Despite the common belief, hackers were originally people who were simply professional computer users, specializing in software and hardware. Today the word “hacker” implies a negative connotation, a criminal who will break into your bank account and the national defense system of your country (Grand, 2004).
Kevin Mitnick, born in 1963, was considered to be one of the most wanted hackers in the United States. He grew up in Los Angeles and was a student at Monroe High School. The higher educational institution assigned to him was Los Angeles Pierce College and USC. In his early days, he held a job at Stephen S. Wise Temple and he had a duty of a receptionist. His first official “hack” happened when he was twelve years old. He was a social engineer, which means that a person uses other people—strangers, to do things they would not regularly do. Using this skill, Kevin took advantage of the transfer system of the buses to ride them for free. When he was 16, in 1979, his first computer hacking was to gain access to the computer system of Digital Equipment Corporation. He copied their software but was later captured and convicted, which happened in 1988. Kevin Mitnick received one year sentence in prison and also a sentence of supervised parole for three years. Close to the end of his three years he presumably gained illegal access to Pacific Bell and this action violated his parole conditions. There was a warrant issued for his arrest and so he had to go into hiding. For two and a half years he was running from the authorities. During this time he was said to have broken into many computer systems, coping valuable and secure information. He hacked into computer and cell phone companies, using their resources for personal use. He altered computer networks, stole passwords, and read private emails. In 1995 he was captured, in Raleigh, North Carolina. There was incriminating evidence on him in the form of clone cell phones, cell phone codes, and many pieces of false identification (Lambert, 2005).
The trial that took place in the year 1999 contained his confession to some of the presented crimes and the sentence was administered in a form of a plea bargain, where he received three years and 10 months in prison. Another two years were added on for his violation of parole in 1989. Kevin Mitnick spent 5 years in prison, out of which four and a half were served as pre-trial. Eight months he has spent in solitary confinement. Mitnick says that this happened because the officials from law enforcement were able to convince the judge that simply by whistling into the phone receiver he can start a nuclear war. When his sentence ended in 2003, the court has made it a condition for him to not be able to use any technology based on communication, except a phone which was a landline. Kevin Mitnick appealed the decision and won. He gained access to the internet by the court’s decision. A ruling that was also made in the plea bargain was that he could receive any form of gain from films or books that depicted his crimes and this condition was in force for seven years. Today Mitnick runs a company called Security Consulting LLC, which is a computer consulting company (Mitnick, 2011). His history and sentences are surrounded by great controversy, as there are rumors that many rulings were falsely imposed. Mitnick himself said that he has not used computers for crimes he was convicted of but used simple social avenues that anyone could have gained access to. There are theories that the government wanted him behind bars, as he was considered too dangerous. Many people supported him and demanded justice and even today he has a following (Knight, 2003). Hackers are people with skills that can be used to better the world and help others to protect themselves from criminal hackers.
References
Grand, J. (2004). Hardware hacking: Have fun while voiding your warranty. Rockland, United States: Syngress.
Knight, P. (2003). Conspiracy theories in American history: An encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, United States: ABC-CLIO.
Lambert, L. (2005). The internet: Biographies. New York, United States: ABC-CLIO.
Mitnick, K. (2011). The art of deception: Controlling the human element of security. Indianapolis, United States: John Wiley & Sons.