Kevin Mitnick, the most famous hacker of all time, has died at the age of 59

Kevin Mitnick, perhaps the most famous hacker of all time and one of the most wanted, has died at the age of 59, from pancreatic cancer.

Mitnick was undergoing treatment for cancer at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he died of complications. Kevin Mitnick was a star in hacker circles in the 90s. His activity involved stealing thousands of euros from credit cards and stealing files from computers across the US.

His targets were government, corporate and university computer systems, while he was the then master of Social Engineering. In this way, he extracted information from company employees, in order to use it when hacking the servers of the company itself, while he was the one who made this type of hacking popular all over the world.

In 1995 the US government launched a manhunt of more than two years, with Mitnick arrested in 1998 by the F.B.I on charges of illegal use of telephone devices and computer fraud. Mitnick at the time of his arrest had access to the systems of dozens of companies, having stolen trade secrets worth millions. After the arrest and while Kevin awaited his trial, groups of supporters attacked the New York Times website, forcing the newspaper to shut down the page.

Eventually the trial took place and Mitnick pleaded guilty to computer and telecommunications fraud. His sentence was 46 months in prison, during which time he was banned from using any electronic device.

After his release he could not use a computer for three years without permission from the authorities.

Mitnick had started trying to hack the system since he was 12 years old, not necessarily through a computer. In particular, he had found a way to use MMMs without paying, remaining “legitimate” in the eyes of the auditors.

This curiosity of his and his passion for research, brought him at the age of 17 to already have access to computer systems of various companies. Since then, the war began with the authorities and the first chases.

His life has been made into a movie, called Takedown, which we recommend you watch. After his release from prison in 2000, he turned his career around as a security consultant, authoring security books and speaking at computer security events.

The truth is that in the 90s there had been one of the biggest figures in the IT industry and back then those of us who were actively involved in IT wanted to be Kevin Mitnick.

In our teenage arrogance, we were trying to find information about the security of computer systems, at a time when the internet was very different from what it is today.