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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.
In just less than 20 minutes, we take a look at who generally gets targeted by social engineering schemes,
answer: people with passwords
and how social engineering can assist in making a technical exploit work.
answer: get people with passwords to tell you their passwords
Did anybody time me?
Is it just me, or do you really don't care about him anymore?
It's a bad dream that just wont go away, some people are so enamored with Kevin that they feel the need to post every story that includes his name.
He's a felon.
One of the first, abeit more publicized and punished geeks, and I really don't care to read stories about him. About the only thing that actually is interesting is that this guy got caught by trying to hack into some other geeks computer, and was traced back to his location.
Amature. Go social engineer some money out of a bank instead of robbing it with a gun, and THEN I'll be interested.
I can see it now, bumper stickers that read:
"Free Kevin v2.0"
http://www.fsckin.com/
to your Slashdot comments:
* Mis-spell your Subject line.
* Use the unit milligram (mg) instead of megabyte (MB).
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.
I thought he went to jail for doing this? I would have thought part of his release deal would have included not speaking about hacking and not associating with hackers. I remember from a political science class being told that most drug dealers who get released do so on the condition they will not associate with anyone known who is also a criminal. One guy who got caught at school using a computer for illegal purposes (and prosecuted) got a reduced sentance to two years probation and part of the deal was he could not use a computer.
Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."
... that could social-engineer Kevin into giving me the transcript
I'm sorry, maybe prison messes you up, but he should know better.
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.
Biometrics isn't the panacea it's made out to be. Educate your users, it's the only way.
Pathman, Free (as in GPL) 3D Pac Man
Errr...heroes is the plural, not heros.
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.
Don't you know that the correct way to refer to someone who breaks into security of systems is to make a derogatory comment about his Caucasian ethnicity?
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
Sorry about the quality folks, I'll put up a transcript after I get it typed. I've got a train ride back to New Jersey tonight, so I'll throw it up. Also, sorry about the Canadian accent and the quick talking. Getting a few minutes with Kevin Mitnick is not easy at HOPE, and I was trying to get through the material.
Kevin was held in prison for about 5 years the second time around on bogus charges. It never went to trial, he was merely incarcerated. The white equivalent of Brown Equals Terrorist.
Tragically, he finally gave up and pleaded no contest to the charges so he could be allowed to leave the prison and return to society. Go watch Freedom Downtime if you want to understand what Kevin was truly up against.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
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.
There is an excellent interview(video and audio) at thebroken.org with Kevin for anyone that cares.
"I don't which is worse, that everyone has a price, or that the price is always so low"--Hobbes