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This is just a quick post before I go to work, so if someone already posted this...I'm sorry and just ignore me like most other people do....
Well Kevin is back in the news yet again. Why for this time you ask? Well, just check out this link to 2600, which explains everything. Enjoy I'm thinking about bidding on the book myself.....
I personally dont like Kevin Mitnick and all the attention he gets is unwarranted. He got a lot of attention at a time when his trade was rare and underground. Just because the news media caught on people thing he is a golden god or something. The only reason he is in the least bit cool is because he had the cahones to evade the law using hacker tactics. Mitnick is old.
Well, I doubt they think he is a god, although he is smart. I believe they just think he's famous because of his "accomplishments" or whatever you want to call them. The fact he was able to avoid the law for awhile and hack into anything "at will" I guess helped make him famous. And in this day in age, if your famous, all you gotta do is buy coffee and choke on it and BAM!.. Your in the news. I, however, am buying his new book and I think he is a pretty smart guy, IMHO.
I agree. I think Mitnick is a pretty smart cookie, whether people like him or not. I've listened to him on TechTV a few times, and he has always struck me as a pretty level-headed and insightful kind of guy. As for his fame (or infamy), most people who become famous do so mostly through happenstance, and I don't see that Mitnick is any different. He was in the right place at the right time, and he knew how to play his cards to make the most of it. See smart cookie above. :)
But the fact is he's been there and done that, and he definitely knows what he's talking about.
I agree. Mitnick's not the best hacker. He got caught, didn't he? Well, all good hackers never get caught. There are PLENTY of hackers like him, and a lot better than him, but you don't know of them. Why? Because they don't get caught! And if they do, it's a shameful burden, not a "Come over here and film me!" Kind-of thing. But I have to admit, he knows his stuff (At the time when 300 baud connections were standard).
Silentstalker
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Speaking of Kevin Mitnick, I'm reading a book entitled " TakeDown: The pursuit and capture of America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw - By the man who did it". The guy who captured Mitnick wrote the book, Tsutomu Shimomura, and it is a pretty good read an account of what happened. The end of the book tell's of a telephone conversation between Mitnick and Shimomura and Mitnick was saying, " Thank you for getting me out of the game" and the reply was " The game was over". I think the book is great and is a must-read for those interested in the "Mitnick Story".
I remember reading Takedown a few years ago...
or similiar......
via e-book I think.....
Wish I could find my e-book copy...
It is someplace on 200+ gigs of hard drive servers.....
Personally I think Keven got more than he deserved....
and that discussion could be a start of another good thread....
I feel sorry for Kevin. I feel strongly that he has abundant knowledge of compters and other domains. He might have used his knowledge for a purposeful thing viz.. finding vulnerabilities in government and its allied sites (otherwise called Ethical Hacking). This may put him at the other end where he can be like a net celebrity.
I feel bad for him while reading featured article provided in a site. I am sorry i forget its name.
Highlander brings up a good point...I think this could be an interesting thread....maybe the subject something like 'Did Kevin deserve what he got?'
I admired kevin for his knowledge about computer and ive also read his biography but felt sorry for what he's become if he make use of his knowledge for good maybe he's famous now a days but money REALLY can change people !!!!!!!!! thinking of how much would kevin's get if he sold his stuff?
I think hackers cheered for mitnick for the same reason African Americans cheered for OJ. I mean Mitnick DID BREAK THE LAW. Many of the things he did were highly illegal and questionably unethical. But with all the media coverage, it brought the insane tactics used by law enforcement officers to track and arrest computer criminals into the limelight. It broadcasted, for the first time to the rest of the world, what hackers have been fighting for years. The illegal wiretaps, searches and seizures, and flat-out paranoia that has been the standard for capturing crackers in the past. It is discrimination, plain and simple, and Kevin made that a story worthy of 20/20 instead of rants on "Phuc da Pheds" BBS.
I never claimed Mitnick wasnt a smart guy. Obviously he is smart because hacking back in the day wasnt the script-kiddie paint by the numbers stuff it is now. He knows his stuff. Acid has a great point in his last post. He did bring the hacker freedom fight to the forefront with his antics and for that we should definatly be thankful. However, how many kiddies grew up during that age (me included) and are hacking their buns off causing a mess around the globe? The hacker ideal is not to cause destruction. Mitnick is not a good role model.
just a thought :D
-zenon