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Mitnick Speaks About Hacking
Rob_Warwick writes "I've just posted a one on one interview with Kevin Mitnick on Applefritter. In just less than 20 minutes, we take a look at who generally gets targeted by social engineering schemes, and how social engineering can assist in making a technical exploit work. Mitnick speaks about which industries are at highest risk from social enginerering, and what types of workers are generally easier to talk into doing something for you. Kevin also talks about who his heroes were when getting into phreaking and computers, as well as a humbling moment when he was on the recieving end of some social engineering. The HOPE keynotes for both Kevin and The Woz are also available for download."
is the interview available as text somewhere?
SHE does throw dice.
Why would anyone spend the time to interview Mitnick and then ruin it by making it audio only and then talk like you're mighty mouse on speed so no one can understand a thing you're saying?
Note to applefritter: take the drugs away from DBub.
Really when you think about it, Biometrics basically halts any kind of Social Engineering. You can't get around them without chopping off someone's hand and plucking out their eyes, but if you're going to go that far, you're criminal enough that it won't matter if you use Social Engineering or not. Let's face it, pretty soon we'll be heading toward the Biometric model for pretty much everything, and the privacy advocates are going to fight it all the way.
FUD, apply, lather, rinse, repeat.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Finally, a slashdotter who is responsible enough to recognize Mitnick for what he is.
To all you Anonymous Cowards: No he's not a hero
Did he suffer a misjustice? Maybe (I'm not a lawyer), but he put himself in that position. Play with fire and someday you'll get burned, it's just that simple.
Now there you go shattering the illusion that the 'hacker' wannabe's keep holding on to like an old woman holding on to keeps trying to hold on to here fading looks.
The sad truth of it all is that he's part of 'computing lore', he'll end up as a footnote in the computing equivilent of Bullfinches, placed there by his lame fanboys.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
I just heard the first 30sec of the mp3 file, and couldn't continue. It was far too painful - the guy doing the interview should slow the fuck down when speaking. You don't get medals for quantity over quality.
What Mitnick does is not "social engineering." Social engineering would be something like trying to convince a population of people to eat more healthily, or stop smoking, or something like that.
What Mitnick does is fraud. Alternatively, you can call it grift, or con. (As in, Mitnick is a con man.)
Using the term "social engineering" is playing into the hands of the con men. It's a term they invented to con you in to thinking that what they do is somehow more acceptible than it is.
Use the term, and you've been conned.
All these interviews and the only thing I've ever wanted to know about the guy is never asked.
What encryption and/or data protection schemes did he use that the FBI couldn't break?
The ratio of people to cake is too big
He's only part of 'computer lore' because every wannabe keeps talking about him, hanging on his every word like a bunch of school girls and try to turn him into some sort of hero.
He's a criminal, a convicted felon plain and simple. Unfortunately till these damn wannabes grow up he's always going to have an audience of idiots waiting to pay for his next book.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Yes, I had problems with police imprisoning him with little recourse as they did.
Yes, Tsutomu Shimomura is a yahoo who did a lot of stupid and bad things. The greatest was probably his aweful book written with "journalist" John Markoff (I enquote that because as he was ghost writing with Shimora, he was also writing articles that were supposedly objective yet never mentioned doing a book with one of the particpants of the story).
[Shimomura was terribly impressed with his (own) computer security abilities, yet ran tools that had long been sources of security holes because it was convenient. ("I am a master of securing houses; all the world leaders come to me. So imagine my shock and outrage when I'd found that someone had lifted up my welcome mat and used the key I keep there to get in. I must hunt down this bastard and have my revenge.").]
I was appalled that national ISPs would so readily turn over logs and access to their networks and their users information to a vigilant/yahoo.
But no, I wasn't sorry that Mr Mitnick got his ass busted. He was no kiddie using youth as an excuse for poor judgement. He was a thief who rationalized stealing from people and companies by its electronic abstraction.
No, I don't think Kevin's "cool". That he is someone who would steal my personal information because the people I had to give it to are idiots about securing it doesn't make it ok to do so. And it's felony when he then uses that information to buy things. I don't want him in the room when I pull out a credit card. I don't want him in a hotel where I use a credit card.
Should the hotel be smarter? Sure. But the people who decry identity theft cannot also embrace Kevin Mitnick as one to be admired.
He's an asswipe.
Kevin committed a string of crimes, he went to jail, how is that unjust?
Its not like Kevin didn't know he was doing something wrong, when he got busted last time it was not his first run in with the law, it was not even his second. He got chance after chance as a juvenile. Now he wants people to believe he has gone straight.
I don't beleive him, I think he is still using his social engineering skills and the rubes who think he got treated unfairly are only one of his targets.
Remember, its innocent until proven guilty, Kevin has been proven guilty - repeatedly. If you want to feel bad about people who got treated baddly by the US justice system there are plenty of examples of people who went to jail for much longer for doing far, far less.
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/