22 Facts About Kevin Mitnick

Kevin David Mitnick was born on August 6,1963 and is an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker.

Kevin Mitnick is best known for his high-profile 1995 arrest and five years in prison for various computer and communications-related crimes.

Kevin Mitnick was born in Van Nuys, California, on August 6,1963.

Kevin Mitnick grew up in Los Angeles and attended James Monroe High School in Los Angeles, California, during which time he became an amateur radio operator and chose the nickname "Condor" after watching the movie Three Days of the Condor.

Kevin Mitnick was later enrolled at Los Angeles Pierce College and USC.

At age 12, Kevin Mitnick got a bus driver to tell him where he could buy his own ticket punch for "a school project", and was then able to ride any bus in the greater LA area using unused transfer slips he found in a dumpster next to the bus company garage.

Kevin Mitnick broke into DEC's computer network and copied the company's software, a crime for which he was charged and convicted in 1988.

Kevin Mitnick was sentenced to 12 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Kevin Mitnick used cloned cellular phones to hide his location and, among other things, copied valuable proprietary software from some of the country's largest cellular telephone and computer companies.

Kevin Mitnick intercepted and stole computer passwords, altered computer networks, and broke into and read private emails.

Kevin Mitnick was found with cloned cellular phones, more than 100 cloned cellular phone codes, and multiple pieces of false identification.

Kevin Mitnick was charged with wire fraud, possession of unauthorized access devices, interception of wire or electronic communications, unauthorized access to a federal computer, and causing damage to a computer.

Kevin Mitnick was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, but it was not used as evidence at his trial.

In 1999, Kevin 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.

Kevin Mitnick was sentenced to 46 months in prison plus 22 months for violating the terms of his 1989 supervised release sentence for computer fraud.

Kevin Mitnick 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.

Under the plea deal, Kevin Mitnick was prohibited from profiting from films or books based on his criminal activity for seven years, under a special judicial Son of Sam law variation act.

In December 2001, an FCC judge ruled that Kevin Mitnick was sufficiently rehabilitated to possess a federally issued amateur radio license.

John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura, who had both been part of the pursuit of Kevin Mitnick, wrote the book Takedown about Kevin Mitnick's capture.

The controversy remains and the Kevin Mitnick story is often cited today as an example of the influence that newspapers and other media outlets can have on law enforcement personnel.

Since 2000, Kevin Mitnick has been a paid security consultant, public speaker, and author.

Kevin Mitnick appeared in Werner Herzog's documentary Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World.