August 6, 2014 at 18:40Happy Birthday, Kevin Mitnick!
Do you think it's worth recognizing August 6 as a hacker day ?
(or Social Engineering Day)
Kevin is an outstanding hacker and social engineer for the following reason.
He “hacked the system” at the meta level. From the point of view of TRIZ, he achieved an ideal end result .
Kevin organized everything in such a way that if earlier for what he was doing he was persecuted, now for what he is doing they stand in line and pay money.
(photo: Steve Wozniak gives Mitnik an Apple computer)
Another noteworthy fact is that Kevin did not go to university, but studied manuals using
Chronology of Mitnik's early hacks
12 years
- The first phone fraud;15 years
- fake bus tickets;16 years
- hacking school computer network;- hacking McDonald's radio communications;
17 years
- The first illegal entry into the territory of the Pacific Telephone;- “dissertation on hacking RSTS / E ”;
- “Kevin's“ girlfriend ”hacked using Mitnik’s data and blamed him;
- penetration into the building of COSMOS ;
- first conditional term;
18 years
- Hacking the University of Southern California, arrest;25 years
- the first prison term is 12 months, the ban on using the phone, under the pretext that Mitnik can crack NORAD ;28 years
- Hacking a Novatel phone (using social engineering), which allowed changing the Mitnik ESN .Under the cut are several video interviews of Mitnik, the story of hacking McDonald's radio communications and links to interesting articles.
Excerpt from a book:
Hackers from McDonald's
Lewis and I had a similar sense of humor. I thought and still believe that any hobby that cannot be called fun is not worth the time and effort. Lewis and I lived on the same wavelength. We came up with a joke called "McDonald's Hackers." We figured out how to remake the two-meter radio antenna so that you could speak from a speaker that hung above the McDrive window and over the place where visitors ordered their favorite fast food. We drove up to McDonald's, parked there, from where we could watch what was happening and go unnoticed, tuned our portable radio to the restaurant frequency and had fun.
For example, a police car drives up to the McDrive window. As soon as she comes up with a reproducer, I or Lewis announce: “Sorry. We do not serve cops here. Better head to Jack in the box. ” Once, one lady braked under the speaker and heard my voice: “Show your boobs - and Big Mac at the expense of the establishment!” She did not understand the joke, drowned out the car, grabbed something from her bag and ran into the restaurant, brandishing a baseball bat.
My crown number was called Free Apple Juice. After the customer placed the order, we reported that the machine with ice cubes broke, so we give out free juice. “We have grapefruit, orange ... Oh, excuse me, it seems that both grapefruit and orange are over. Would you like apple juice? ” The visitor, of course, agreed. We turned on the sound of urine pouring into a cup, and then we said: “Good. Your apple juice is ready. Drive to the window and pick it up. ”
Lewis and I thought it was funny to confuse people, not to let them make an order. When the loudspeaker was in our power, we waited for the client to slow down and order something. Then one of us repeated this order, but with a strong Indian accent, which made it almost impossible to make out. The client said that he did not understand, and again and again we answered something completely illegible, time after time bringing the customers to hysteria.
The most interesting thing was that all the things that we said at McDrive were also clearly heard from the loudspeaker, but the staff could not cope with it. Sometimes we noticed how other customers at the tables in the fresh air came from laughing. However, no one understood what was happening.
Once the manager came out and tried to figure out what happened to the loudspeaker. He inspected the parking lot, scratching his head. There was no one around. Cars were empty. No one was hiding behind a restaurant sign. The manager went up to the megaphone and leaned close to him, as if trying to make out inside some little man.
“What the hell are you looking for here ?!” I cried in a squeaky voice.
The manager probably bounced back three meters.
Sometimes, when we hooligans, people who lived in neighboring houses went to balconies and had fun. Even those who walked along the sidewalk cried with laughter. Lewis and I sometimes even invited friends to such shows - it was really funny.
Lewis and I had a similar sense of humor. I thought and still believe that any hobby that cannot be called fun is not worth the time and effort. Lewis and I lived on the same wavelength. We came up with a joke called "McDonald's Hackers." We figured out how to remake the two-meter radio antenna so that you could speak from a speaker that hung above the McDrive window and over the place where visitors ordered their favorite fast food. We drove up to McDonald's, parked there, from where we could watch what was happening and go unnoticed, tuned our portable radio to the restaurant frequency and had fun.
For example, a police car drives up to the McDrive window. As soon as she comes up with a reproducer, I or Lewis announce: “Sorry. We do not serve cops here. Better head to Jack in the box. ” Once, one lady braked under the speaker and heard my voice: “Show your boobs - and Big Mac at the expense of the establishment!” She did not understand the joke, drowned out the car, grabbed something from her bag and ran into the restaurant, brandishing a baseball bat.
My crown number was called Free Apple Juice. After the customer placed the order, we reported that the machine with ice cubes broke, so we give out free juice. “We have grapefruit, orange ... Oh, excuse me, it seems that both grapefruit and orange are over. Would you like apple juice? ” The visitor, of course, agreed. We turned on the sound of urine pouring into a cup, and then we said: “Good. Your apple juice is ready. Drive to the window and pick it up. ”
Lewis and I thought it was funny to confuse people, not to let them make an order. When the loudspeaker was in our power, we waited for the client to slow down and order something. Then one of us repeated this order, but with a strong Indian accent, which made it almost impossible to make out. The client said that he did not understand, and again and again we answered something completely illegible, time after time bringing the customers to hysteria.
The most interesting thing was that all the things that we said at McDrive were also clearly heard from the loudspeaker, but the staff could not cope with it. Sometimes we noticed how other customers at the tables in the fresh air came from laughing. However, no one understood what was happening.
Once the manager came out and tried to figure out what happened to the loudspeaker. He inspected the parking lot, scratching his head. There was no one around. Cars were empty. No one was hiding behind a restaurant sign. The manager went up to the megaphone and leaned close to him, as if trying to make out inside some little man.
“What the hell are you looking for here ?!” I cried in a squeaky voice.
The manager probably bounced back three meters.
Sometimes, when we hooligans, people who lived in neighboring houses went to balconies and had fun. Even those who walked along the sidewalk cried with laughter. Lewis and I sometimes even invited friends to such shows - it was really funny.
“Actually, I’ll tell you a secret: I’m still hacking all the time.” I’m constantly hacking systems, the only difference is that now clients give me permission and pay me money so that I can help them identify security problems that can be fixed later. So everybody wins - both clients and me. My activity today is as if Pablo Escobar had been retrained as a pharmacist.Forbes article: Ex-hacker # 1 Kevin Mitnik: “I'm like Pablo Escobar, who became a pharmacist . ”
Vedomosti (2014): Legendary Hacker Kevin Mitnick: “I Was Edward Snowden of the 90s . ”
Interview to the Russia 24 Channel:
The USA has access to everything:
Amateur "true" documentary (there is an interview with Kevin's grandmother):
Hackspace members are drinking Club Mate with Kevin Mitnick:
Eugene Gorny “The Saga of Mitnik” (1996)
An article on Habré about Kevin (2009)
An article on Habré Kevin Mitnik’s speech in Moscow (2013)
Kevin Mitnik ’s book “The Art of Deception” (including an unpublished chapter)
Kevin Mitnik ’s book “The Art of Invasion”
Book ( must read ) “A ghost on the net. The Memoirs of the Greatest Hacker ”
(Read in one breath, cooler than any movie or fictional detective)
UPD (Aug 7): Happy Birthday, Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia's father)
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Recognize August 6 as International Hacker Day
- 73% yes 944
- 26.9% no 349