When I first learned about Kevin Mitnick, I was very intrigued and interested in him. First though, I was disgusted at the things he did that I read in books and I never minded to hear his story from his point of view. Until it just happened that I brought up Kevin Mitnick one day. My dad got me the book: Ghost in the Wires written by Kevin Mitnick from his point of view. As I read it, I became less disgusted and more sorry with Kevin Mitnick. I then started to get more disgusted with the people who captured, arrested and portrayed Kevin Mitnick as a complete exaggeration. I learned my lesson: Don’t judge until you have weighed the facts and seen the situation from all different standpoints. I hope after reading this essay and weighing the facts, you will justly decide the actions of the dark-side hacker, the one who could start a nuclear war by whistling into a phone: Kevin Mitnick.
So, first of all, what is hacking? Hacking is any effort to use a computer to break into a system or gain access to a computer network. A hacker is someone who commits deeds using the art of hacking.
Kevin Mitnick used the art of hacking to elude Social Security and FBI. He used social engineering to trick companies into giving him access to servers, passwords, source codes and allowing him to plan backdoors and viruses. His knowledge of technology enabled him to listen on private conversations, make cloned cell phones, get free phone calls, track the enemies’ movements, get warned when FBI were near, and much more. Mitnick avoided capture for over two years until one of his hacking escapades led to his downfall.
On Christmas day, 1994, Mitnick hacked into the high-tech, heavily guarded computer of Tsutomu Shimomura or “Shimmy.” This proved to be a fatal mistake. When Shimmy found out, he was infuriated. Immediately he joined in the hunt to find Mitnick, and would stop at nothing to do it. Mitnick was always one step ahead of the FBI but now, with an experienced hacker like Shimmy in their midst, it seemed that the FBI were now always one step ahead of Mitnick. Two months later, Kevin Mitnick was trapped and arrested in his apartment in Raleigh North Carolina on February 15, 1995.
Mitnick was clapped in chain, lock and key, with handcuffs, leg irons, belly cuffs and chains. He was thrown into prison and the next day was convicted. He was bombarded with crimes he didn’t commit. FREE KEVIN supporters gathered in the streets. FREE KEVIN bumper stickers were handed out at the protests. Meanwhile, inside the courtroom, Kevin was pelted with unfair abuse and circumstances. A few weeks later, while researching in the prison library, Kevin suddenly called his lawyer. Kevin explained that he had found an earlier trial where a hacker was arrested but never went to prison because he explained that he was hacking for his own curiosity. He had never meant to hurt anyone or spent any money from the money he could have gotten. “It’s not the money that makes me happy,” Mitnick had said. “It’s the knowledge that I have the power to do it that makes me happy. Not that I intended to do it though.” After explaining it all in trial, Mitnick was finally released on January 21, 2000.
In the end, Mitnick decided to use his talents to help people instead of causing them stress. He is now the head of the company, Mitnick Security Counseling, and the leader of the Security Consultant team, The Global Ghost.
But there is still much controversy about his trial that his supporters put up a lot of fuss about. Here are the controversial facts: -
- Journalistic impropriety by reporters who accentuate the trial based on rumors and claims instead of facts
- Overzealous prosecution by FBI, press and government
- Media and TV over-hyping Mitnick’s actual crimes
- Shimmy’s involvement being unclear and illegal and not confirmed by the government
So, is Mitnick guilty or innocent? I will leave it up to you after reading this essay and weighing the facts.