Kevin Mitnick

Mitnick also appeared in Werner Herzog's documentary Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (2016).

Mitnick served five years in prison—four and a half years pre-trial and eight months in solitary confinement—because, according to Mitnick, law enforcement officials convinced a judge that he had the ability to "start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone", implying that law enforcement told the judge that he could somehow dial into the NORAD modem via a payphone from prison and communicate with the modem by whistling to launch nuclear missiles. In addition, a number of media outlets reported on the unavailability of Kosher meals at the prison where he was incarcerated.

On August 18, 2011, Mitnick appeared on The Colbert Report to talk about his new book, Ghost in the Wires. On August 23, Mitnick was interviewed on Coast to Coast AM during the episode "Hacking & Technology". On August 24, he appeared on the TWiT.tv network's Triangulation episode.

On September 12, 2011, Mitnick answered readers' questions on the technology news site Slashdot. This was the second time he was interviewed on Slashdot, the first time being in February 2003.

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. He claims he did not use software programs or hacking tools for cracking passwords or otherwise exploiting computer or phone security.

In December 2001, an FCC Judge ruled that Mitnick was sufficiently rehabilitated to possess a federally issued amateur radio license. Mitnick now runs Mitnick Security Consulting LLC, a computer security consultancy and is part owner of KnowBe4, provider of an integrated platform for security awareness training and simulated phishing testing.

He was released on January 21, 2000. During his supervised release, which ended on January 21, 2003, he was initially forbidden to use any communications technology other than a landline telephone. Mitnick fought this decision in court, eventually winning a ruling in his favor, allowing him to access the Internet. Under the plea deal, Mitnick was also prohibited from profiting from films or books based on his criminal activity for seven years, under a special judicial Son of Sam law variation.

Since 2000, Mitnick has been a paid security consultant, public speaker and author. He does security consulting for Fortune 500 companies and the FBI, performs penetration testing services for the world's largest companies and teaches Social Engineering classes to dozens of companies and government agencies. His custom metal business cards also serve as lock picking kits.

In 2000, Skeet Ulrich and Russell Wong portrayed Kevin Mitnick and Tsutomu Shimomura in the movie Track Down (known as Takedown outside the USA), which was based on the book Takedown by John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura. The DVD was released in September 2004. A documentary named Freedom Downtime was produced by 2600: The Hacker Quarterly in response to Takedown.

In 1999, Mitnick pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud, two counts of computer fraud and one count of illegally intercepting a wire communication, as part of a plea agreement before the United States District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison plus 22 months for violating the terms of his 1989 supervised release sentence for computer fraud. He admitted to violating the terms of supervised release by hacking into Pacific Bell voicemail and other systems and to associating with known computer hackers, in this case co-defendant Lewis De Payne.

In December 1997, the Yahoo! website was supposedly hacked, displaying a message calling for Mitnick's release or risk an internet "catastrophe" by Christmas Day. Yahoo! responded that the worm is nonexistent, and there were claims that it was a hoax only to scare people.

After a well-publicized pursuit, the FBI arrested Mitnick on February 15, 1995, at his apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina, on federal offenses related to a two and half year period of computer hacking which included computer and wire fraud. He was found with cloned cellular phones, more than 100 clone cellular phone codes, and multiple pieces of false identification.

Mitnick first gained unauthorized access to a computer network in 1979, at 16, when a friend gave him the phone number for the Ark, the computer system that Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) used for developing its RSTS/E operating system software. He broke into DEC's computer network and copied the company's software, a crime for which he was charged and convicted in 1988. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Near the end of his supervised release, Mitnick hacked into Pacific Bell voice mail computers. After a warrant was issued for his arrest, Mitnick fled, becoming a fugitive for two and a half years.

Kevin David Mitnick (born August 6, 1963) is an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker, best known for his high-profile 1995 arrest and five years in prison for various computer and communications-related crimes.

Mitnick was born in Van Nuys, California, on August 6, 1963. He grew up in Los Angeles and attended James Monroe High School in Los Angeles, California, during which time he became an amateur radio operator. He was later enrolled at Los Angeles Pierce College and USC. For a time, he worked as a receptionist for Stephen S. Wise Temple.