![]() Mitnick served five years in prison-four-and-a-half years' pre-trial and eight months in solitary confinement-because, according to Mitnick, law enforcement officials convinced a judge that he had the ability to "start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone", implying that law enforcement told the judge that he could somehow dial into the NORAD modem via a payphone from prison and communicate with the modem by whistling to launch nuclear missiles. He admitted to violating the terms of supervised release by hacking into Pacific Bell voicemail and other systems and to associating with known computer hackers, in this case co-defendant Lewis De Payne. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison plus 22 months for violating the terms of his 1989 supervised release sentence for computer fraud. In 1999, Mitnick pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud, two counts of computer fraud, and one count of illegally intercepting a wire communication, as part of a plea agreement before the United States District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles. Mitnick was charged with wire fraud (14 counts), possession of unauthorized access devices (8 counts), interception of wire or electronic communications, unauthorized access to a federal computer, and causing damage to a computer. Yahoo! dismissed the claims as a hoax and said that the worm was nonexistent. According to the message, all recent visitors of Yahoo!'s website had been infected with a computer worm that would wreak havoc on Christmas Day unless Mitnick was released. In December 1997, the Yahoo! website was hacked, displaying a message calling for Mitnick's release. He was found with cloned cellular phones, more than 100 clone cellular phone codes, and multiple pieces of false identification. Īfter a well-publicized pursuit, the FBI arrested Mitnick on February 15, 1995, at his apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina, on federal offenses related to a two-and-a-half-year period of computer hacking which included computer and wire fraud. Supporters from 2600 Magazine distributed "Free Kevin" bumper stickers. Mitnick also intercepted and stole computer passwords, altered computer networks, and broke into and read private e-mails. He used cloned cellular phones to hide his location and, among other things, copied valuable proprietary software from some of the country's largest cellular telephone and computer companies. Department of Justice, Mitnick gained unauthorized access to dozens of computer networks while he was a fugitive. After a warrant was issued for his arrest, Mitnick fled, becoming a fugitive for two-and-a-half years. Near the end of his supervised release, Mitnick hacked into Pacific Bell voicemail computers. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He broke into DEC's computer network and copied the company's software, a crime for which he was charged and convicted in 1988. ![]() Mitnick first gained unauthorized access to a computer network in 1979, at 16, when a friend gave him the phone number for the Ark, the computer system that Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) used for developing its RSTS/E operating system software. Career Computer hacking Īt age 12, Mitnick got a bus driver to tell him where he could buy his own ticket punch for "a school project", and was then able to ride any bus in the greater LA area using unused transfer slips he found in a dumpster next to the bus company garage. For a time, he worked as a receptionist for Stephen S. ![]() He was later enrolled at Los Angeles Pierce College and USC. He grew up in Los Angeles and attended James Monroe High School in Los Angeles, California, during which time he became an amateur radio operator. ![]() Mitnick was born in Van Nuys, California, on August 6, 1963.
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