Kevin Mitnick
Kevin Mitnick
Kevin David Mitnickis an American computer security consultant, author and hacker, best known for his high-profile 1995 arrest and later five years in prison for various computer and communications-related crimes...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth6 August 1963
CountryUnited States of America
american-celebrity human message primary social speaking threat today
My message today is primary the same... I usually go around speaking on the threat of the human element, particularly on social engineering.
acceptable basically break computer intrigued judgment poor security socially solving
It's still basically just solving a puzzle, ... Years ago, with poor judgment, I was intrigued to break through security on computer systems. Now I do it with the client's permission, for socially acceptable reasons.
appearing authority certain convince engineer fear figure mental people perceived prone social taking
People are prone to taking mental shortcuts. They may know that they shouldn't give out certain information, but the fear of not being nice, the fear of appearing ignorant, the fear of a perceived authority figure - all these are triggers, which can be used by a social engineer to convince a person to override established security procedures.
engineering able social
Both social engineering and technical attacks played a big part in what I was able to do. It was a hybrid. I used social engineering when it was appropriate, and exploited technical vulnerabilities when it was appropriate.
veils social cloaks
Social engineers veil themselves in a cloak of believability.
hard
It's going to be very, very hard for him,
computer computers hard job oriented require skills toward work
Not only are all of his skills ... oriented toward computers, but even if he were to not want to work in the computer field, it's very hard to get a job of any kind that does not require you to work with computers.
books books-and-reading case criminal dealing higher information priorities time
At the time the books were released, I was in custody, so I had higher priorities - dealing with my criminal case - than dealing with litigation. There's a lot of information out there that is inaccurate.
american-celebrity card credit thinking
So what you have to do is think about authenticating credit card transactions more than thinking about obfuscating the credit card number.
anyone badge damage honor hurt malicious trying
That's not a badge of honor I enjoy, ... I never had malicious intent. I was never trying to hurt anyone or damage anything.
allowed computers connect connecting net networks personal prevent programs sites
Use a personal firewall. Configure it to prevent other computers, networks and sites from connecting to you, and specify which programs are allowed to connect to the net automatically.
act blank government hacks interested patriot proved spy subtle terrorists total wants
The Patriot Act is ludicrous. Terrorists have proved that they are interested in total genocide, not subtle little hacks of the U.S. infrastructure, yet the government wants a blank search warrant to spy and snoop on everyone's communications.
controls either exploiting
Hacking is exploiting security controls either in a technical, physical or a human-based element.
finding learning love solving technology
I love solving puzzles, I love finding my way around obstacles, and I love learning new things about technology.