"Good afternoon, sir. Could you tell me where I can buy a composter like this? I need one for a school project," the twelve-year-old's voice was very confident, so the driver of the Los Angeles city bus had no idea what the boy was up to. In fact, his plan was in line with his main qualities - his curiosity and impeccable memory, which allowed him to remember all the combinations of perforations on bus tickets for transfers. And he needed the tool so that he would never have to pay for buses again. And to move around Los Angeles for free. The guy's name was Kevin Mitnick. And this, as he recalled in his autobiography, was the first time in his life when he hacked the system to get free access to its resources. Later, he would realise that this is called social engineering. But we know him better as the world's most notorious hacker, who was hunted by the FBI for two years.
Fast forward
- Who is Kevin Mitnick?
- How Kevin Mitnick started breaking into systems before the Internet
- The first big hacks and the first betrayal
- Arrest and official status as a "computer addict"
- 2.5 years on the run from the FBI
- Game over: how Kevin Mitnick was caught at 1:30 am using a cell tower
- "Buy Freedom: How Kevin Mitnick got out of prison, but not quite free
- From hacker to hacker defender: how Kevin Mitnick became a cybersecurity consultant
- Kevin Mitnick's books that read like thrillers
- From antagonist to security architect
- In a nutshell
Who is Kevin Mitnick?
If you still think of a hacker as a pale teenager in a hoodie, crunching chips in front of a monitor at night, it's because you haven't read the story of Kevin David Mitnick. He was born on 6 August 1963 and died on 16 July 2023, and over the past six decades, he has managed to become a cyber legend: both on the FBI's blacklist and on the New York Times bestseller lists. Not everyone can do that.
In the 90s, Mitnick was a hacker who went where he was not invited. Not for money. Not for fame. Just because he could. His arrest in 1995 was a real cyber sensation - not so much a person was on trial as a phenomenon that law enforcement didn't even know how to properly qualify. He was sentenced to five years. And, of course, there was a lot of media hype, books, films, and heated discussions on all possible forums (yes, they already existed then).
But the drama didn't end there - after being released from prison, Kevin made a spectacular cyber transformation: from black-hat evil to white-hat guru. He founded Mitnick Security Consulting, advised businesses, wrote books about security, and got involved in the KnowBe4 project, which teaches people not to click on everything that flashes. His autobiography became a hit, and again, not because of marketing, but because of a story that can't be made up.
Mitnick's case is still mentioned in digital law courses: it was an era when no one really knew what to do with hackers. New laws were literally being written on the fly, and courts were studying how "copying software" differed from stealing cookies. In addition, many believed that his punishment was too severe, and that he had suffered very little real damage.
Today, Mitnick is more than just a name. He is a part of cyber culture. His story still raises the main question: who is a hacker - a criminal or a whistleblower who exposes holes in the system that no one else notices? Kevin seems to have managed to be both.
How Kevin Mitnick started hacking systems before the Internet
Kevin David Mitnick was born on 6 August 1963 in the Van Nuys neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California. His parents, Alan Mitnick and Shelly Jaffe, divorced when he was a child, so he spent most of his childhood with his mother. His maternal grandmother, Reba Vartanian, also took part in his upbringing. The family had Jewish roots and not a lot of money: his mother worked two jobs, and Kevin had a lot of free time and even more curiosity about the world around him.
Kevin Mitnick at the age of 3. Illustration: mitnicksecurity.com
And it was in this environment - not in computer security lectures, but somewhere between the streets and bus stops of Los Angeles - that the hacker the FBI was looking for later woke up. At the age of 12, Mitnick was already showing a penchant for social engineering: he made up a story about a school project and asked a bus driver where to get a ticket composter. He bought the device, got a batch of empty transfer tickets from a dumpster near the bus depot (drivers simply threw away unused forms after their shifts), and started travelling around the city without a cent. Everything was legal... well, almost.
It was not an attempt to save money, but the first test of the system to see if it could be hacked. Curiosity, excitement, and an understanding of how to get around the rules - all of this became not just child's play, but the first case in the future portfolio of the most famous hacker in the United States. And the most interesting thing is that, according to Mitnick himself, his parents took the story with a smile rather than a reproach. Even bus drivers, who knew about his tricks, were somewhat sympathetic.
At James Monroe High School in North Hills, Kevin Mitnick was no longer just playing with buttons - he began to make his obsession with technology official. He received an amateur radio licence, first with the call sign WA6VPS, and after prison he renewed it as N6NHG - like a true old-school operator. At the same time, he adopted the pseudonym Condor, inspired by the spy thrillerThree Days of the Condor. Of course, a film about conspiracies, the government and changed names - perfect for a hacker in the making.
His childhood passion for radio grew into a real addiction to communication systems.
On his radio station, he listened not to music, but... to the local police.
He would catch the broadcasts, study the frequencies, investigate how communication works, who can hear what, and how to make sure he heard more than what was allowed. His FCC licence confirmed that he knew what he was doing. But the most interesting part of his life started when he got into phone phreaking, the art of hacking into phone systems long before the iPhone. At that time, the main tool of phone freaks was the so-called Blue Box, an electronic device that produces tones used to generate in-band signalling tones that were previously used in the long-distance telephone network. The device allowed long-distance calls to be made free of charge.
Blue Box, designed and created by Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple). On display at the Powerhouse Museum. Illustration: Вікіпедія
A friend showed Kevin that there were hidden test numbers in the phone network that allowed him to make free long-distance calls. And here he recognised an old familiar logic, the same logic as with bus tickets: there is a system, there are rules, but if you know a little bit about how things work, you can play differently.
Mitnick described freakin' as an "extreme sport". No worse than climbing Mount Everest - only not with ropes, but with a pipe in your hand. He was 17 and had already learned how to pretend to be a telephone company employee, making up the name "Jake Roberts" from some "non-public bureau" and calling offices impersonating one of his own. He spoke technically, confidently, with jargon. And he guessed everything - from procedures to human gullibility.
This was the birth of not just a hacker, but a master of social engineering.
His methods - pretexting, i.e. inventing a legend, convincing manipulation, and fearless improvisation - became the basis for what he would become famous for later in the digital world. And most importantly, he was not interested in money at the time. He was driven by the intellectual challenge, the pure thrill of hacking a system that was supposed to be unbreakable.
The first big hacks and the first betrayal
In 1979, when Kevin Mitnick was only 16, he received his first serious "combat mission" from other hackers - to break into a system called"The Ark", owned by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). This was not just a server - it was used to test the RSTS/E operating system, one of the world's key mainframe systems at the time. For the guys who lived by hacking, it was like getting into NASA's black box.
The system was responsible for performing certain administrative functions. Kevin got access to it through The Ark phone number, which one of his new friends gave him. It was a dial-up connection to a DEC computer - the number itself didn't do much, because without a login and password, you could only listen to modem sounds. But technical barriers are not Kevin's problem. He switches on his trademark social engineering: he calls the DEC administrator, pretends to be Anton Chernoff, the real developer of the company, and complains, "oops, I forgot my access." Everything is calm, confident, with an emphasis on authority. The result? The administrator creates a new account for him and even uses the password provided by Mitnik. No checks. No questions asked.
Mitnik logs in. But he doesn't log in alone - he shares access with his party. And then the same guys who incited the hacking come knocking. One of them turns Kevin in to DEC security, gives them his name, and lays it all out.
The DEC initially "painted" the damage at $4 million, but federal prosecutor James Sanders later admitted that the actual cost of fixing the hack was about $160,000.
It was a moment of transition. Mitnick used to hack phone lines, but now he was hacking into full-fledged computer systems. And he did it not because of bugs or vulnerabilities undetected by security systems, but because of human naivety. Instead of a technical hack, it was a psychological attack.
Social engineering became his main weapon.
And it was also his first betrayal in an environment that seemed to live by the code of "you don't betray your own". It turned out that even in the world of hackers, there are those who will make a deal as soon as they smell something fried. And that status in a subculture is as fluid as an IP address on a dial-up connection.
Arrest and the official status of "computer addict"
In 1981, when Kevin Mitnick was just 17, he and a friend decided to play around not with some school network, but with Pacific Bell, one of the giants of the American telecommunications market. The target was COSMOS, a system for managing the main infrastructure of telephone lines. When they managed to break in, Mitnick didn't just bounce commands around - he rerouted lines, eavesdropped on calls, disrupted routes and wreaked havoc. People thought that the operators were playing around or mocking. But it was just Kevin, who was exploring the network world by the "what if..." method.
He didn't stop there. With access to the COSMOS database, Mitnik stole passwords, accounts, gateway combinations, technical documentation, and even the complete system manual - something that today's hackers sell their cyber-souls for on the darknet. Of course, he used this not only "for science" but also for his own benefit: he redirected phone lines as he saw fit.
This was not just hacking - it was a full-fledged interference with the telecom operator's work at the kernel level.
And it was this prank that first led to his arrest. It was the first time Mitnik was caught not by his ears, but by his gender, and he spent a year in a rehabilitation centre. Not a prison, but no longer just a "talk with his parents". Mitnik was not afraid - he just moved to a new level and went on. He had already had other "training": hacking into the school computer system, searching for secret celebrity numbers. But the real "levelling-up" happened in 1983, when, while studying at the University of South Carolina, he logged onto the ARPANET, the very network that later became the basis for the Internet. And the computer, of course, belonged to no one else but the Pentagon. Yes, he actually went to the computer of the US Department of Defence to "hang out".
This was a more serious offence: 6 months in a juvenile correctional centre. And although there was no harm in terms of sabotage, the state system finally realised that the "hackers are just teenagers playing" excuse no longer works. Because these "teenagers" were going where even adults with access shouldn't go.
It got even more serious later, when it came to the DEC hack.
The justice system was just learning to deal with hackers in those years, so the process was slow but painful.
Mitnick made a deal with the investigators, pleaded guilty, and received 12 months in prison, plus 3 years of supervised release. It's a kind of digital house arrest: you're free, but your computer is under control, your activity is limited, and you're being watched.
During the hearing, the federal judge even said that Mitnick was "addicted to computer intrusions" - as if it were not a hobby, but a serious clinical diagnosis. So, instead of "TV series addict", he said "hacker addict".
This case became Mitnick's official entry point into the legal history of US cybercrime. His supervised release was due to end in 1992, and it was perhaps the first time the judicial system tried to create a framework of behaviour for a person who does not steal money or sell data, but enters places where he is not invited. And he gets high from it.
The delay between crime and punishment showed the main thing: in the 80s, the legal system was light years behind hackers, but it was already starting to catch up.
2.5 years on the run from the FBI
By 1992, Kevin Mitnick should have already "calmed down": he had served his sentence, three years under supervision - it was a bookend to the story. But books were not his genre. Instead of politely completing the supervised period, he hacked into Pacific Bell's systems again, this time to check how they were monitoring him. In other words, he hacked into the system to find out if he was being monitored because he had no right to hack into it. This is hacker logic, not legal logic. And it was this logic that led to an arrest warrant being issued against him in 1993.
But Mitnik decides not to play by the rules. He disappears from the radar, and his next two and a half years turn into a real-time cyberpunk blockbuster. Pseudonyms, forged documents, stolen and fake phone numbers, cloned mobile phones that make it impossible to locate him. He works under fake names - as a systems administrator at a law firm in Denver, as an IT worker at a hospital in Seattle under the name Brian Merril - while continuing to do what he does best: hacking systems.
According to Mitnick, it helped him a lot that the US authorities used a very bad photo that made him hard to recognise in real life
While the authorities were chasing his shadow, Kevin managed to hack into dozens of computer networks. His targets included telecoms companies, internet providers, operating system manufacturers, and mobile giants. The list of those he has affected includes: Motorola, Nokia, Novell, Sun Microsystems, and even the California Department of Motor Vehicles. It read other people's emails, extracted passwords, changed network settings, and - according to the US Department of Justice - stole software worth millions of dollars. This included the source code for the MicroTAC Ultra Lite, Motorola's top-of-the-line mobile phone in 1991.
It is worth mentioning that Mitnick even interfered with the operation of switches in New York and California, i.e. literally controlled the telephone traffic of megacities from a distance. And all this was not for money, but to prove that the system is just a set of vulnerabilities, and if you see them all, you are the king.
His life on the run is not an escape. It is a demonstration. A demonstration of how far a person who not only knows how the system works, but does not believe in its authority, can go. In hacker circles, he becomes not just a "pro" but a legend who breaks everything from the code of laws to the firmware code.
Game over: how Kevin Mitnick was caught at 1:30am using a cell tower
In February 1995, the FBI decided that this guy was done for. A large-scale two-week cyber-battle began, ending at 1:30 am on 15 February in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mitnick was 31 years old at the time.
Kevin Mitnick was "leaked" not by the police, not by a film agent, but by another hacker - one of the most powerful techies of the 90s: Tsutomu Shimomura, a researcher at the San Diego Supercomputer Centre who was only a year younger than Mitnick. Mitnick, in the style of a classic cyber-ego, broke into his computer... right on Christmas Day. Shimomura didn't forgive him for that, and he personally took part in the hunt. He tracked Mitnick's phone signal through a cellular tower and passed the coordinates to the FBI.
For those who want to know more: the fight between Mitnick and Shimomura
On Christmas Day 1994, Kevin Mitnick hacked into the home network of Tsutomu Shimomura, a well-known computer security expert. He used a sophisticated IP spoofing technique combined with TCP sequence prediction, a technique that was barely out of the labs at the time. This is when a hacker disguises his address to make it appear as if the system is being accessed by someone it trusts. And then, without seeing the system's responses, the hacker guesses the "secret code" (a number in the messages the system sends in response). It's like breaking into a safe by picking the right combination without hearing the lock click.
The purpose of the hack was probably Shimomura's research and tools for working with cellular network security. The fact that Mitnick chose Shimomura for the attack was not a coincidence, but a deliberate attempt to get at very specific information.
Shortly after the incident, Shimomura's answering machine began to receive strange messages (their archive is available on Shimomura's book website) with a pseudo-Asian accent and phrases such as "My kung fu is better than yours". These threats were immediately linked to Mitnik, making him not only a hacker, but also a bold troll. But it later turned out that the calls were the work of an outside prankster, 31-year-old Zeke Shif, a kung fu film fan who had nothing to do with the hack. However, by this point, the media had already managed to make these derogatory phrases part of the Mitnick myth.
Shimomura took the attack as a personal insult and went on the hunt. He deployed an internet traffic monitoring system on services where the hacker was involved, such as The WELL and Netcom. Using his own tools, log analysis, and cooperation with telecom operator Sprint, he discovered that Mitnick was using a mobile modem and pinpointed the exact region of his activity - the city of Raleigh, North Carolina. There, together with the FBI, Shimomura conducted the final manhunt - using radio frequency scanners to pinpoint a specific apartment in a high-rise building.
On the night of 15 February 1995, the FBI, with Shimomura's assistance, searched apartment 202, where Mitnick was staying.
When the agents entered the apartment, they found everything a hacker on the run would need: cloned mobile phones, more than 100 codes for fake numbers, fake documents, false names, and - as Mitnick himself later said - a sincere recognition of Shimomura's technical expertise. There were no hard feelings here - only respect between two players, one of whom had lost.
Then the parade of charges began:
- 14 counts of wire fraud
- 8 cases of possession of illegal access and devices
- interception of electronic communications
- unauthorised access to a federal computer
- violation of the conditions of pre-trial release
All of this is against the backdrop of allegations of software theft and copying in companies such as Motorola, Sun Microsystems, Nokia, Novell and others.
The US Department of Justice estimates that the losses have reached millions of dollars.
But while the court documents made it look like a planned cyber fraud scheme, Mitnick himself insisted that he was not greedy, only intellectually curious. He was interested in "can I do it", not "how much will I get". And it seems to have been true. He didn't steal money, he didn't sell accounts. He was just hacking networks for the drive, not for profit.
"Buy Freedom: How Kevin Mitnick got out of prison, but not quite free
After four years in a pre-trial detention centre (yes, he stayed there longer than some people stay married), Mitnick agreed to a deal with the prosecutor's office. Why did it take so long? Because the prosecutors simply could not prove all the charges - many high-profile accusations were hanging without evidence.
As a result: 4 counts of telephone fraud, 2 counts of computer fraud, and one count of interception of communications. And all this instead of a large-scale court show that was about to begin. From the prosecutor's point of view, it was a compromise because the evidence was "loose". On Mitnik's part, it was a chance not to rot in a cell until he retires.
His arrest and trial became a national event: some demanded severe punishment, while others chanted "Free Kevin", emphasising that his crimes were more technical acrobatics than real atrocities. This has fuelled debate: which is greater - a threat or a challenge to the system? And are all hackers criminals, or do some of them just want to understand how the world works at the byte level?
Brochure "Free Kevin". Illustration: mitnicksecurity.com
Judge Mariana Pfaelzer handed down the sentence on 10 August 1999: 46 months in prison (including time already served), plus 22 months for violating supervision conditions dating back to 1989. A total of 5 years.
And now the best part (if you are Mitnik): Instead of the $1.5 million in compensation requested by the prosecutor's office, he was given a modest cheque for $4,125.
Obviously, the court did not believe in mythical losses worth millions. Or perhaps it simply recognised that the guy was pretending to be a "hacker thief" more than he actually was.
When Kevin Mitnick was finally released from federal prison on 21 January 2000, it seemed like a happy ending. But freedom came with such a "licence agreement" that some users don't even click on the Terms and Conditions. During the three years of his conditional release, he was actually banned from using anything with a processor and even a little blink.
He could only use a landline phone
But mobile phones, computers, modems, printers, software, flash drives, cash registers, calculators with memory are taboo. Working in IT? Forget it. They wouldn't even hire him at a 7-Eleven store because a cash register is a "computerised device". Naturally, Mitnik couldn't stand this digital prison and filed a lawsuit, winning permission to use the Internet in December 2001. Later, he even received an amateur radio licence, as the Federal Communications Commission recognised him as "socially rehabilitated".
As a bonus from the system, he was given a "you're not Hollywood" clause: for seven years, he was banned from making money from books, films, or any content based on his hacking adventures - in accordance with the "Son of Sam's Law", a legal trick in the US that prohibits criminals from making money from their fame. That is, if you killed someone, robbed a bank or hacked the Pentagon, and then decided to write a book or make a film about it, you can't just go out and make millions by turning your own biography into a business model.
For those who want to know more: "The Myth of Kevin Mitnick"
by
In his autobiography (which the publisher refused to include in the book), Kevin Mitnick accuses The New York Times journalist John Markoff of deliberately distorting the facts and creating an image of a "cybermonster" capable of shutting down the telephone network with the push of a button. According to Mitnick, it was thanks to such exaggerations in the media that he became "America's most dangerous hacker" before he even went to trial. He emphasises that his technical skills were far from magical, and Markoff's statements have become a source of myths that have only worsened his legal situation.
Mitnick was especially outraged by the fact that Markoff later co-authored the book Takedown (which was also made into a film of the same name) with Tsutomu Shimura, the very expert who helped the FBI track down and arrest the hacker. In Mitnick's opinion, this was an obvious conflict of interest, because the journalist was not just writing about the events, he became part of the story he was presenting to the public. In particular, Mitnik wrote:
""In his slanderous article, Markoff falsely claimed that I had wiretapped the FBI (I hadn't); that I had broken into the computers at NORAD (which aren't connected to any network on the outside); and that I was a computer "vandal," despite the fact that I had never intentionally damaged any computer I ever accessed."".
In general, even after his release, Mitnik was treated as a person who could break something with just a glance. And while some called it preventive security, others saw it as digital harassment with the prefix "analogue".
From hacker to hacker defender: how Kevin Mitnick became a cybersecurity consultant
After being released from prison in January 2000, Kevin Mitnick didn't just re-enter the digital world - he did so with such a bang that hackers grabbed their routers. Instead of new hacks, he began to legally "break" systems - but for money, with contracts, NDAs and PowerPoint presentations.
Hacker Adrian Lamo (arrested in 2003), Kevin Mitnick and hacker Kevin Poulsen (released from prison in 1996) - photo circa 2001. Illustration: Вікіпедія
In 2003, Mitnick founded his own company , Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC, and officially became a headache for poorly protected corporate networks. His team, the "Global Ghost Team," conducted penetration tests, social engineering tests, incident analysis, and vulnerability audits. And, as they boasted, they had a 100% success rate in human gullibility tests. Translated, if you have an office, a mailroom, and people, Mitnick knows how to get you through your reception with a simple, polite "Hi, I'm from tech support."
Kevin Mitnick, founder of Mitnick Security Consulting. Illustration: mitnicksecurity.com
In 2011, he became Chief Hacking Officer at KnowBe4, a cyber literacy training company. There, he created the Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training (KMSAT) course, which explained how to avoid phishing, spam, trojan gifts from "bosses" and magical PDFs that pretend to be invoices but reveal a ransomware-style surprise.
Mitnick's clients have included Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and even courts, where he has acted as an expert in cybercrime cases. Instead of a police file, he now had case studies, a speaker's badge, and the official title of "the man who knows how it works from the inside." His transition from the dark side to the light side proved that even a former hacker can become someone who teaches others how to prevent themselves from being hacked - not only systematically, but also psychologically.
Kevin Mitnick's books read like thrillers
In addition to hacking systems (now legal) and speaking at cyber conferences, Kevin Mitnick has hacked another system - the publishing system. His books are read by IT professionals, executives, and those who simply want to know how to avoid becoming "a victim of an innocent email with the subject line 'Urgent, open'".
With his books, Mitnick has brought hacking closer to a wider audience - without geek snobbery, but with all the depth of the topic. Because when someone who used to run around with firewalls to circumvent the law tells you about it, it's not just information, it's first-hand experience.
The art of deception
In 2002, Mitnick published his first and perhaps most famous book, The Art of Deception. In it, Mitnick not only talked about social engineering, but also showed how easy it is to deceive a person if you know which buttons to push. All of this is done through fictional but realistic stories that scare even experienced users. And, most importantly, not just scary stories, but specific advice on how to resist it all.
The art of the invasion
In 2005, Mitnick went a step further and published The Art of Intrusion, a collection of real-life cases: how hackers penetrated systems, what they did, and what to expect if your security is at the "who's going to hack us" level. It was a practical guide for those who don't want to end up on a similar list of "victims of hacker #XYZ's adventures".
A ghost in the wires
In 2011, we released what all fans were waiting for: the autobiography Ghost in the Wires. It's like a film in a book format - about his hacks, escapes, tricks, courts, the FBI, and a complete change of life. A story in the style of "was the most dangerous hacker - became a New York Times Bestseller".
The art of invisibility
And finally, in 2017, The Art of Invisibility. This is a guide for those who want to go unnoticed in the digital world: how not to show up on the Internet, protect your privacy, not to catch sock ads after one mention in a conversation, and not to become prey for cyberstalkers.
From antagonist to security architect
Since emerging from the shadows, Kevin Mitnick has not only written books and consulted for companies, he has also been selling out audiences as a public speaker. But it wasn't a "press F5 to refresh your knowledge" kind of thing. His talks were like a real live movie: with live hacks, demos, and phishing that made even experienced IT professionals sweat.
Mitnick has regularly performed at top events, including the legendary DEF CON, a conference that brings together everyone from white hackers to people in black who don't recognise the "logout" button. There, his presence sometimes caused controversy: someone who once hacked the Pentagon was showing how to set up an antivirus. But he was confident and proved that who better than a former hacker to show you exactly where your data centre furnace is unprotected.
Kevin Mitnick gives a presentation at the Cyber Incursion event in 2018. Illustration: mitnicksecurity.com
His speciality is live demonstrations of hacks: how to steal a password through a phishing email in a minute, or how to make an administrator give access to everything with a simple call. The audience reacted unequivocally: first laughter, then panic, then putting it all on the checklist for Monday.
These speeches made the complex and usually boring topic of cybersecurity closer to ordinary mortals. Mitnick didn't just scare, he explained, showed and taught. He also showed that a former hacker can not only hack, but also build trust, a security system, and even a career on stage with a laser pointer in his hand. Here is one such demonstration from his official YouTube channel. In the 2021 video, he demonstrates how he gained access to the bank's office using a cloned access card (and how he cloned it through social engineering techniques by arranging a meeting with a realtor who had an access card and worked in the same skyscraper as the bank):
On 16 July 2023, at the age of 59, Kevin Mitnick lost his battle with pancreatic cancer - and with him went an era. An era in which a hacker with a bad reputation turned into a cyber hygiene evangelist, and social engineering ceased to be just an attack tool and became a topic of corporate training.
Since his youth, Mitnick has shown that the main hole in any defence is not software, but a person.
His hacks, such as the penetration of the legendary DEC Ark system, opened the eyes of many companies: not everything ends with an antivirus and firewall. Social engineering has become the main weapon - and at the same time the Achilles' heel - of entire corporations. It is thanks to his cases that this term has ceased to be something niche and has become a must-have topic for anyone who operates at least a microwave connected to Wi-Fi.
His trainings, books, and speeches have laid the foundation for a new attitude towards hackers: not just as a threat, but as a potential resource. His life is now an example of a digital transformation: from a man feared by IT professionals and judges to an expert listened to by CISOs and CEOs. And Mitnick proved that even if you were once a "dark knight of terminals", it's not a sentence. If you know how to hack a system, you can teach how to protect it.
Bottom line.
Mitnick will forever remain one of the most influential characters in the history of cybersecurity. He proved that the biggest vulnerability of any system is a person with a badge and access to the internal network. His work at Mitnick Security Consulting and KnowBe4 still sets the standard for social engineering training and protection. It's ironic that the very hacker who once wrapped his arms around these systems later helped to strengthen them.
His books, from The Art of Deception to The Art of Invisibility, are not just guides, but a tabletop weapon against digital naivety. They provide a glimpse into the mindset of a hacker - not from Hollywood films, but from reality, where clicking yes to a fake email can result in losing more than files.
Mitnick left behind a complex but important legacy. He was an antagonist, a mentor, and a symbol that even the most dangerous hacker can be restarted and become an ally in the fight against digital chaos. His life is a reminder that cybersecurity is not only about technology, but above all about people. And the fight for it continues.
For those who want to know more
- The story of John Carmack: the father of all shooters
- What is post-quantum cryptography?
- How bitcoins are withdrawn on the Darknet: fraudsters used a modified Tor browser to steal tens of thousands of dollars
- "Bitcoin is the new, digital gold": interview with Sergey Bazanov, author of "Bitcoin for Everyone"
- Professions of the future: Big Data analyst
He joined the gg team in 2011. Henri is a man of varied interests and writes about gadgets and military equipment. He has a good understanding of consumer electronics and a lot of experience with a variety of gamer hardware.
