Kevin Mitnick Home Page, on
the WWW. Mitnick spent 3.5 years in prison, without a trial, and without a bail
hearing. He's out now.Return to my Book Review pages
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Book Review, © Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
This book is the story of the pursuit and arrest of super-hacker, Kevin Mitnick. Kevin is a criminal, and he is in jail. Has he done terrible things, or are people just afraid of what he might do? He has committed plenty of crimes. But, they actually seem fairly minor. But, he has sometimes been destructive, and threatening. People are afraid of him.
When the story starts, Mitnick was a fugitive. And he spent all of his waking hours breaking into computers. He wasn't trying to make money. He was searching for information. He searched for accounts and passwords and new ways to break into computers. The lack of a profit motive makes him more frightening to some people. I don't see the logic, there.
Mitnick reportedly stole security programs and email from security expert, Tsutomu Shimomura. And Shimomura vowed to catch Mitnick. It seems strange that security programs were accessible on the Internet.
At first, the FBI was not interested. And Shimomura tracked Mitnick to Raleigh, North Carolina. Then, while Shimomura drove around listening to, and tracking Mitnick, the FBI got a warrant, eventually.
This is a fascinating book.
Shimomura also wrote a book about this same story, in which he himself
appears as a great hero. Read this book, too. The difference in perspective is
interesting. Also, see the
Kevin Mitnick Home Page, on
the WWW. Mitnick spent 3.5 years in prison, without a trial, and without a bail
hearing. He's out now.
To order this book, click Amazon.com (goes directly to this book).