Kevin Mitnick, considered the biggest cybercriminal of the 90s, is dead. The pursuit of “Condor” lasted many years and ended in 1999 with a court verdict. The justice system banned him from “touching anything with a transistor.”
According to information gathered by The Washington Post, the cause of death of 60-year-old Kevin Mitnick was pancreatic cancer. This information was confirmed by a spokeswoman for KnowBe4, Kathy Wattman. This is the company where Kevin worked after going to the “light side of the force”, as an expert and trainer in the field of online security.
Hacker who managed to break into the Pentagon
Kevin Mitnick was a legend of the 90s. His skills showed corporations that hackers were capable of paralyzing work and stealing valuable information on a massive scale. Mitnick combined hacking skills with social engineering techniques, which he called “social engineering.”
Using simple manipulation techniques, he was able to extract sensitive information from employees of specific companies, which he later used in hacking. Kevin showed an interest in technology, especially telecommunications, since childhood.
As a teenager, he created his first scams, such as the ability to use free bus travel on the Los Angeles County public transport network. He did this by getting the driver to tell him where he could find used tickets for a “school project.” The driver suggested that Kevin check the trash bins at the bus depot. There, he found many blocks of unused tickets.
Another prank was to break into the McDrive line and joke to drivers like “you are our 100,000th customer at McDonald’s and your order will be completely free.”
Mitnick began to become more famous when he managed to enter ARPANET, the ancestor of today’s Internet. Later, “Condor” also hacked into telecommunications corporations such as Motorola, Nokia, Pacific Bell, and IBM.
The Most Notorious Cybercriminal in Service to the Light Side of the Force
Successive successful burglaries brought Mitnick to the attention of the FBI, but the feds were unable to catch him for months. Mitnick changed identities like gloves, but he was finally caught and his case ended in 1999 with a prison sentence.
After being released, he decided to turn to the “light side of the force” by becoming a security consultant. Until his death, Mitnick worked at KnowBe4 as a cybersecurity expert and trainer.
