Kevin Mitnick is an infamous and legendary figure in the world of hacking. He was once the most wanted hacker in the world and his hacking adventures were recently depicted in a highly stylized documentary.
The documentary focuses on Mitnick’s extraordinary tale of how he used his computer science knowledge and social engineering skills to hack into various companies, such as Nokia, Fujitsu, and Pacific Bell. It also dives into the infamous Koobface virus that attacked social networks in 2008, tying it back to Mitnick’s own work.
On December 8th 1998, hackers took over Yahoo!, declaring that unless Kevin was freed from prison by Christmas Day, millions of computers infected with the virus would be destroyed. This demand sparked a movement across the internet to “Free Kevin”—but who was this mysterious hacker?
At age 17, Kevin Mitnick gained notoriety for allegedly infiltrating NORAD and gained more attention when he continued to hack throughout his twenties. In 1995 at 32 years old he was arrested for wire fraud, computer hacking and phone cloning among other offenses. He went on the run for two years before being caught by FBI agents and put in solitary confinement for five years until his release in 2000.
By 2008, another kind of attack had spread across the internet—the Koobface virus targeted social media platforms like MySpace and Facebook as well as Mac systems. This virus used fast flux IP addresses which changed rapidly making it nearly impossible to trace its source back to those behind it. Those unsuspecting users who clicked on CTA buttons would unknowingly download PDFs that scanned their computer contents after which they were redirected to different affiliate websites before finally getting back to their original destination—all while earning money for each click along the way! The virus was so cleverly disguised that eventually digital investigators discovered the group “Alibaba & 4” responsible for its spread.
Kevin Mitnick may have been a criminal but what is certain is that his skill set was needed once again as soon as he got out of prison in 2000 testifying even in front of US senate about better protecting computers from hijackers! Today he works as a whitehat hacker helping organizations protect themselves from cybercrime attacks similar to Koobface today. If you are curious about these events or just want to learn more about Kevin Mitnick himself then you should watch this documentary!
