Black intelligence – BlackFormer.com

Mitnick is perhaps synonymous with Hacker. The Department of Justice still refers to him as “the most wanted computer criminal in United States history.” His accomplishments were memorialized into two Hollywood movies: Takedown and Freedom Downtime.

Mitnick got his start by exploiting the Los Angeles bus punch card system and getting free rides. Then similar to Steve Wozniak, of Apple, Mitnick tried Phone Phreaking. Mitnick was first convicted for hacking into the Digital Equipment Corporation’s computer network and stealing software.

Mitnick then embarked on a two and a half year coast to coast hacking spree. He has stated that he hacked into computers, scrambled phone networks, stole corporate secrets and hacked into the national defense warning system. His fall came when he hacked into fellow computer expert and hacker Tsutomu Shimomura’s home computer.

Mitnick is now a productive member of society. After serving 5 years and 8 months in solitary confinement, he is now a computer security author, consultant and speaker.

n 1999, Mitnick admitted to the authorities to illegally gaining access to computer networks and acquiring copies of software as part of a plea agreement before the United States District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles. Though Mitnick has been convicted of computer related crimes and possession of several forged identification documents, his supporters argue that his punishment was excessive. In his 2002 book, The Art of Deception, Mitnick states that he compromised computers solely by using passwords and codes that he gained by social engineering. Mitnick did not use software programs or hacking tools for cracking passwords or otherwise exploiting computer or phone security.
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