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I would trust John Markoff with a accurate, and fair assessment of people in the computer industry.

I would also like to give him money.

For those of you who missed this in the 90's, there is some great stuff on Tsutomu's site. The voicemails are pretty funny, even if most of them are fake, and you can replay Mitnick's telnet sessions to Tsutomu's machines in real time. http://takedown.com/evidence/index.html

I've read that before, good stuff. Also, the good old Kevin Mitnick replays from Tsutomu's site - http://www.takedown.com/evidence/transcripts/index.html

Did you not pay attention to what I said?

A smart grid that uses an isolated command and control network would be perfectly OK; It wouldnt use the public internet as it's backbone

No network is perfectly safe, not one. Go ask Kevin Mitnick.

The legislation wouldnt prevent you from having a home automation server; it would just make it illegal for it to be controllable/configurable across the internet.

In other words, the grid would be just as stupid as it is now. And you want to limit what I can be with my own equipment? This is supposed to be the Land of the Free, if you don't like it move, say to Cuba or Zimbabwe. Don't force others to live the way you want.

Falcon

So that Tsutomo can hunt them down when they violate their parole conditions? Look into http://www.takedown.com/ for more details. The FBI has a long established record of actually fostering more crime than they prevent with protected informants such as Mr. Mitnick in the computer world, and Whitey Bulger in the gangster world.

I'm sure he's making huge donations to the GOP from all the proceeds from the sale of those 'pirated' Commodore 64 game cartridges.
'Drink-or-Die' was the epitome of the warez scene. They are dead.
All that follow are teenagers who fantisize they are Kevin Mitnick, if they even know who he is.

There are bigger, more dangerous, criminals prowling the halls of our legislative institutions.
This guy is just a dumbass with a questionable past.

http://www.takedown.com/evidence/index.html
Voice mail messages to Tsutomu
Call to Mark Lottor
The attacker's on-line sessions
Sessions from other anklebiters (past and present)
Analysis of the machine state after the break-in
Photo from files stolen from Tsutomu
Netcom login records for gkremen (stolen account)

Fun are the live sessions.

Kevin had nothing to do with the IP spoofing attack.

See Takedown.com for transcripts of his hacking sessions.

He had to beg for sendmail exploits and backdoor codes as well. He also could barely figure out how to install a new kernel on a Sun.

I'm really suprised that no one has mentioned Kuro5in of kuro5in.org, an online community that shares many qualities with Slashdot. Kuro5in is arguably the most well known number-in-a-name personality, IMHO. Although it's not his real name, for all practical purposes it seems to be (as anyone who has read Tsutomu Shimomura & John Markoff's account of the pursuit and capture of Kevin Mitnik learned).

I'm really suprised that no one has mentioned Kuro5in of kuro5in.org, an online community that shares many qualities with Slashdot. Kuro5in is arguably the most well known number-in-a-name personality, IMHO. Although it's not his real name, for all practical purposes it seems to be (as anyone who has read Tsutomu Shimomura & John Markoff's account of the pursuit and capture of Kevin Mitnik learned).

I'm really suprised that no one has mentioned Kuro5in of kuro5in.org, an online community that shares many qualities with Slashdot. Kuro5in is arguably the most well known number-in-a-name personality, IMHO. Although it's not his real name, for all practical purposes it seems to be (as anyone who has read Tsutomu Shimomura & John Markoff's account of the pursuit and capture of Kevin Mitnik learned).

He is a famous hacker because he got caught. There are thousands of hackers much better (if that's the right word), so why does he get all the attention?

That's also where Kevin Mitnick was taken down. Moral: if you're gonna do stupid stuff with computers, go somewhere else.

Suspect?? I would say that very few serious hackers attack their primary target without tunnelling through a few other covering machines first.

Check out Takedown, the book about how Kevin Mitnick was caught for an example.

Then I decided to think about it a little. Yeah, I wrote a big long post refuting the general notion that "everyone needs microsoft tools" and other trolly things. I looked up the author and found it on a page seved by "takedown". The bells were ringing,but I did not put it together.

Then it hit me. This is exactly the kind of clueless junk we could expect from someone who's still running on a reputation built in the late 80's and early 90's, and does not know squat about free software and hacker culture.

John, it's not about breaking into other people's computers, stealing things and getting something for nothing. It's about understanding how things work, owning your computer and making it do what you want it to do with the help of a community of like minded people. It's about peer review, free speech, enterprise, initiative, innovation and many fine Amercian things. Check it out and get into it or quit writing about it.

• Everyone needs Microsoft tools.
• Microsoft is the standard
• {Microsoft] software has more features than open-source software
• Maybe this is paranoia
• this is a case of no good deed going unpunished

Any user of a current GNU/Linux distro knows that Microsoft software is lacking. Everyone needs to store, manipulate and exchange information. Microsoft formats and tools get in the way of all three needs by ignoring published standards and best practices. No one needs Microsoft tools except people who use Microsoft tools. Free software offers a tremendous selection of tools that do all of the above without crashing, with ease and platform independence.

The bigger picture story that John missed is a history of dumping software to defeat competition and then gouging the victims. Microsoft has pushed it's software on influential groups forever. Each "market" has been tiny, but the cumulative effect has been much larger. Witness past efforts to woo business students and the effect on corporate america. Now that they are hooked, here comes License 6. Microsoft is constanly "giving away" software to public shcools and at universities to keep the learning curve up. Yet the BSA has extorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from those same schools. He saw the Apple complaint but was unable to place it in it's propper perspective.

M$ has made it difficult to own a computer without their software on it. By vendor manipulation, you STILL can't buy a computer from a "mainstream" vendor without the latest and greatest M$ junk on it. Because free software answers all sofware needs at a lower price, this directly contradicts normal market forces. Microsoft has tried to make it hard to build a PC yourself and take advantage of the cost differential. John should look up. Microsoft's "Naked PC" campaign. He might also investigate the Microsoft Server market and think hard about the implications of IE only services for banks, government and professional offices. With that kind of perspecitve he can examine this new round of charity give aways.

Microsoft is trying to insure that those who ordinarilly can't afford a computer will get one with a M$ OS on it and may have ambitions for state sponsorship. The market is huge. Computers are becoming a necessity, and about half of the US does not have one in their home. Think what this means to efforts to eradicate the "digital devide". First come private charities, then come public, tax payer funded ones. The influential market now are are charities and governement offices. It's not new. Remember the US post office adverts for M$ that occured before the anti-trust suit was settled? Most government offices run M$, except a very few bright ones, in effect this is a government subsidy. The new potential market is going to see Microsoft and be influenced by people Microsoft is doing it's best to treat well. With enough encouragment and Astroturfing, the public might ask for M$ junk as part of the social safety net. It's perposterous when free software is available at no cost.

Those that take the bait will be punished in the end. If the public school model is followed, we can expect the BSA will visit tomorrow those who trusted Microsft today. They have already had a talk with the United Way. All of us will pay if M$ makes themselves the standard welfare computer.

John, get in touch with your local Linux User Group. Chances are they will set you up and be very happy to chat with you. You would be amazed at

No they look somewhat similiar, but it isn't the same person.

Tsutomu Shimomura is the person you are thinking of, not Morgan Lim.

BTW I although the bio might be accurate, I would actually trust everything I read at takedown.com. It is *definitely* biased towards the Markoff side of the Mitnick saga. Read this for an interesting take on the Mitnick saga. Start at section 2a.

Mitnick vs. Markoff

I'm trying to come up some understanding of why Markoff would want to treat Mitnick in the manner that Mitnick says he was treated. I feel like I already know that Mitnick was treated poorly by the government, and that the punishment didn't fit the crime. What is more interesting is the attitude the two main characters of this story have towards each other.

Anyways, to the point I was trying to make. I was trying to dig up some of the articles Mitnick was referencing in his response. I ran across Mitnick's site, and Markoff's site.

It basically comes down to who's word to you trust, a convicted felon, or a reporter whos job it is to report the truth.

Here is Mitnick and Markoff battling it out on each other's web pages: http://www.takedown.com/bio/index.
html and http://www.kevinmitnick.com/news-release.html

[Round One]
Mitnick re 1994 NYT article:
Mr. Markoff labeled me, without justification, reason, or supporting evidence, as "cyberspace's most wanted," and as "one of the nation's most wanted computer criminals."

Markoff:
1981 Mitnick arrested for burglary.
1982 Mitnick gets 1 year probation.
1982 Mitnick arrested for hacking USC computers. 6 Months juvenile prison.
1987 Mitnick arrested. 3 years probation.
1988 Mitnick arrested. Convicted felony. 1 year sentence.
1994 $1Mil reward issued by CA DMV for Mitnick's arrest.

[Round Two]
Mitnick re 1994 NYT article:
" But to suggest without reason or proof, as did Mr. Markoff and the prosecutors in this case, that I had committed any type of fraud whatsoever, is simply untrue, and unsupported by the evidence.

Markoff:
1989 "Kevin pleaded guilty to one count of computer fraud and one count of possessing illegal long-distance access codes. "

Anyways, now that Mitnick is out, what else is there? How about these other computer intrusion cases at the department of
justice.

Fair points. But I think Mitnick was a victim of two men intent on promoting a book and making a profit, and it just so happened that painting a picture of an evil, villainous anti-hero was just the sort of thing that makes for "good reading". So I think Mitnick's rights as an individual were definitely infringed by John Markoff.

Here's a more fair summary of the Shimomura/Mitnick case.

Fair points. But I think Mitnick was a victim of two men intent on promoting a book and making a profit, and it just so happened that painting a picture of an evil, villainous anti-hero was just the sort of thing that makes for "good reading". So I think Mitnick's rights as an individual were definitely infringed by John Markoff.

Here's a more fair summary of the Shimomura/Mitnick case.

The co-author of the story is John Markoff... author of "Cyberpunk" and the very same guy that helped capture Kevin Mitnick with Tsutomu Shimomura using mobile phone taps and server logs? I don't know, maybe this article seems a tad hypocritical coming from an guy who got a lot of success for himself and his books by infringements of the privacy of another individual.

The co-author of the story is John Markoff... author of "Cyberpunk" and the very same guy that helped capture Kevin Mitnick with Tsutomu Shimomura using mobile phone taps and server logs? I don't know, maybe this article seems a tad hypocritical coming from an guy who got a lot of success for himself and his books by infringements of the privacy of another individual.

The co-author of the story is John Markoff... author of "Cyberpunk" and the very same guy that helped capture Kevin Mitnick with Tsutomu Shimomura using mobile phone taps and server logs? I don't know, maybe this article seems a tad hypocritical coming from an guy who got a lot of success for himself and his books by infringements of the privacy of another individual.

No disagreement there, I think hes been quoted along the lines of not being able to stop despite knowing that he will eventually get caught.(Link anyone? I could be wrong)

I have to disagree here. There were no real ties between him and the Shimomura attacks. I think he was the target that first popped up on their radar screen after the attacks and was lassoed. There are a lot of weird bits in the "official" version of the story (unsigned warrants, etc) and instead of detailing them I will say:

I strongly recommend reading both The Fugitive Game By John Littman and, to get the other side Takedown by John Markoff, I find Littman a much better read and does much more research into the story then Markoff. Littman presents the story from a impartial 3rd person, and scrutinizes both accounds (Mitnick, who he interviewed via phone while on the lamb, and Markoff's story from his book, NYT stories, and interviews.) I've lent Littman out to techie and non-techie friends and it always recieves high marks, and I think the "Something was Fishy with the govt's case" viewpoint usually results.

Tsutomu Shimomura's book's webiste, Takedown has some transcripts of the attack.

Interesting read... in 1995...

Basically one of Shimomura's unix boxes had root level .rhost that trusted another one. Kevin spoofed packets from the trusted computer to execute a "echo '+ +' >> /.rhosts" then just rlogin. To help the attack Kevin also SYN flooded the the trusted computer so that it would not respond with RST packets. This type of attack is called blind spoofing and is usually difficult to do. There are programs out there that will do this. ie: ADM-rsh

Tsutomu Shimomura's book's webiste, Takedown has some transcripts of the attack.

Interesting read... in 1995...

Basically one of Shimomura's unix boxes had root level .rhost that trusted another one. Kevin spoofed packets from the trusted computer to execute a "echo '+ +' >> /.rhosts" then just rlogin. To help the attack Kevin also SYN flooded the the trusted computer so that it would not respond with RST packets. This type of attack is called blind spoofing and is usually difficult to do. There are programs out there that will do this. ie: ADM-rsh

Looking at his biography doesn't show much (unless you recognise the title of his book - Takedown), an interview with Salon Magazine reveals a bit more. But once you've read the front page of Takedown.com you find out that John Markoff did have a hand in arresting/tracing Kevin Mitnick. Oh, as well as book it's also a film
Richy C.

Looking at his biography doesn't show much (unless you recognise the title of his book - Takedown), an interview with Salon Magazine reveals a bit more. But once you've read the front page of Takedown.com you find out that John Markoff did have a hand in arresting/tracing Kevin Mitnick. Oh, as well as book it's also a film
Richy C.

Sure. So I guess Solaris source code came preinstalled on his hard disk then, along with other software from Motorola, and with passwords for dozens of computers of Sun Microsystems, Novell, Motorola, Fujitsu. Sure. And he just broke into Shimomura by mistake, sure, everyone believes this one. Check his feats here All in all, Kevin Mitnick is a petty thief who has been set up as an example by an incompetent group of corporations and beaurocracies as some sort of super-hacker-terrorist who must be shut away.

Yes. But he is also an associal nerd that cracked for more than 15 years, was arrested more than 5 times, spent one year in jail, and commited further offense repeatidly. The truth is that the justice doesn't know what to do with him: he can't learn his lesson, is a real threat to the society (the moment he decides to do harm, real harm will be done).