15 ms·

Kevin Mitnick has died

• heystefan 3y ago
  RIP to the legend. Remember when Yahoo! was defaced with a "FREE KEVIN" message? Good times.
  • 29athrowaway 3y ago
    I remember when KevinMitnick.com was defaced.
    • DonHopkins 3y ago
      I remember when takedown.com was taken down! ;)
      • 29athrowaway 3y ago
        Domain name checks out
• antegamisou 3y ago
  He was the person I associated the word hacker with, when I came across his name back in 2003 as a kid when I was searching for 'top hackers in the world'. (Google was functional back then...). RIP
• carabiner 3y ago
  [flagged]
  • AnimalMuppet 3y ago
    If by "Saint Theodore" you mean the Unabomber... real saints don't murder people.
    • Mountain_Skies 3y ago
      [flagged]
      • dang 3y ago
        Could you please stop posting flamebait? We've asked you several times already. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    • dang 3y ago
      "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." a.k.a. please don't feed the trolls https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
• neiman1 3y ago
  RIP. I loved reading about Kevin whilst growing up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlbUYl67LTY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlbUYl67LTY
• vubis 3y ago
  [flagged]
• truthmaters 3y ago
  [flagged]
• captainkrtek 3y ago
  Rest in peace. Like many others here, Mitnick was an inspiration to me when I was younger, believe he truly embodied the hacker ethos. “Ghost in the wires” is a fantastic and fun read.
• myshpa 3y ago
  Real hackers get: "Sorry, you have been blocked" "You are unable to access dignitymemorial.com" ;)
  • smcl 3y ago
    I think we should have a link that isn't totally broken. I guess a lot of people here read the headline and came to comment and share some anecdotes, which is totally fine. But the link is broken, so we should at least fix that. Here are a couple of alternatives: https://www.engadget.com/kevin-mitnick-formerly-the-worlds-most-wanted-hacker-has-passed-away-084912966.html https://www.engadget.com/kevin-mitnick-formerly-the-worlds-m... https://boingboing.net/2023/07/19/kevin-mitnick-1963-2023.html https://boingboing.net/2023/07/19/kevin-mitnick-1963-2023.ht...
• daedlanth 3y ago
  [dead]
• major505 3y ago
  Man, fuck cancer. He still was young, and his wife is pregnant. I remember as a kid reading about his exploits, and how much that influenced my carrer choice and interest in computers. Hope he can hack his way into heaven.
• eelhazred 3y ago
  RIP.
• concernedctzn 3y ago
  hack the planet!
• h2odragon 3y ago
  Like the Gerber baby, the symbol people recognized didn't necessarily have that much to do with the actual person. RIP dude.
  • bshipp 3y ago
    The....Gerber Baby? Is there a story there? She seems pretty normal and pleasant from her Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Turner_Cook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Turner_Cook
    • Kina 3y ago
      It doesn’t matter who the Gerber Baby really is. Society has chosen to associate the Gerber Baby with certain attributes regardless of who the person behind the photo really is, and so it is with Kevin Mitnick. Mitnick, the real person, excelled at social engineering more than any other trait and was arguably subjected to malicious prosecution. But in his later years, there’s a lot of documentation online indicating that he didn’t live up to the myth that grew around him and he was not a pleasant person [1]. People here are mostly reminiscing about Mitnick--the myth, not the man. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/cybersecurity/comments/uk6wgd/why_does_the_cybersecurity_community_dislike/i7oo9f0/ https://www.reddit.com/r/cybersecurity/comments/uk6wgd/why_d...
      • AceyMan 3y ago
        I think we'd all be surprised to find out how many "legendary", "amazing", "revolutionary" famous people are not particularly pleasant. You don't achieve greatness by being a sweetheart. [ftr, I have no idea what his demeanor was; like many, it's quite likely he softened over time.]
      • yreg 3y ago
        Regarding your source: People don't behave consistently all the time. There are probably people who have briefly met you when you were not in a good mood who would say that you are a jerk.
      • wyclif 3y ago
• serf 3y ago
  RIP. I still have my FREE KEVIN sticker on an old freezer. One of my fond memories with my now-dead mother was going to see him during a prison transfer in Los Angeles and yelling outside the place until he waved to us and the rest of the crowd through a window.
  • mindcrime 3y ago
    I'm still rocking one on my laptop to this very day. https://fogbeam.com/free-kevin.jpg https://fogbeam.com/free-kevin.jpg
• rglover 3y ago
  Aw this is a bummer. RIP. I'll never forget reading The Art of Deception in high school.
  • codetrotter 3y ago
    RIP. Same here, I read the whole book on a Sony Ericsson W810i Walkman cell phone in high school. The phone I read it on had a 176x220 pixels tiny little screen. Book was captivating.
• m4jor 3y ago
  Is this real?
  • JuanTono 3y ago
    I'm asking the same, Wikipedia page is not updated and based on the note he died on Sunday...
    • dredmorbius 3y ago
      As I write this, there's a pending edit, accepted for review, of Mitnick's death. That seems to have been reverted pending a reliable source: Edit: <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kevin_Mitnick&oldid=1166195415 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kevin_Mitnick&old...> Revert: <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kevin_Mitnick&oldid=1166195630 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kevin_Mitnick&old...> Wikipedians typically resolve such issues pretty quickly.
  • Spliterator 3y ago
    I'm wondering the same thing. Wikipedia page isn't updated, I don't see any updates on https://www.mitnicksecurity.com/ https://www.mitnicksecurity.com/ or https://www.knowbe4.com/ https://www.knowbe4.com/, and I can't find any other news mentions about this. I also can't find mention of him having pancreatic cancer, but that's not necessarily a confirmation of anything. He certainly could have kept it private.
    • m4jor 3y ago
      Yeah seems like it was something he kept hush hush. Sad to hear the news :\
    • sp332 3y ago
      KnowBe4 has confirmed. https://web.archive.org/web/20230720043020/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/technology/kevin-mitnick-dead-hacker.html/ https://web.archive.org/web/20230720043020/https://www.nytim...
• gkoberger 3y ago
  Wow. He was only 59. I've always loved his lockpicking business card: https://www.mitnicksecurity.com/kevin-mitnicks-famous-lockpick-business-card https://www.mitnicksecurity.com/kevin-mitnicks-famous-lockpi... While I assume this is real, part of me does feel like a combination of how young he is and who is is leads me to be slightly skeptical. Assuming it's real, hopefully he would have appreciated the skepticism.
  • booi 3y ago
    Can you still get one of these? It says send cash in the mail so… I’m skeptical
    • sva_ 3y ago
      There are similar ones on AliExpress, if you just look for lockpicks in CC format
      • libraryatnight 3y ago
        and forego the experience of mailing cash for lockpicks? never.
    • jbaber 3y ago
      I, too, was concerned it was some kind of hacker gotcha trick, but took the leap of faith and mailed the cash. They did ship the card to me.
    • ivoc 3y ago
      Could always ask Woz for a card ?
    • thesuitonym 3y ago
      As of a few years ago, KnowBe4 was sending them out (well, a KnowBe4 branded version) to companies that partnered with them.
  • Simulacra 3y ago
    He gave me his business card at CES and it's one of my most prized possessions. I am heartbroken.
• obiefernandez 3y ago
  Can we get a black bar?
  • dredmorbius 3y ago
    To reach moderators, email hn@ycombinator.com with your request. <https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html> <https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html> (I'd just made this suggestion via email on seeing this post.)
  • gruturo 3y ago
    Indeed. Given the site's name is Hacker News, it would be so fitting.
• bandyaboot 3y ago
  Dang, that’s a big loss. A pioneer in his own unique way.
• pnw 3y ago
  RIP Kevin. Too young to be gone. I only met him once but he was definitely one of a kind and his story inspired a lot of people.
• photoGrant 3y ago
  Miserable. Godspeed, Kevin.
• thebeardisred 3y ago
  I'n guessing the hug of death will be forthcoming for this site: http://web.archive.org/web/20230719235437/https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/las-vegas-nv/kevin-mitnick-11371668 http://web.archive.org/web/20230719235437/https://www.dignit...
• toomuchtodo 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Mitnick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Mitnick
• bootcat 3y ago
  RIP - He was a role model to upcoming social engineering folks,
• phone8675309 3y ago
  Rest in peace, Kevin. I am so glad that a much younger me got to meet you one day at a conference. Best to your family.
• Minor49er 3y ago
  He's social engineering his way through the pearly gates now. Rest in peace, Kevin
• SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
  I'll go in tomorrow and update our August KnowBe4 training deployment for August to be a couple of his modules. Our users won't know, and I guess he won't either, but cancer sucks and it'll make me happy to do it.
  • leptons 3y ago
    KnowBe4 is the bane of my work existence. It's honestly the worst thing about my job, having to take their courses. It's too bad Mitnick sold out to Scientologists (KnowBe4), but I guess he had to cash in somehow. It kind of upsets me that I'm forced to watch Mitnick's videos about social engineering, considering his own nefarious use of the tricks he's teaching people to avoid. I mean, I guess learn from an expert? That service just rubs me the wrong way, maybe it's the scientologists that run it.
    • SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
      First I’ve heard they are scientologists. Although I’m not a shoot the messenger type.
• zuuuuuh 3y ago
  [flagged]
• rafale 3y ago
  A brillant man who, as a kid, inspired and motivate me by his cool exploits (even though I didn't end up pursuing cybersecurity).
• helf 3y ago
  [flagged]
  • capableweb 3y ago
    If you and your wife really love each other and your wife really want to have a piece of the love you had in form of another family member, why not? Is the submission for someone who just died the right place to write something you already know is harsh? Considering the kind of person Kevin was, I'm sure a bunch of his friends are on here, reading these very comments so maybe just a tiny bit of respect would be suitable.
    • j45 3y ago
      Totally. It’s the age old issue if someone can’t understand something therefore there can be no understanding in it. While many people are remembering the Free Kevin phenomenon, the random places the t-shirts would appear for years.. like other things Kevin appeared to do - it’s a decision that’s entirely Kevin and his wife’s business, and they seem more than capable of it.
• hoistbypetard 3y ago
  RIP. I can't appropriately explain to anyone who wasn't around for it just how much he influenced my thinking from the late 80s to late 90s.
• 29athrowaway 3y ago
  Watch "Freedom downtime". There they make it clear that the New York Times columnist and book author John Markoff made up absolutely everything. The movie "Track Down" (US) / "Takedown" is also full of BS.
  • e12e 3y ago
    And read "Ghost in the Wires": https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wires-Adventures-Worlds-Wanted-ebook/dp/B00FOQS8D6?ref_=ast_author_dp https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wires-Adventures-Worlds-Wanted-...
• wnissen 3y ago
  He certainly was an interesting person. It was always amazing the degree to which law enforcement prosecuted his hacking and cracking, when it seems like much more impactful crimes involving computers go uninvestigated. Plenty of people are hounded by threats of violence into leaving their jobs and homes, that seems far more impactful than Mitnick's crimes. And FYI, while he died unexpectedly young, a 57-year-old man in the US has only a 50% chance of living to see their child reach 23 years of age. I, personally, wouldn't feel comfortable risking leaving a child with a likelihood of dealing with my death at that relatively young age.
  • deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  • bagels 3y ago
    Doesn't that statistic depend heavily on how old the child is to begin with?
    • wittenbunk 3y ago
      Child are typically born zero years old.
      • bagels 3y ago
        Okay, but most 57 year olds aren't having children at 57, most will have children well before that, if at all.
    • deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  • bragr 3y ago
    Well just doing the math, they must have conceived after his diagnosis, so presumably that was baked in sadly just knowing the actuarials on pancreatic cancer.
  • woooooo 3y ago
    Everything is high school. A rebel thumbing their nose at the system must be punished, while the conventionally corrupt deserve the benefit of the doubt.
• __warlord__ 3y ago
  I'm a bit "on the younger generation" but I remember the movie based on his story: "Take Down" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159784/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159784/. To this day I know the difference between a cracker and a hacker :) RIP.
  • lyu07282 3y ago
    Its a pretty cool movie, surprisingly realistic with a focus on social engineering. No idea how accurate it was otherwise, probably not really. Sad to see, he was way too young to go. RIP
• Simulacra 3y ago
  Oh My Gosh this is so sad !
• m3kw9 3y ago
  The real OG of hacking
• tmaly 3y ago
  Very sad that he did not see his first child.
  • huyimo 3y ago
    [flagged]
• latenightcoding 3y ago
  A literal hacker news. RIP.
• DoesntMatter22 3y ago
  Wow that's so unexpected. He's been an icon in the computing community for 30 years. He's gone way too soon. I didn't even know he was sick.
• zsiddique 3y ago
  I remember reading Kevin Mitnick books in the early 2000s and it really open my eyes about social engineering and how hacking is more than just cracking a code. Help me become a better DevOps and Software Engineer.
  • whalesalad 3y ago
    Same! His book on social engineering was profound to my teenage mind. Rest in peace.
• SEJeff 3y ago
  dang / mods: if anyone passing deserves the HN black banner, I think Mitnick deserves the banner.
  • cjensen 3y ago
    As one of the people whose credit card number was stolen from Netcom, I would strongly object to this. I'm not here to speak poorly of the dead, but I'm definitely here to judge those who think too highly of him.
    • callalex 3y ago
      Is that Mitnic’s fault? Or the incompetent greedy executives of Netcom?
      • cjensen 3y ago
        What greedy executives? This was the early days of the Internet and there was tons of competition. And yes, OF COURSE IT WAS MITNIC'S FAULT. Why in 2023 would you even think of blaming the victim.
    • SEJeff 3y ago
      It isn’t about thinking highly of him. His impact on security is well documented and very extensive. The black banner is used for honoring notable technologists who pass away. Regardless of personal thoughts, he was a very notable technologist and sort of first famous social engineer. I’m sorry he stole your cc.
      • tanseydavid 3y ago
        Plus, Mitnick is practically the dictionary definition of "hacker".
        • eelhazred 3y ago
          I think "cracker" is the more apt term.
• hellyer 3y ago
  [dead]
  • EMIRELADERO 3y ago
    > Having been threatened with murder and then blackmailed, with zero consequence to the perpetrators, I have first hand experience dealing with such corruption. Care to elaborate? This sounds like something too heavy to leave behind as a remark on a comment
    • deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    • hellyer 3y ago
      [dead]
      • pc86 3y ago
        [flagged]
        • hellyer 3y ago
          [dead]
        • WhackyIdeas 3y ago
          Woke up on the wrong side of bed, perhaps?
        • dang 3y ago
          Please don't cross into personal attack. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    • goldenkey 3y ago
      The same has been done to me by the same systems both physical and electronic. I have mental and physical scars to show. The good die young if they don't realize the game they are playing quick enough. Godspeed.
• bunkiol 3y ago
  [flagged]
• josh2600 3y ago
  Mitnick was a hacker hero of mine in my youth. I think I’ve understood his role as jester prior to conviction less as I’ve grown older, but there’s something about the boyhood charm of being so divorced from the potential consequences of one’s actions that is almost unique. Mitnick had so many stories that entranced the people around him. I heard one second hand of Mitnick dealing with a bank who had early voice verification software. Upon meeting the CEO he gave the executive his card and departed for the evening. Arriving back at his hotel, he called the CEO and asked him to read his phone number to him. The phone number contained all ten digits which Mitnick had neatly tape recorded so as to make the CEO’s voice reproducible. He then proceeded to use the bank’s vocal banking system to transfer $1 from the CEO’s account to his as the authentication mechanism was reading out your own account number in your voice. When Mitnick arrived back in the board room the architect of the voice verification system was crestfallen and the bank CEO delivered a check on a silver platter. Now how much of that tale is embellished I will never know as it was second hand, but that was the kind of whimsy Mitnick brought to our world. Rest in Power.
  • deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  • tomjakubowski 3y ago
    How would he have known the CEO's bank account number? Did the CEO write him a check at some point? Or maybe a bank's CEO traditionally gets account number 1…
    • gabereiser 3y ago
      He used the CEO’s voice to access AN account, I don’t think it was the CEO’s specifically. But just an account, verified by the CEO’s voice, to his.
      • jhugo 3y ago
        I doubt the bank’s authentication system is built to allow the CEO’s voice to authenticate a transfer out of any account…
• deffo 3y ago
  [flagged]
• andromaton 3y ago
  I think it's trolling. Single source.
  • CaliforniaKarl 3y ago
    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/technology/kevin-mitnick-dead-hacker.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/technology/kevin-mitnick-...
• glitchc 3y ago
  It's a lovely obituary. God speed.
• kijab-pi 3y ago
  [flagged]
  • gizajob 3y ago
    Very big, very cheap talk. The website you're using is called "Hacker News" for a reason.
  • zer8k 3y ago
    I don't normally get inflammatory but you are a consummate moron.
    • dang 3y ago
      "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." a.k.a. please don't feed the trolls https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
• embit 3y ago
  Just came here to say Resr In Peace Kevin. You will always be remembered.
• anjel 3y ago
  >The real OG of hacking Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book and Kevin Mittnick taught me the noun form meaning of exploit. RIP
• mottiden 3y ago
  Rest In Peace Kevin. You were the reason why I started programming. I loved reading your books when I was younger.
• deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
• mindcrime 3y ago
  Oh man, oh man. This is heart-breaking. Even though I never met Kevin IRL, he was always something of a.. well, maybe not a "role model" exactly, but certainly an inspiring character in many regards. Some of my earliest forays into the world of phone phreaking and related activities were inspired by the stories I read about Mitnick and his crew out in LA, in Markoff and Haffner's book Cyberpunk. For a while me and some of the guys I ran with would use the word "Kevin" as a sort of code-word for this stuff to avoid telling our parents any more than necessary about what we were doing "Where are you going to night boys?" "Oh, we're going to hang out with Kevin." (this meant a night of trashing telco dumpsters, fucking around with payphones, and various other dubious activities) "Oh, OK. Well, be careful." That sort of thing. Wow. Never saw this coming. I didn't even know he'd been ill. Anyway... RIP, Mr. Mitnick. May there be clueless operators to social engineer, on "the other side".
  • 29athrowaway 3y ago
    Everything Markoff ever wrote was untrue. https://youtu.be/3zgLHEqIlJg?t=528 https://youtu.be/3zgLHEqIlJg?t=528
    • mindcrime 3y ago
      Yep. I'm familiar with the issues around the veracity of that book. That isn't really the point. Back in 1995 that was pretty much all we had to go on, and Mitnick still became a hero to a bunch of us. In the subsequent years I've read all of Kevin's books, as well as pretty much all the other books written about his life, and watched the various movies and documentaries that dealt with his story. It seems like Markoff was kind of a dick and frankly contributed to some of Kevin's problems. Sad. :-(
• programmarchy 3y ago
  Serious question: why revere Mitnick, but not someone like SBF? Mitnick is admired for his technical skill and social engineering prowess, but the same argument could be made that SBF is also exceptional in this regard on an even larger scale. Both are (alleged) criminals. Genuinely curious what makes Mitnick morally good in the eyes of HN. Was it his redemption arc as a “white hat”?
  • ldargin 3y ago
    Mitnick didn't steal anything except source code. He didn't do anything that was truly reprehensible. I feel it's premature to comment on SBF. He hasn't even been tried yet.
    • deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  • zer8k 3y ago
    The term "hacker" describes someone skilled at tricking systems into doing what they can't. Mitnick was not only one of the first popular hackers he also had many famous exploits. His arrest was a major rallying cry for the hacker community at large (now known as the overly corporate "infosec community"). There's no redemption arc. You do not need to do what society considers "good" to be considered righteous. There's no such thing as objective moral and ethical good. To me, Mitnick is a hero deserving of the highest praise. He inspired myself and many others to get started in this world. It may be difficult to understand if you didn't come into computers in the late 80s/90s.
    • programmarchy 3y ago
      On one hand you assert there’s no such thing as moral good, yet you describe him as righteous? That word is a superlative for “good” steeped in religious tones! Anyway, I suppose you could make the case that Mitnick was taking on “the Man” which is more utilitarian, but that’s a bit anemic imo.
    • CoastalCoder 3y ago
• ironfootnz 3y ago
  RIP my friend.
• elif 3y ago
  I can't say enough about how influential Kevin has been in every decade, continually staying at the head of the snake of hacking. I am so lucky not just for how he inspired me in my youth, but how he relit the fire of security paranoia in the last decade when I was fortunate to work for an organization he hacked (by contract). All software engineers are now more vulnerable with Kevin gone. Stay paranoid friends, now more than ever.
• imperialdrive 3y ago
  Storytime: He randomly came over for dinner while cruising around LA with a friend of a friend, aaages ago... asked if I had a disposable tablecloth, luckily yes. Orders like 10 entrees/appetizers/desserts for delivery for just the 3 of us. Over a few hours picking at food, drinking case of beer etc., the entire table was covered in tech gibberish, diagrams, code etc. Really wish I saved that, but at the time I was like "who IS this guy?" and it was a disgusting mess. I do recall appreciating that level of openness and bonding, and have never had such an experience with anyone else like that in the industry since then. RIP
  • iJohnDoe 3y ago
    Thanks for sharing your story. A rare anecdote about a young legend.
• renewiltord 3y ago
  What in the world. That's really young to go. I really did not expect this guy, being just one generation away, to have died.
• dekhn 3y ago
  Reading how he did social engineering was a huge influence on me... basically, taught me how to interact with normies.
• IIAOPSW 3y ago
  Pardon my tasteless skepticism, but are we sure this isn't a social engineering trick of his yet?
  • kristopolous 3y ago
    I'm fine with it remaining perpetually ambiguous, like L. Ron Hubbard. Legends need legends.
• throwaway88008 3y ago
  The post mentions Dutchman Stu Sjouwerman as a close friend. Kevin was partnered with Stu in the security company KnowBe4. Stu is a dedicated Scientologist, and has donated millions and millions of dollars to that corrupt organization. I know because I served in the Scientology Sea Org and knew Stu when he was on “OTVII”. This was before KnowBe4, but he was still something of a big donator. He really hit it big with KnowBe4 and became one of the few whales still funneling massive amounts to the church. I found out about the connection between Stu and Kevin while I was working as a developer for a tech company. One day we started getting those security tips and tricks emails, white labeled so they looked like they came from our own AppSec team. At the end of the emails it ended with the line “the price of freedom is constant alertness, constant willingness to fight back”. A direct quote from L Ron Hubbard and one Scientologists (and former Scientologists like me) know well. After digging deeper I found out they were coming from KnowBe4 and saw Kevin listed on the site as being a partner. Business relationship aside, after reading Ghost, you get the sense that Kevin would not and could not stop hacking. Maybe he matured and that urge dulled but I always wondered if he ever did some covert snooping into what Stu was up to with Scientology. The Sea Org computer and communication systems are ancient (they still use pagers for some things!). It would have been a blast for someone like him to compromise their systems. And they are right there in Clearwater down the road from KnowBe4 headquarters… Posting with throwaway because I ain’t tryna win a covert Scientology harassment and stalking op and have my family disown me which happens to virtually every former member who speaks out publicly.
  • autoexec 3y ago
    They seem to hook a lot of clever people. I always assumed it was some kind of weird tax dodge, but maybe Scientology doesn't get enough credit for their social engineering skills
    • TremendousJudge 3y ago
      Just because somebody is somehow "clever" doesn't make them immune to scams -- they just need to be a specific type. Scientology targets a person's sense of self-importance and empowers the feeling that they are somehow special and mentally gifted. Something that many "clever" people have.
• placesalt 3y ago
  Sad to see. Pancreatic cancer is one of the scary ones, since there are so few symptoms before you hit stage 4. For those who haven't seen it, Freedom Downtime is a movie by the 2600 gang which is mostly about Mitnick's imprisonment, and the whole Free Kevin movement. (I wonder who wrote the obituary, it's especially wide-ranging, and poetic in parts.)
  • jamal-kumar 3y ago
    Obligatory link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ILA5Cso3w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ILA5Cso3w
• kaishiro 3y ago
  Terrible news, especially at that age. I remember reading "The Art of Deception" in college. Just out of curiosity, does anyone have anything else corroborating this? Everywhere seems to be sharing the same dignitymemorial.com link.
• ineedasername 3y ago
  damn, fuck cancer
• hghjg6576 3y ago
  [flagged]
• giantg2 3y ago
  If you're looking for other stories, The Art of Deception (Mitnick specific) and The Art of Intrusion (not all Mitnick) have a ton.
  • muzani 3y ago
    I used to read these while procrastinating on network security exams. Damn, they were a lot more fun than expected.
  • freedomben 3y ago
    Those two books, plus Ghost in the Wires, are absolute must reads for anyone who visits HN
    • blackoil 3y ago
      The question is should we buy them or pirate!
      • gv83 3y ago
        the answer is "social engineer a librarian to get them for free"
        • alias_neo 3y ago
          "Good <timeperiod>, <librarian>, I'd like to borrow this book please"? Or the way my 3yo daughter does it these days; "beep".
        • ddalex 3y ago
          Librarian: all the books are free here...
  • dylan604 3y ago
    In a similar vein of social engineering, Exploding The Phone is good read about the Phreakers of yore.
• deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
• ChrisArchitect 3y ago
  Legend. A name of inspiration, igniting curiosity across ages. And of course, the only crime was curiosity. RIP
• frellus 3y ago
  Wow. My first encounter with Kevin Mitnick was a random one.. joining one of my school's IRC channels one day there was there guy on it who was bragging about how he had broken into our central AIX server, would read the admins' e-mail all the time and for every hole they plugged he would just find another one. I was just a university Freshman just starting my CS classes, and seeing this discussion, it was like I had entered some underground revolutionary meeting. It opened my eyes to mischief and testing the boundaries of systems and order where this guy who was on IRC as root@system was just calmly saying how the technical universe I was just learning about was controllable in ways I had no clue about. I never followed the case after he was prosecuted, and I didn't go down the hacker route in my career, but it was a life-changing moment for me to see this outsider live out "War Games" in real life. RIP, root. Your crimes and mischief certainly didn't define you, especially as you went down the ethical hacker path (the first?). Pancreatic cancer is a horrible way to go, I am sorry to see this story today and condolences to his family and friends.
  • dumdumchan 3y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MctHTxESCFM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MctHTxESCFM
• eddieroger 3y ago
  May his memory be a blessing.
• anonu 3y ago
  Kevin came to speak at CMU in the University Center. Maybe around 2003/2004. I recall it was standing room only. For me, it was like seeing your favorite action hero in real life. Yes he was convicted of some crimes, but he showed you could be redeemed and continue to live a good, fulfilling life educating others what not to do. RIP
• huxky 3y ago
  [flagged]
• newsclues 3y ago
  Free Kevin.
• mabbo 3y ago
  > Donations can be made in Kevin's memory to The National Pancreas Foundation https://pancreasfoundation.org/ https://pancreasfoundation.org/ or The Equal Justice Initiative https://eji.org/ https://eji.org/ > These are two causes of great importance to Kimberley and Kevin; both organizations put the majority of donated funds to work in the communities they serve. If Kevin inspired you, perhaps a donation in his name would be a nice gesture.
• grayhatter 3y ago
  Mitnick's legend (and his books) are definitely a big part of why I have a job I love. I was tempted to send a box of donuts as a gift... but instead I think I'll send the two dozen as a donation to the EJI instead. https://eji.org/ https://eji.org/
• geocrasher 3y ago
  My first thought, genuinely, was 'This is zero cool' An icon for many of us here. I feel worse for his mate and unborn child. Losing a mate is very, very, hard. Going through that myself...
  • strictnein 3y ago
    > Going through that myself... Sorry to hear that
  • r3trohack3r 3y ago
    Much love geocrasher, sorry to hear
• trashcanman 3y ago
  Wow didn’t see that coming. I met him at a HOPE conference with Steve Wozniak. Followed him for years from hacker zine texts distributed on CDs back in the day. Wow that’s really sad what a fun guy he was. His social engineering book was pretty interesting. That OKI phone story was so fascinating I bought a couple to see if I could do it too, although by then 900MHz was phased out. This guy made a difference in my life how very strange
  • myself248 3y ago
    MENU SND END RCL STO CLR
    • trashcanman 3y ago
      Lol! and the Sun story was hysterical. Mailing update floppies to a target and letting them install the malware for you. That’s just priceless comedy
• b212 3y ago
  Just woke up my wife with a loud sigh. I remember all my childhood friends pretending to be Zidane or Figo or Rivaldo. I always wanted to be Mitnick. Sucked at soccer but never stopped hacking. Holy f, he was so young. Out of all people I really hoped to meet him one day. The rockstar of my childhood. What a shitty day.
• ecohen16 3y ago
  When Kevin first found out he had Cancer, the doctors gave him "weeks". But you know Kevin -- he refused to accept his fate and found the top doctors in the world, tried experimental procedures and was able to get himself all the way into remission just 11 months later. It was incredibly inspiring, we all thought he had yet again beaten the system. It's tragic how the last 10 weeks played out, he fought all the way until the end. He's was a legend who paved the way for millions in the cybersecurity space. We will miss him.
  • melling 3y ago
    Looks like he died from pancreatic cancer. This cancers always reminds me of the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. He was a CMU professor who also died from pancreatic cancer 15 years ago. https://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/ https://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/ Here’s an HN discussion from a few years ago. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24972377 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24972377
    • jseliger 3y ago
      There is some hope for improved M&M in pancreatic cancer: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06063-y https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06063-y, thanks to personalized mRNA vaccines and PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors.
      • xupybd 3y ago
        That's good to hear. It's one of those cancers that is normally not noticed until it's far too late.
    • Grazester 3y ago
      I remember that lecture very well and thought about it a few days ago.
  • deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  • deleted 3y ago
• faeriechangling 3y ago
  Mitnick did remind myself as a preteen, even if it never seems he quite outgrew his own preteen antics. He was a gutsy guy who made life more rich and interesting in his own way. He never seemed to bend to the system’s will long after many of us so called anti-authoritarians would have thrown in the towel. When I read his books I alternated between fascination, revulsion, admiration, and shock. Mitnick above all wasn’t boring and I think “not boring” doesn’t get enough credit in the measure of a man.
  • RajT88 3y ago
    > Mitnick above all wasn’t boring and I think “not boring” doesn’t get enough credit in the measure of a man. My wife might agree or disagree with you, depending on the day.
    • beebmam 3y ago
      My ex certainly wasn't boring. But they certainly were physically abusive. I don't believe that automatically qualifies someone as deserving of credit.
      • Blahah 3y ago
        I don't think anyone would claim that not being boring is the only worthwhile measure of a person. But assuming nobody wants to be around a person who is causing harm purposefully, I'll take interesting over boring. I'm sorry about your ex, and I hope you have the support you need.
      • bozhark 3y ago
        Abuse is hella boring. We’re all tired of it
      • ChristianGeek 3y ago
        Being physically abusive automatically cancels any credits you may have for any other qualities.
• kykeonaut 3y ago
  I first learned about Mitnick on a network security course where we had to recreate the now iconic TCP spoofing attack he employed against Shimomura's X-Terminal [0]. He was definitely a legend. [0] http://wiki.cas.mcmaster.ca/index.php/The_Mitnick_attack#The_attack http://wiki.cas.mcmaster.ca/index.php/The_Mitnick_attack#The...
• alfanick 3y ago
  He made me. I remember back in my teen years reading interviews with him, I was back in phreaking scene. He was a hero. He is a hero. What a loss.
• ineedasername 3y ago
  I missed meeting Kevin Mitnick at the infamous HOPE 2006 conference where he was set to speak, but he was waylaid by something or other and he landed in the hospital. His reputation was still a presence through those few days though, just a few short years after his release from prison.
• atum47 3y ago
  Takedown was my favorite movie as a kid. It influenced me a lot. In Brazil is not common to have a bathtub in your bathroom, we used suicide showers (term that I recently learned on YouTube); anyway, the image of Mitnick hacking in the tube on his laptop resonated with me, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. May he rest in peace.
• r3vo 3y ago
  Worth noting that Wikipedia at the time of this post is refusing to acknowledge his death, citing poor sources. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kevin_Mitnick&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kevin_Mitnick&act... Hope he is alive and well. May he rest in peace if not
  • CaliforniaKarl 3y ago
    The New York Times has their obituary up: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/technology/kevin-mitnick-dead-hacker.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/technology/kevin-mitnick-... RIP
    • r3vo 3y ago
      Rest in peace :(
• jmbwell 3y ago
  Oh my god. I was on the phone with him not that long ago discussing a red team project. I had no idea what was going on. He was always generous and kind yet professional, despite us kind of fanning out. He had the ease of someone who knew what they were doing and didn’t feel they had anything to prove, which of course he didn’t. I was looking forward to working with him more. I hate how you never know how a thing’s going to go. Here’s to the innumerable things about modern connected society that are the way they are, whether indirectly or directly, because of Kevin Mitnick.
• xwdv 3y ago
  Fuck man, this hit me hard and unexpected. Ghost in the Wires was one of my favorite books. Was fun to read about a true hacker, definitely inspired me. He was too young. Can’t believe there is no black banner. This is hackernews.
• biglyburrito 3y ago
  BoingBoing is now confirming it: https://boingboing.net/2023/07/19/kevin-mitnick-1963-2023.html https://boingboing.net/2023/07/19/kevin-mitnick-1963-2023.ht...
  • capableweb 3y ago
    Confirming? They're reiterating from the same source as everyone else (dignitymemorial.com) hardly confirmed and can't even call that journalism.
    • deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    • biglyburrito 3y ago
      Here's another source that independently confirmed Mitnick died: https://www.securityweek.com/famed-hacker-kevin-mitnick-dead-at-59/ https://www.securityweek.com/famed-hacker-kevin-mitnick-dead... You're right, though, about my original post -- that was my bad! I read their blurb but didn't click through the link... thank you for the callout.
• david_shaw 3y ago
  For those looking for an official source outside of the obituary: Dave Kennedy (a longtime infosec pro and, in my opinion, a trusted source) confirmed in a tweet: https://nitter.net/HackingDave/status/1681838080355966976 https://nitter.net/HackingDave/status/1681838080355966976 Although I haven't seen an "official" statement, I believe that this news is legitimate. RIP Kevin.
  • CaliforniaKarl 3y ago
    The New York Times has also posted their obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/technology/kevin-mitnick-dead-hacker.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/technology/kevin-mitnick-...
• mgdev 3y ago
  There goes my hero.
• freedomben 3y ago
  Sad news. His biography/story "Ghost in the Wires" is one of the most amazing books I've ever read. I highly recommend it. The audiobook is read by Ray Porter and is gold. I'll be giving it a re-listen. His books "The Art of {Deception,Invisibility,Intrusion}" are absolute bangers for most of the people here. Can't recommend enough
• 1024core 3y ago
  Damn! Didn't Steve Jobs also die from pancreatic cancer?
• kennyloginz 3y ago
  This guy was so dedicated, he got a job at the DMV. Kind of sad, it sounded like he was liked and got a long with his coworkers at that job.
• brightball 3y ago
  An absolute legend! I have 2 of his books here at my house.
• nemo44x 3y ago
  Kevin is free, now.
• shaunxcode 3y ago
  Black bar.
• ChuckMcM 3y ago
  I was not aware he was ill. Always sad to hear people that are taken by cancer. I didn't know Kevin, but am friends with Tsutomu Shimomura who worked with authorities to get him arrested. Tsutomu worked with me a bit when I was at Sun trying to get a cryptographically secure subsystem into the base system specification. It was fun to listen to his side of this story. The 80's was a really weird time for computer enthusiasts, and it was the period of time when what was then considered the "hacker" community schismed into what today we might call "white hat" vs "black hat" hackers. As a person who considered themselves to be part of that community I was personally offended by how the story of Kevin painted everyone who thought of themselves as a "hacker" as a criminal. It made for good story telling to make these folks "pirate" or perhaps more accurately "privateer" types in their swashbuckling ways of sticking it to the man. People would say, "Exposing security holes is like solving puzzles (which is fun) and important because if I don't do it, well somebody 'bad' will." And while I'm here, why not make it hurt for them a little bit to incentivize them to fix this problem quickly!" I didn't disagree with the importance of pointing out security problems, but the flamboyant way it was done scared the crap out of people who were both clueless and in a position to do stupid things. As a result we got the CFAA and the DMCA which are both some of the most ridiculous pieces of legislation after the so called "patriot" act. The damage that did to curious people growing up lost the US a significant fraction of their upcoming "innovation" talent. While not diminishing the folks who leaned in to the illegality of it.
  • withinboredom 3y ago
    Pro-tip: CFAA only applies if you cross state lines between you and the server. Otherwise, state laws applies and there are/were some states that never passed any 'anti-hacking' laws. Source: experience.
    • marcus0x62 3y ago
      Pro-er tip: if you are in the US and access a computer over any kind of service provider network (Internet, leased line, etc.) you should operate on the assumption your traffic is crossing state lines and the CFAA applies to your activities. Tools like traceroute cannot show you where your traffic is physically being sent because: there may be no geographic information in the router reverse DNS records, that information might not be accurate if it is present, and layer 3 tools cannot show you the underlying layer 1/2 path (which might be wildly different than the layer 3 hops would suggest.)
• ranl 3y ago
  RIP. Kevin
• chmod600 3y ago
  I didn’t meet him, but to me he was a symbol of the freedom in a newly-created world. Sad that he passed away a few decades too soon.
• wayeq 3y ago
  I'm still upset I fell for Markoff and Shimomura's self serving narrative about Mitnick in the 90's.
  • iJohnDoe 3y ago
    Amen.
• mats852 3y ago
  RIP.
• tern 3y ago
  "FREE KEVIN MITNICK, NOW" https://youtu.be/xkKa-jvh4Ik https://youtu.be/xkKa-jvh4Ik (@1:55) Does anyone know where this samples comes from?
  • ck__ 3y ago
    [dead]
    • tern 3y ago
      Incredible, thank you! Fond memories of early net art coming back.
• kraig911 3y ago
  He left us too soon. Does anyone else see a correlation of pancreatic cancer and our industry? It feels as if there's something about our profession. Steve Jobs, Randy Pausch, Now Mitnick? I've also had two coworkers who died of kidney/pancreatic cancer. Beyond that I remember reading about him in 2600 and my mind being blown. He definitely helped leave the world we live in better than when he found it.
• jijji 3y ago
  pour out some liquor for my homie
• jboy55 3y ago
  My parents vaguely remembered who Kevin Mitnick was when I gave my father my copy of 'Ghost in the Wires' to read. I told him, this was the 'hacker' of the 80s, read how he managed to 'hack' all these places. My father replied, "I'm pretty sure I won't understand anything he would do". Me, "Just give it a chance, you'll be surprised" When he gave the book back, I asked my father if anything Kevin did my father wouldn't have understood. My father said, "I understood everything he did". I asked, "Now, when you get a call from someone you don't know claiming to be an authority figure, what do you do?". Father: "Hang up"
  • dryrun 3y ago
    Would there be a modern version of this? I haven't read it and I'm interested, but mostly my parents are getting old, and with AI on the corner, I fear a bit the next level scams.
    • brailsafe 3y ago
      I don't think it's ever gone away, and stands to get even worse now. Good to have a safe word with your family in-case they ever get an important call from you or the reverse
      • iso1631 3y ago
        This is especially important now with easy and convincing voice generation
    • jboy55 3y ago
      The scams are still the same as how he hacked. He called someone, claimed to be an authority, knew the lingo, asked for help and time was the critical. Someone calls your parents and claims to be an authority figure, that there is a crisis, and they must act now.
    • chris_wot 3y ago
      The modern version is "hang up".
• darig 3y ago
  [dead]
• elchief 3y ago
  The internet is a safer but sadder place Read Ghost in the Wire as a young man and it inspired me to get into computers Rest in Peace, brother
  • par 3y ago
    His recent enterprise, KnowBe4, was doing security training for companies, trying to make the internet safer! So you could say we're less safe with him gone :(
• iJohnDoe 3y ago
  This is triggering real crying and emotional breakdown. Mitnick was a friend I never had. An older brother or cool guy that sparked inspiration. Such a strange feeling to be so sad about a person I never met. Like losing a friend. He had such an influence on my life. Hits close to home. Thanks Kevin. RIP.
• blindriver 3y ago
  Wow, this is seriously upsetting. The fact that so many people are dying of pancreatic cancer is very, very scary to me, and it's so many young people at this point.
  • nicetryguy 3y ago
    It's one of the few that's still difficult to detect, and by the time you show symptoms you are basically stage 4... it's treatable if you catch it early, but therein lies the problem; My grandfather passed away from it.
    • blindriver 3y ago
      I'm sorry to hear that, someone I knew closely died of pancreatic cancer and died 6 weeks after diagnosis which is why it scares me so much. Did your grandfather smoke, or drink a lot of alcohol? Or drink a lot of tea or coffee?
      • nicetryguy 3y ago
        Yeah he smoked a tobacco pipe, as grandpas do, but didn't drink alot was in relatively great physical health for his age before that. He was 70. This was in 2000. He lived about a year after his diagnosis, which occurred when he was jaundice. His health / quality of life was ok after, some weeks were good, some were bad, but yeah it was stage 4 when they caught it, and there is / was only so much you can do, especially 23 years ago. Fun Fact: He worked on the Univac! Spent his career with Unisys afterward.
• asow92 3y ago
  Ghost in the wires was a fantastic read. Rip
• cryptoz 3y ago
  Well I’m crying. Kevin was my hero for so many years growing up and inspired me to do nearly everything I’ve done. I met him at The Last HOPE so many years ago and I feel so privileged for that opportunity. RIP Kevin, we’ll miss you so much.
• anta40 3y ago
  RIP Kevin. Many many years ago, during undergraduate days, I used to study "Art of Deception", wanted to became a security hacker one day. Now my topic of interest has shifted. Nevertheless, that book still reminds me that human is still the weakest link in security chain. You don't have to be super smart in exploiting code.
• godzillabrennus 3y ago
  I met Kevin in Chicago when he was hired to speak at a bank event that a friend got me into. His presentation was world class. He was quite a guy. Rest in peace.
• yousifa 3y ago
  RIP legend. Not sure that I would be where I am today without Kevin being an inspiration and hero to me growing up.
• garfieldnate 3y ago
  Having read and loved Ghost in the Wires, I felt a special bond with Kevin. I loved his antics combined with his fearless exploration of how everything around him works. I'm really sad reading of his death today. He was far too young. My favorite story from the book is how he set up a computer to tail the logs of cell towers in his area for phone numbers matching the FBI agents assigned to his case so he would be alerted when they were on to him. Wow, that's bold! But also, reading that I realized how our society had allowed ourselves to be surrounded by tracking machines that the government could use to find us at any time, and man it was beautiful to see it turned back on them.
• technick 3y ago
  Kevin is partially the reason I decided to work in information security. I remember reading his book, art of deception, and it gave a name to the skill I had practiced most of the childhood, social engineering. Later on in life I got to meet him and spent the first at least 2 hours of time in shock n awe. Afterwards, he was great to talk with and offered me his number if I ever needed another set of ears. Sadly I haven't talked with him since the pandemic, but he will forever be remembered. Hopefully our paths will cross again.
• EMCymatics 3y ago
  RIP. The world lost a true talent today.
• 89vision 3y ago
  What a legend. I remember reading text files about his lore in my early days of exploring the web and being absolutely captivated by it all. Rest easy, Kevin
• yreg 3y ago
  mirror: https://web.archive.org/web/20230719235437/https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/las-vegas-nv/kevin-mitnick-11371668 https://web.archive.org/web/20230719235437/https://www.digni... Rip. I've read Art of Deception in high school and I think it had a lasting influence on me. It reads like a collection of interesting stories. I recomend that book to everyone, especially to people outside of tech.
• egberts1 3y ago
  Not sure if this is folklore but Kevin Mitnick installed a firewall for the White House.
• sgammon 3y ago
  Mitnick was a hero to me. Very sad to hear this.
• throwaway892238 3y ago
  When I was 16 years old, I started a 2600 meeting at a local mall food court. We joined in the 'Free Mitnick' movement, and would go around handing out flyers, explaining the implications of his case, peppering the place with stickers, putting them in copies of 2600 in Barnes & Noble and Borders. His case was an inspiration to a budding little hacker and taught me to become more idealistic and push for legal reforms and the rights of people who were punished far more than they deserved. Later in life I got to meet him at hacker conventions, and he was a super nice guy. I even got one of his lock-pick-set business cards! I know he's somewhat of a controversial figure, but he was also inspirational.
  • 29athrowaway 3y ago
    The authorities obsession with Mitnick was because John Markoff and the New York Times made the public believe that hackers were effectively in control of everything and could go as far as starting WW3 by hacking into NORAD and other similar caliber BS that never happened.
• bluedays 3y ago
  I talked to Mitnick once on the phone. I was on a partyline back in the AIM days and a hacker friend of mine called him up. Kevin seemed very frustrated that he kept calling him. I was just dumbfounded I was actually on the phone with Kevin Mitnick so I didn't say anything. Was shocked and saddened to see this. Sorry about that night, Kevin. Rest in peace.
• sgammon 3y ago
  for those of us who grew up without a father, as technologists, especially in the 90's and early 2000's, kevin mitnick was something of a guiding light. he gave us permission to explore the darker underbelly of technology and was emblematic of a freer (free as in freedom) time on the internet. yes, he was a convicted criminal, but he was also a complex character who loved to solve puzzles and his competitive nature ultimately drove his work. the famous story of the fbi showing up at his house and kevin saying, "no problem, I'll report to the fbi office tomorrow"... yeah, that didn't work, but he was the type to try and that was beautiful.
• riow 3y ago
  Relevant: https://twitter.com/th3j35t3r/status/1681835933052575745 https://twitter.com/th3j35t3r/status/1681835933052575745
• booleandilemma 3y ago
  Rest in peace, Kevin.
• bdn_ 3y ago
  Who knows where I would be today if not for Kevin's influence... Kevin was (and will continue to be!) a role model in many ways. RIP
• thallavajhula 3y ago
  OMG! This is so sad. I read about Kevin a lot and read the book, "The Art of Deception" during my teen years and was fascinated by how interesting social engineering was. Once I got into college, I got busy and never followed him anymore. I recently read about him in some random article and then I read about him now. I opened HN to see the black band on top and was worried to know who it could be and turns out, it was Kevin.
• manca 3y ago
  I will always remember when the "Takedown" movie came out. I loved the original "Hackers" and couldn't wait for "Hackers 2" which was Takedown. I had learned about Mitnick few years prior to the movie and was fascinated by his life story and what he had done up to that point (including his "takedown" by the FBI). It's an understatement to say that his work, character and some sort of positive social manipulation put a great influence on my upbringing and later my professional career. Back then I enjoyed playing pranks with my friends and "hacking" them with all sorts of trojans and ejecting their CD roms :) I am very sad to hear that he's gone. RIP Legend.
• hedgehog 3y ago
  It's funny, though I didn't really know him I did have two chance interactions 15 or so years back that are in a way core lessons for me about business. Back when he started doing consulting I ended up spending some hours on the phone with him over a week or so as an evenings/weekends side project (I had a more than full time job too). He seemed like a nice enough dude, basically a middle aged guy trying to put his life back together, and he was understandably not up to speed on web app security due to his recent stint in prison. I don't think that business ever panned out but he eventually pivoted and built a multi-billion dollar company around the concept he was known for (social engineering). The second is embedded in his somewhat famous lock pick business card. It turns out those cards are a direct copy of a friend's card, conceived by me, designed by a second friend, and inspired by a third friend who'd discovered the shop that did etched steel cards. Kevin's card traded in usability by shortening the tools to make more space for contact information. Regardless, his ability to capture the spotlight helped ensure his version is by far the best known. RIP.
• deepfield67 3y ago
  This is really sad. I can't overstate the impact Kevin had on my life. The world is suddenly less interesting and less secure and my heart goes out to family and friends. Rest in peace, Kevin.
• jeremy_carroll 3y ago
  To be candid; fuck this narrative. Nobody "Beats" cancer based on sheer will. Same scenario as those that did not "Fight hard enough". It's a disease. It does not care about your wants, and needs.
  • seabass-labrax 3y ago
    Parent was not saying that Kevin Mitnick made himself better with sheer will, rather that he was enabled by his personality and wealth to obtain experimental and/or risky treatments that turned out to improve his condition.
    • prmoustache 3y ago
      The thing is even that is speculative. You cannot know that these treatments specifically worked better. These are things we can only assess via statistics on more than a single patient. I.E. x% more patient survive after n years while using this or this treatment. And same treatment could increase odds of dying sooner from other decease out of scope with the research years later.
  • scirpaceus 3y ago
    And conversely, nobody loses to cancer. It's a draw at best, considering that the cancer dies with the host.
    • Typhon 3y ago
      That's not true in the sense that the cancer doesn't have objectives per se, therefore it doesn't have anything to lose in the sense that matters.
    • austinjp 3y ago
      Not necessarily: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks
    • rowanG077 3y ago
      The cancer doesn't really win or lose. Does fire lose when it has consumed all there is?
• wordsarelies 3y ago
  He was childlike in his pranksterism. He never seemed to lose his wonder or his ability to make you feel like a jackass. The man who could whistle the nuclear codes has passed away. And now maybe I can strike the social engineering village before the sun comes up.
• nhggfu 3y ago
  the greatest.
• aestetix 3y ago
  RIP Kevin. What a loss. That guy's court case basically defined the 90s for many of us.
• submeta 3y ago
  Taking a detour from the current thread, this sad news about Kevin Mitnick serves as a poignant reminder of the impermanence of life, but also of the value of vigilance. It's a note to all of us about the importance of our health. Remember, routine health checkups, especially as we age, can have a significant impact on our wellbeing. Cancer, if detected early, does not have to be a death sentence. In fact, many forms of cancer are treatable and even curable if caught in their initial stages. Our advancements in medical science and technology have indeed made it possible. Yet, they can only do so much if we, as individuals, do not take the responsibility of regularly visiting our doctors.
• system2 3y ago
  When I was a child I had a poster of him in my room. It is so sad to see the news here. He will always be remembered.
• ianpenney 3y ago
  The hacker community needs a word akin to “Silent Key” - in the ham radio community - that means a contributor that’s passed on. Never met the guy but you’re damn right I know who he is. And I come from the middle of nowhere.
  • ianpenney 3y ago
    Update: had no idea Kevin was a ham. His licence got yanked. N6NHG SK. https://twitter.com/kevinmitnick/status/551997777031340032 https://twitter.com/kevinmitnick/status/551997777031340032
  • jacquesm 3y ago
    AFK.
• log101 3y ago
  Ghost in the Wires has had a huge influence on me choosing a programming career. So sad, rest in peace.
• victorbjorklund 3y ago
  Oh no. He is a hero that taught so many people.
• dncosta 3y ago
  Just read about this. So many memories from way back, reading up on his story (and stories), reading his books, watching "Takedown" over and over again ... No matter how polarising he was, his influence in the field and in leading many young people to get into computers and turn that into a career is unquestionable, imho. RIP
• eddie_catflap 3y ago
  Ghost in the Wires is a laugh out loud read for me. I told him it should be a movie and he said there was a screenplay. Hope it sees the light of day.
• noufalibrahim 3y ago
  The Cyberthief and the Samurai (along with a few other books like Snow Crash, Hackers, the Cuckoos egg etc.) were books that made a big impact on me earlier in my life. It wasn't as much about facts as much as about building a virtual map of the digital world in my head. This was before I had actual access to a fast internet connection. I had a printout of the MIT guide to lock picking and used to try out stuff with some hand crafted "tools". I'd forgotten about Mitnick and later (probably via. Slashdot) came across his site again and saw this https://www.mitnicksecurity.com/kevin-mitnicks-famous-lockpick-business-card https://www.mitnicksecurity.com/kevin-mitnicks-famous-lockpi... which suddenly brought back the same image I had formed about him. Playful to the extent of not caring, irreverent, and curious. Rest in Peace.
• mocmoc 3y ago
  Hero
• pvaldes 3y ago
  Gone too young. Pancreatic cancer is terrible. Hacking the disease with RNA would be the better homage possible to Mitnick. Lets pray for the vaccine coming soon. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/mrna-vaccine-treat-pancreatic-cancer https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/mrna-va...
• revskill 3y ago
  I'm not sure if i should admire Kevin. I don't see his Github contributions at all.
• hknmtt 3y ago
  Event after decades, I remember that name.
• pjmq 3y ago
  Recently re-discovered him due to a Business Wars podcast episode on him. The dude deserves his own movie. Not a nice way to go but he'll surely be remembered.
• slowhadoken 3y ago
  All my immediate family is very young so I always thought 50 was old. Then I lost a stepfather to cancer when he was in his 50’s. I couldn’t believe it, he was so young.
• biguss 3y ago
  RIP Kev, you were quite a legend!
• q-base 3y ago
  I will by no means say that I followed or knew him. But the name was familiar and I suddenly remembered who he was and that I had his book on my wishlist for christmas. Sorry to hear about the loss. I do like some of his approaches to life. There are some similarities between him and Richard Feynman. Who comes to mind if I would like to follow some still living people that has this rebellious, "joire de vivre" way of life?
• tunnuz 3y ago
  RIP.
• ttrrooppeerr 3y ago
  A mentor and a beacon for many of us. Rest in peace.
• throwaway67743 3y ago
  Is there an obit that isn't on a dumb site that blocks entire countries for no reason?
• gumballindie 3y ago
  Hackers never die, they elevate. RIP.
• tankenmate 3y ago
  My first memory of Mitnick was a very early web viral 8bit sound file (ADPCM if memory serves) that was purported to be Mitnick (it turned out later to not be Mitnick); "I know sendmail technique. ...". I can still hear it in my head today. I got my start into infosec working as an admin at my university; trying to keep on top of students being naughty was a good introduction.
• prmoustache 3y ago
  "He is survived by his brother-in-law, Ricky Barry and his wife Roxy" What a strange way to phrase it. Why don't they mention his sister first? Is it plain sexism or were they in bad terms?
  • alias_neo 3y ago
    I'm assuming you know something I don't (about who Roxy is), but it's entirely possible to have a brother-in-law married to someone that is not your sister. I have a brother-in-law; my wife's brother.
    • prmoustache 3y ago
      I think I simply forgot about that use case and assumed she was her sister ha ha. Makes sense indeed.
• Lolaccount 3y ago
  RIP ... absolutely opened my eyes as a kid ... tonight, I'm going to dig out the old 30 threadbare paperback about hackers where I first learned of him.
• Zobat 3y ago
  Rarely has "Hacker News" been a more appropriate page name. RIP Kevin.
• rajc111 3y ago
  RIP
• frank_bb 3y ago
  [dead]
• theodric 3y ago
  I guess he's never getting put back then. RIP Kevin
• nimmen 3y ago
  Surely legend of the era. Remember some obscure court restrictions for him at the time, not quite sure they were real, or hoax, or urban legends...
• marsven_422 3y ago
  [dead]
• bussiere 3y ago
  Fuck ... He was kind of role model for me, i was inspired by the way he saw the world, in everything he was able to see hole and flaw and how to exploit them. Where "normal" people just don't think about it. His stories and mischiefs will be missed for me.
• tazjin 3y ago
  Archive link for those in countries that this page doesn't allow access from: https://archive.is/13uNy https://archive.is/13uNy
• kruxigt 3y ago
  [dead]
• mitnk 3y ago
  R.i.P - My id was originated from his name..
• seanhandley 3y ago
  I met Kevin at a conference in Manchester where he cloned my HID access card and made an amazing demo of how easily this can get a company's workstations compromised with keyloggers. It was like watching a magician - he was a very skilled, funny, intelligent man with a wealth of knowledge. He gave me his business card (which is also a lock-picking kit) and I will treasure it. Thanks for all you taught us Kevin, and thanks for being a beacon of curiosity and exploration.
• bubblematrix 3y ago
  Rest in Peace Kevin, I read your The Art of Human Hacking in 7th grade after learning about you from The Screen Savers TV show. Too young
• atlanta90210 3y ago
  https://www.mitnicksecurity.com/kevin-mitnicks-famous-lockpick-business-card https://www.mitnicksecurity.com/kevin-mitnicks-famous-lockpi... A link to his famous business card which doubled as a lock pick kit. Rip Kevin.
• chrisrickard 3y ago
  When I wad 13 I printed out “FREE KEVIN” stickers and stuck them all over the locker room of my school. …kind of a weird thing to do in Australia back then.
• henrik_w 3y ago
  I really enjoyed reading his book Ghost in the Wires. It is the story of Mitnick’s hacking career, from the start in his teens, through becoming the FBI’s most wanted hacker, to spending years in jail before finally being released. It’s a fascinating book that at times reads like a thriller. One of the things that struck me when reading it was how often he used social engineering to gain access to systems. I wrote more about it here: https://henrikwarne.com/2015/12/27/social-engineering-from-kevin-mitnick/ https://henrikwarne.com/2015/12/27/social-engineering-from-k...
• user3939382 3y ago
  I have a lot of nostalgia for the old 80s/90s hacking counterculture which doesn't seem to really exist anymore. "FREE KEVIN" :'(
• marinhero 3y ago
  I never met him but his books and anecdotes fueled the mind of a young me. All I wanted was to be a hacker like him. Rest in peace Mr Mitnick. You’ll be missed.
• breakingrules 3y ago
  [dead]
• motbus3 3y ago
  Mitnick was a warrior battling giant corps alone. I believe he did that just because he could only, but it does not take the merit of one guy being able to outweight the whole industry.
• paul7986 3y ago
  He was expecting his first child at 59/60 which is awesome especially those 10 to 15 years younger or so who like to still also, yet he dies before his child was born. Heartbreaking! RIP
• ryanmercer 3y ago
  That's sad. I imagine Crunch will be next.
• effingwewt 3y ago
  Rest in Peace. A hacker far before it was cool. A pioneer in so many ways. A hero as I was growing up. o7
• megraf 3y ago
  I snuck into a banking conference in Miami Florida to meet Kevin. I forged my badge, using the previous years design as inspiration. I got in, and met him, and gave him my badge. He said "that's really cool" and signed a copy of Ghost in the Wires for me. Really incredible guy. Rest in peace my friend.
• whynotkeithberg 3y ago
  I read his book when I was younger... And at DEFCON 19 I got selected to get paired with a celebrity hacker in the 10,000 cent hacker pyramid. I ended up getting paired with Kevin Mitnick & we played against Dan Kaminsky. It was a really cool experience & even though Kaminsky went on to win... It was a ton of fun and Kevin was a really cool guy. I hope his family is doing well.
• pizzalife 3y ago
  You can watch some of Kevin's telnet logs here: http://www.takedown.com/evidence/transcripts/index.html http://www.takedown.com/evidence/transcripts/index.html No disrespect to the dead, but I always thought he kind of lived in a lame timeframe. It used to be a lot easier to do what he did. If you check the terminal logs, he was a script kiddie at best (I know he's more famous for the social engineering). How many CVEs did Mitnick have to his name..? (AFAIK, zero) Anyway, I'm prepared to get some downvotes but do check out the logs. It's pretty entertaining regardless.
• gt565k 3y ago
  May he rest in peace. I first heard of Kevin Mitnick in the early 2000's when I was watching "The Broken" with Kevin Rose and he interviewed Mitnick in one of the episodes. I was 14-15 years old at the time! Wow! Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcWByfwkf4k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcWByfwkf4k
• omgmajk 3y ago
  This hit hard, free Kev!
• wanderingmoose 3y ago
  There was something I always wanted to ask him: He was so meticulous is setting up new identities and moving to random places around the country to avoid the authorities. But would then log back into his previously compromised systems in a way that would expose his current geographic location. It always seemed like such a glaring hole in his otherwise well thought out personal opsec. I'm sure the story was more complicated than what appeared in the press at the time, or in the 2600 knock-off zines that were going around at the time, or in his books. It always confused me. I could never figure out if that was an oversight, or he just wasn't aware he was being watched. I think I share a similar pendulum swinging feelings about km as other folks here, especially as his story unfolded across many different phases of my life: from adulation as a teen, to realizing that he was just another a*hole who would lie to your face to get what they want. Recently it has swung waaay back the other way -- especially as more of our access to customer service for critical aspects of our lives get buried behind obstructionist systems -- to understanding that we always need people who can tear any system apart. As an addendum...I think the term hacker should be handed to the sys admin that started was instrumental in getting km located by (If my foggy mind remembers correcly) by emailing logs or log stats to himself and noticing that size was shrinking so someone was deleting them -- that blew my mind at the time. He will be missed.
  • arbitrage 3y ago
    I believe that at first it was a game for him. Eventually he got tired of running, and this may have been a way of taunting his pursuers and forcing an end-game situation that he overestimated his chances against. He was not prepared for four years of solitary and unconstitutional delaying of his trial. He did not ultimately have a game plan for what to do if his opponent cheated. If the government had acted justly (that is, according to their own laws) he would have been found innocent and walked at his trial. However, the prosecutors lied, they cheated, corrupted the system they claimed to protect, and that was it. Game over, no redos.
• zirgs 3y ago
  From Wikipedia: "Mitnick also intercepted and stole computer passwords, altered computer networks, and broke into and read private emails." - what a nice guy he was.
  • 0xbadcafebee 3y ago
    Would you want someone to pop up after you're dead to remind people of your misdeeds?
    • zirgs 3y ago
      His misdeeds are the only reason why people are talking about him now.
• r00f 3y ago
  I got into IT because of him mainly. When I was 12, where I was growing up I was the only one who knew what a computer is. I remember reading his story somewhere, then I got to my mom's computer at her office and read all I could find about his story. I wrote "Free Kevin Mitnick!" with a black marker on my tshirt and was walking around my town proudly wearing it. Nobody understood anything about it but it made me feel like involved into some secret society. Next year I convinced parents to pay for me learning QBasic (the only computer course in my town back then), and 3 years later I got into university on an Information Security specialization. Some of my friends say that I was the reason why they got into IT. Well, I guess we all owe that to Kevin. I talked to him in person once at a conference and was happy like a little puppy, but being socially awkward as I am I didn't tell him that he is my childhood hero. I hope now when he has trandcended to the cloud, he has a bird's eye view on our realm and can see all the positive impact that he had had on my life and lives of people I've influenced... The very brightest memories
  • joshmanders 3y ago
    The movie Hackers and Kevin's story were two pinnacles of me getting into computers in 1997.
• neonate 3y ago
  http://web.archive.org/web/20230720113741/https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/las-vegas-nv/kevin-mitnick-11371668 http://web.archive.org/web/20230720113741/https://www.dignit... https://archive.ph/13uNy https://archive.ph/13uNy
• pelasaco 3y ago
  super influential in my life in the end of 90s. If you work in the security branch, and had to stay alert on Christmas, because hackers love to hacker while Christmas, he was the main responsible by this Tradition. Fuck how thrilled I was when I watched first time some video of his telnet hacking sessions, back in the days... Resist in Peace (RIP)
• glonq 3y ago
  Fuck cancer. I picked it up a couple months ago at the ripe age of 50, and spend my days getting nuked with chemo and rads now.
• metalloid 3y ago
  A true legend.
• dariushro 3y ago
  Was he vaxxed?
• blondie9x 3y ago
  Feel bad for the unborn child that will have to be raised without a father because his parents decided selfishly to conceive him or her due to illness. Raising a child is more than genetics.
• PettingRabbits 3y ago
  Pancreatic cancer really sucks. A friend of mine passed away from it a few months ago at the ripe old age of 25. She was first diagnosed with it at 20, beat it, and then nearly three years later it came back at stage 4. Like Kevin she also underwent a few different experimental treatments, the first of which worked remarkably well. (Until it didn't, which is typical of these treatments) A cure or effective treatment feels so close, and I'm sure if one comes soon I'll be having a bittersweet celebration. I never did get to meet Kevin, but it's clear that I missed out on an amazing person. RIP Mr Mitnick.
• bennylava 3y ago
  Wow, so much idolatry on here for a criminal.
  • skeaker 3y ago
    He hasn't been a criminal for a very long time. He more than payed his dues as well when he was unconstitutionally held in solitary confinement without bail. Reducing a man who has done so much to something so trivial as this reflects poorly on you alone.
• daniel-cussen 3y ago
  Passive voice, better title is Kevin Mitnick died, or passed away, sugar coat it like he never did if you want, we all know what it means. I suddenly feel bad for him, though. He deserved the black ribbon.
• swayvil 3y ago
  Ahhh fuckaduck. He's a superhero.
• mike503 3y ago
  Just realized I mailed away my lock pick money a few weeks ago. Still haven't got anything yet.