Kevin Free!!!!

[billy_gates]

Kevin Mitnick is free, isn't that great?

[voidmain]

I don't understand what's so great about it. Cracker gets busted, cracker gets put in jail. Do the crime, do the time. I take steps above and beyond to secure my systems but if someone goes out of their way to bust into them I would like to see them punished. If I could physically get my hands on them I would punish them myself but that usually isn't possible.

[choasforages]

it wasn't so much the grief that he cuased, its how much shit was said about his capabilitys. and the way is case was handled

[Master of Reality]

...like putting him in solitary confinement because they thought he could start a nuclear war with just a telephone.

[mobrien_12]

On one hand, I think the law tried to make an example of him and exaggerated the damage he did (they said he stole millions of dollars of software, which he never released or used).  It's also _not_ cool that they held him for so long without bail or a trial.  

On the other hand, he brought all this on himself.  
 As I recall, he got busted once but couldn't stop breaking into systems.  He wasn't doing it to make a pollitical statement (like those guys who keep hacking RIAA).

He sounds like a highly intelligent screw-up who pissed off the wrong people.

I wish him luck in his new legitimate career.  Unfortunately, it's an uphill battle since he (rightly so) has had no computer access for many years.

[choasforages]

quick, move him to cananada so he can work on openbsd...

[beltorak0]

I used to have pity on him, but then I learned he has been busted FIVE TIMES previously for the same shit.  And one time he had a good paying legitimate job.  why???  Imagine the money he could have made if he spent a little more effort in learning how to plug the holes he found, and then worked as a freelance black-hat for hire: "You pay for me to break into your own network, and then to ensure that no one can do the same...".

read this to learn about the sad state of security in today's internet: (excerpts follow)
 

quote:
"I had access to most, if not all, of the switches in Las Vegas," testified Mitnick, at a hearing of Nevada's Public Utilities Commission (PUC). "I had the same privileges as a Northern Telecom technician."

Mitnick's testimony played out like a surreal Lewis Carroll version of a hacker trial -- with Mitnick calmly and methodically explaining under oath how he illegally cracked Sprint of Nevada's network, while the attorney for the victim company attacked his testimony, effectively accusing the ex-hacker of being innocent.
---
Mitnick's claims seemed to inspire skepticism in the PUC's technical advisor, who asked the ex-hacker, shortly before the hearing was to break for lunch, if he could prove that he had cracked Sprint's network. Mitnick said he would try.

Two hours later, Mitnick returned to the hearing room clutching a crumpled, dog-eared and torn sheet of paper, and a small stack of copies for the commissioner, lawyers, and staff.

At the top of the paper was printed "3703-03 Remote Access Password List." A column listed 100 "seeds", numbered "00" through "99," corresponding to a column of four digit hexadecimal "passwords," like "d4d5" and "1554."

Commissioner Escobar Chanos accepted the list as an exhibit over the objections of Sprint attorney Patrick Riley, who complained that it hadn't been provided to the company in discovery. Mitnick retook the stand and explained that he used the lunch break to visit a nearby storage locker that he'd rented on a long-term basis years ago, before his arrest. "I wasn't sure if I had it in that storage locker," said Mitnick. "I hadn't been there in seven years."

"If the system is still in place, and they haven't changed the seed list, you could use this to get access to CALRS," Mitnick testified. "The system would allow you to wiretap a line, or seize dial tone."

Mitnick's return to the hearing room with the list generated a flurry of activity at Sprint's table; Ann Pongracz, the company's general counsel, and another Sprint employee strode quickly from the room -- Pongracz already dialing on a cell phone while she walked. Riley continued his cross examination of Mitnick, suggesting, again, that the ex-hacker may have made the whole thing up. "The only way I know that this is a Nortel document is to take you at your word, correct?," asked Riley. "How do we know that you're not social engineering us now?"

Mitnick suggested calmly that Sprint try the list out, or check it with Nortel. Nortel could not be reached for comment after hours Monday.

ROTFLMFAOCWSTC

[choasforages]

nice, but i would have denied doing it
that is the equivilent of commiting suicide

[ January 25, 2003: Message edited by: chaosforages ]

[beltorak0]

I think that because he was subpeona'd for his testimony as an expert witness he would have been given immunity from prosecution for that one offence.  I can't imagine him being so calm or glib about the details otherwise.

Could you image the bad press sprint would get for presecuting him for letting them know about a gaping security hole they have had open for at least seven years??

[billy_gates]

quote:Originally posted by M. O'Brien:
since he (rightly so) has had no computer access for many years.

Sry, I didn't mention this, his paroll ended, he can use a computer now.