and MicroPort at Pacific Bell. Keeping up with the guard, Kevin and his friends entered the main building of the company, although it was already well past midnight, and with full bags of technical documentation on the phones quietly left it. In return for this, Mitnick received three months at the California Center for Difficult Teens and a year of probation. A couple of weeks after the release, he broke into the Pentagon network ARPANet, which after some time became public and educational.

By that time, Kevin was already considered to be quite a lot of sinners, who, in aggregate, were “punished” for severe punishment, but, apart from suspicion, the authorities had nothing to show him: Mitnick knew very well how to cover his tracks.

Kevin and the company passed Susan Sander. With her hacker skills, she made an indelible impression on the members of the FBI commission, and they agreed to turn a blind eye to her sins in exchange for proof of the guilt of more experienced hackers, Roscoe and Mitnick. As a result, the first was given three months in prison, the second, then still a minor, - three months psychological courses.

In Radio Scheek, Mitnick was no longer allowed, and Kevin found an accessible computer at the University of Southern California, where he presented himself as a student. Forging a student ID was no more difficult than bus passes. There he was caught hacking a secret military network. They took him red-handed, a brief trial, and six months in prison were paid for “curiosity.”

Coming out of prison, he got a job at Great American Merchandising, where he performed dust-free work, quickly coping with which, and began his new research on “forbidden” network resources. When suspicious colleagues turned to the appropriate authorities, Mitnick was already gone. He found himself only a year later, after removing all the incriminating evidence in the annals of the police, and calmly entered the summer computer classes, where he married the dark-skinned Bonnie Vitello, administrator of the well-known telephone company GTE, promising her that “never again ...”.

Thus, from 1982 to 1987, Mitnick fully plunged into mediocre family life in the provincial California town of Thousand Oaks.

But in 1988, "the soul of the poet did not endure," and he set to work on the old and fell again. For the theft of various software from Santa Cruz Operation, he received three years of probation. And then he was again imprisoned for downloading the new VMS operating system from Digital Equipment Corporation in Palo Alto. And here there was a betrayal, he was “passed” by Lenny Di Chikko, his closest friend and fellow hacker, having bought his freedom in return.

Kevin spent a year in prison, of which as many as eight months in solitary confinement. In addition, he underwent compulsory treatment from a psychiatrist, who spoke about his patient this way: “Hacking gives Kevin a sense of self-esteem that he lacks in real life. Greed and the desire to harm nothing to do with it ... He is like a big child playing "Dungeons and Dragons."

He was released under public supervision with the requirement to never approach computers with a modem. But all the materials on the arrest of Mitnick suddenly disappeared from the database of the court in Santa Cruz, quickly became empty and the account of the judge involved in this case ... However, there was no evidence that this was the work of Kevin.

After the conclusion, Mitnick seemed to change his mind again: he began to provide IT security services, went on a diet, almost becoming a vegetarian and dropping about 45 kg.

By that time, Kevin had already become one of the most famous hackers and they began to hang all the “dogs” on him: all cybercrimes tried to attribute him to a genius, whether it was about hacking into the Pentagon and FBI networks or about penetrating into telephone companies. The FBI even arranged a search in his apartment in Calabasas (California), he was charged with hacking computers at the California Department of Motor Vehicles, from which a bill for $ 1 million came to Mitnick. Kevin did not find anything better than to escape and disappear from the eyes of the annoying " guardians "for two whole years.

He was put on the federal wanted list, but he easily acquired new documents, which was always easy with his talents. They even arrested a man like him, but they could not find him.

From 1992 to 1994, he quietly lived in Seattle under the name of Brian Merrill, working as a computer technician in a hospital. “It was a very quiet, completely ordinary person,” said Sherry Scott, secretary of the department in which Mitnick worked. - He never talked about his personal life. Just came and did his own thing. ”

It is believed that the persecution of Mitnick, organized by the authorities, only pushed him to a new hack, and he no longer restrained himself.

Mitnick’s “handwriting” was already well studied, and the relevant authorities clearly identified Kevin’s involvement in the intrusions into computer networks of such famous companies as Motorola, Nokia, McCaw Cellular Communication Inc., Sun Microsystems, and others. He was nearly caught after the successful theft of the first version of the program to protect computer networks SATAN (Security Administrator Tool for Analysing Networks) Dan Farmer. The creator of the "devil" tracked down Mitnick and turned to the authorities for help in apprehending a hacker. But he managed to retreat in time. As a result, the police got a few cell phones, a large number of special literature on computers and telephones, as well as ... a “police wave” scanner, with the help of which Kevin elementary tracked all the actions of the cops.

Battle of the Giants

At the end of 1994, Mitnick, known not only for jewelry, precisely calculated, but also for “cavalry” attacks, was clearly one of the best IT professionals. But who else can you contend with ?! Specialists from telephone companies and government agencies, "sitting" on the salary - passed stage. Kevin found himself a worthy opponent in the face of Tsutomy Shimomura, a recognized specialist in IT-security. A grand confrontation began, now classic.

At that time, Shimomura actively collaborated with the special services and, like Bill Gates, loved “eating his dog’s bread”, so he set up traps for hackers not so much to catch them as to test his own security system.

One day, going on vacation to go skiing in Nevada, Shimomura did not disconnect from the network his ultra-secure computer in Solana Beach (California). It even contained the samurai "homework" on secret military orders.

In fact, it was also just a bait, no specialist would be allowed to do this work "at home". Mitnick knew everything perfectly, but it was exactly the case when the excitement exceeded elementary caution.

All changes that occurred on Shimomura's computer were strictly recorded in logs and were monitored on a remote computer by his work colleague, also an American of Japanese origin in San Diego (San Deigo Supercomputer Center).

And the mousetrap worked! Anticipating loot, Shimomura urgently returned from his vacation. Although Tzutoma did not know who he was dealing with, he immediately understood that this was not a playful child (Mitnick left offensive voice messages for him), but an experienced hacker who managed to download a lot of secret code and decompose it into rarely used accounts of The Well (Californian internet provider). Hot on the heels it was impossible to calculate the hacker, and Shimomura would have forgotten the misunderstanding if Kevin hadn’t reminded himself again.

On December 27, he sent Shimomura some more escapades addressed to him, of course, with a voice that was unrecognizable processed on a computer. The text was about the following: “Damn you (this is better not to translate). My technique is the best ... Don't you know who I am ... Me and my friends ... We will kill you! ”

Insulted to the depths of the soul Shimomura, following the best traditions of “bushido”, he vowed to take revenge on the hacker, who questioned the competence of one of the most respected samurai of IT security. The first thing Shimomura did was restore the entire course of the attack. The technique was really on the verge of fiction.

Mitnick entered the computer at Laiola University in Chicago, who had access to Shimomura's home PC. As you know, when the operating system receives a request for access, it sends an acknowledgment of receipt to the sending computer. Mitnick was conducting a “blind” game session, and could not see these messages, as he was in a completely different place, but he still managed to solve the sequence numbers and assign the corresponding numbers to further queries, thus gaining access to the Shimomura PC. (The theoretical possibility of this was predicted by Steve Bellinoff from Bell Labs back in 1989, but the Mitnick attack was the first known case of the practical use of this technique.)

But who is this elusive hacker owning a really impressive hacking technique? The thousands of credit card numbers stolen from NetCom Inc. found on The Well’s accounts were a good argument for the FBI to intervene in this civil war.

In the list of suspects, the name of Kevin Mitnick was one of the first. Summed up his passion for mobile phones: on the same accounts found a program to manipulate cell phones, which was indirect evidence of the involvement of Mitnick. Phriker's past leaves an indelible mark on the rest of his life ...

Shimomura took advantage of all the administrative resources provided to him. The security services managed to isolate the search zone, from which Kevin got in touch, and the police took up patrolling the area.

Began a serious hunt for the "beast." To carry out the operation, they even seconded the notorious journalist John Markoff, who will soon write a Cyberpunk book with Mitnick in the lead role, and then make a film about the terrible hacker. Together with Shimomura, they will warm their hands on the story of Mitnick, earning about a million dollars, and Mitnick - five years in prison ... and not a cent more!

In contrast to the detention of inveterate gangsters, the arrest of a cybercriminal is not accompanied by heated shootouts and rapid pursuits. The arrest of the chief hacker of “all times and peoples” was no exception to the rule and also went quite routinely: on Valentine's Day of 1995, a certain judge, Wallace Dickson, gave his consent to search apartment 202 in the Player Club in the town of Raleich, occupied by a certain Glennom Thomas Case . On February 15, Shimomura gave the special services a cue: “Our friend is in touch. You can knock! ”, At 1.30 at night, they knocked on the apartment with a warrant in hand. Door opened. “Bah! Yes this is Mitnick! - happily exclaimed agents. “Take him!” So ​​Kevin was once again behind bars.

Shimomura and Mitnick met face to face at the preliminary hearing, all in the same Ralikha. Fallen Mitnick, looking askance at Shimomura, in the best traditions of Hollywood, said: “Greetings to you, Tsutoma. I admire your art ... ”Samurai just nodded proudly, to trample the defeated enemy is not in the rules of Bushido, but he did not refuse the glory of a modest superhero - after all he is an American, even though of Japanese origin.

Court

The trial of Kevin Mitnick was the loudest in the case of hackers, and the authorities had to make such a decision so that others would not be in danger. It always happens in life - the indicative court is the most stringent.

Kevin was charged with computer fraud.

Needless to say, Kevin didn’t have “access” to computers and communications, because these everyday harmless things in the hands of a famous hacker (or rather, in the eyes of the authorities) turned into a “deadly” weapon, but this was not enough : he was even restricted access to the library with paper books. In fact, unable to defend himself properly, Mitnick surrendered and on April 4, 1999, he pleaded guilty, agreeing to cooperate with the prosecution.

By its severity, the sentence exceeded all expectations, even the killers received a milder punishment. But Kevin did not kill anyone, but he was more dangerous than any natural-born killer. In the case of Mitnick, the authorities were faced with a cybercrime, known to them only from fantastic stories. And all the new scares are stronger than the worst, but famous.

In his book “The Game Outlaw,” Jonathan Littman very accurately noted: “The authorities can still understand the desire for profit. But a hacker who uses his power for pure pleasure ... goes beyond their understanding. "

And Kevin for a long time found himself in a prison cell, without a computer and a telephone. And when his father died, he even had to write office notes to use the telephone in order to contact his family.

Even Shimomura was displeased with such a court decision: “I expected the US government to find a more elegant solution.”

The Los Angeles Isolator No. 89950-012, while he was there, Mitnick became the most famous and most protected in the world: there was a criminal who the prosecutor offered to hide from society for two centuries!

In fact, Mitnick urgently began to grow rich, both private investors, like Markoff, and entire institutions. For example, in legal practice, firstly, a precedent was created for punishing a cybercriminal; secondly, Mitnick became the only federal prisoner in US history who was denied even consideration of a bail hearing.

However, the hacker's accusers were enriched and in the literal sense of the word, Los Angeles District Attorney Buck Bloomker became a fiction writer on the “Mitnick case”, writing the book “Exciting computer crimes”.

Retired hacker

At the end of January 2001, 36-year-old Mitnick was released from prison. During its conclusion, the FREE KEVIN Foundation was organized, which contributed the necessary amount as a pledge for the early release of the famous hacker.

But Kevin found freedom only physically, immediately becoming a life slave to his recent victims: under the terms of early release, he will transfer $ 125 monthly to Fujitsu, Motorola, Pacific Bell, Sun Microsystems, San Diego Supercomputer Center and other companies who did not hesitate to say that they have become the innocent victims of a malicious hacker and demand appropriate "annexations and indemnities".

Pretty compensation comes out for “... all the material damage I had caused, which came down to the cost of phone calls I made at the expense of telephone companies, the cost of eliminating security holes I had found, and several cases when companies had to reinstall operating systems and applications because they were afraid I made loopholes in their software and will wander through their corporate networks. But if I had not found these holes, the companies would continue to live with them and would have suffered much greater losses. ”

Nevertheless, the money will still have to be returned, and here it is not a sin to use one's own popularity and skills that have not yet been lost. Only by becoming famous, Mitnick decided to earn money from his own fame and experience.

But recently, the whole world was in his hands, he could have become richer than Bill Gates, it was enough just to put his hand in the "pockets" of millions of people, but he did not take advantage of it. Then he needed only to feel his power. And it is in a society where money rules all.What is the need to have an excerpt, so that, being in a room with “the treasures of the whole world”, do not touch a penny? Pass by millions and be satisfied only with the realization of the fact that “I can do it”! Indeed, computer geniuses are not typical people.

“I was driven by purely childish curiosity. I could go into your house, look through books from your library, look into your fridge, but I never took anything ... ”said Kevin.

Thus, he entered the "house" of the notorious director George Lucas and leafed through the new Star Wars scenario, the first to know that everyone was just to see many months later. Lucas would not even know if Kevin honestly did not admit to his deed.

Previously, no one paid attention to the thick bespectacled man, who sat bent over the days at the computer, except for those to whom he had crossed the road. But now, his every word was worth its weight in gold. He noted even his return to on-line with a big scale and good earnings. In January 2003, TechTV organized the broadcast of this momentous event, inviting also Napster founder Shawn Fanning and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who were also computer enthusiasts for Mitnick, but who embodied the bright side of IT all their lives. However, it is authentically known that Woz (S. Wozniak's nickname) was a phreaker ...

Then Mitnick went over to their side, namely, to protect people from such personalities to which he himself belonged yesterday.

Together with Alex Casper, he created Defensive Thinking (recently defended Mitnick Security Consulting), a IT security consulting company.

“Someone made millions on my past,” says Kevin. - I got five years in prison. Defensive Thinking for me is a chance to rehabilitate myself before the society, assisting clients in building reliable and secure information systems. At the same time, it remains an opportunity to do your favorite work: to study the subtleties of computing systems and human psychology. ”

The main problem of information security, according to Mitnick, in the notorious human factor, speaking of which, everyone somehow immediately forget that people are also the main resource of states and corporations. He cites bold statistics, arguing that "if people just called back on the phone indicated by the hacker, this would solve the security problem by 80%." In the matter of security, according to Mitnick, no one can be trusted: “You can only believe in God. All others are under suspicion. ”

Mitnick became a public figure, he voluntarily got into the skin of his recent counterpart Shimomura, and now he will have to prove his professional suitability every day, and there are plenty of people willing to fight the greatest hacker of “all times and peoples”. But the old woman is proruha. So, on January 30, 2003, the BugBear hacker added his own page to the Defensive Thinking website containing white bear cubs with the inscription: “Welcome back to freedom, Mr. Kevin, it was fun and easy to break into your box ”(“ Welcome to freedom, Mr. Kevin, it was fun and easy to hack your box ”). Of course, since the last “communication” of Mitnick with a computer, a lot of time has passed, and the technology of hacker attacks became much more sophisticated, so Kevin reacted, as usual, they say, the human factor is to blame:one of his employees did not install the necessary corrections for Microsoft IIS, but now everything is in order ... A few days later, the hacking was repeated with the same success ... Now, hacking of sites affiliated with Mitnick occurs with enviable regularity, and Kevin seems to have come to terms with the role of not eliminating “holes "In the protection system, and the person who explains why this has become possible and that he is not at fault here.

Despite the fact that Mitnick was forbidden to use his history for personal earnings until 2010, in October 2002 he published a book in collaboration with William Simon “The Art of Deception”. And it is quite possible, behind the fictional stories are hidden their own "incidents from the life" of the main hacker. By the way, the introduction to the book was written by Steve Wozniak himself.

Another interesting point about this book was a chapter, which is a brief autobiography of Mitnick. Kevin did not dare to publish it “in paper”, bearing in mind the above-mentioned 2010 ban. However, all this only worked on the legend of Mitnick. Of course, the article was found and published ...

Later, Mitnick’s second book, “Art of Intrusion” (The Art of Invasion), came out. They say that Kevin honestly paid $ 500 to the hackers who shared their loudest hacks with him.

If you believe the proverb that "the best policemen are former thieves," then perhaps Mitnick will succeed in the new field. One thing is for sure: security specialists.

And again the question of the king? It is a rule. Shimomura) and ... surely get caught!

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