Kevin Mitnik: you can hack a whole company
Date: March 25, 2005Source: Computer Crime Research Center
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Following the launch of his new book, reformed hacker Kevin Mitnick spoke to vnunet.com about his work as a security consultant
Between 1995 and 2000, Kevin Mitnick was in Federal prison in the US for his hacking exploits. It was a career that made the front page of newspapers across the globe, and frightened the US authorities so much that he was denied the use even of a telephone while he was behind bars, in case he somehow compromised national security.
Now free, Mitnick is reformed: he has a busy career as co-founder of Defensive Thinking, a consultancy that helps companies test and improve their security, and has also published books, and even spent time as radio show host in Los Angeles.
When he was released, Mitnick wasn't even allowed to use a computer. Today the only restriction the US government still places on him is a ban on profiting from his own story until January 2007.
In the meantime, Mitnick and his co-author William Simon have kept busy by compiling The Art of Intrusion (Wiley Publishing), a compilation of real hacking stories told to Mitnick by fellow hackers.
In the week that the book is published in the UK, vnunet.com caught up with Mitnick in Milan where he was speaking to a group of chief information officers on computer security.
While the stories in The Art of Intrusion have not been told before, is there really anything new in the hacking world?
The book is really for a general business audience. What I wanted to show is how attackers are working today, the most common attack points, what their objectives are and how they cover their tracks.
Is there some new form of attack? No. Computer security used to be war dialling, now it's war driving. It used to be dialling numbers and trying to find modems. It's just the same today but different: you go and find wireless networks. Everything is the same, it doesn't really change.
Read more: http://www.crime-research.org/interviews/Kevin_Mitnik.
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