Mitnick, Kevin (1963– )

US computer criminal known as ‘the world's most wanted hacker’ (see hacking) during the three years he spent on the run before being caught in 1994. Mitnick was a compulsive hacker who specialized in penetrating communications systems including MCI, Pacific Bell, the Manhattan telephone system, and a Pentagon defence computer.

Mitnick was sentenced to jail in 1988 for stealing program code, but was released in 1990. Within two years he had resumed his activities and was wanted once again by the FBI. He kept in touch with fellow hacks on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and via bulletin boards. In an act of bravura, Mitnick broke into the computer of Tsutomu Shimomura, one of the world's leading computer-security experts. Shimomura spent eight weeks on his trail before finally tracking him down in North Carolina. In January 2000, Mitnick was again released from prison, after serving five years, over four of them without bail. His parole conditions forbade him to use a computer until 2003. Mitnick claims that the harm he caused was grossly exaggerated and he now runs a computer security consultancy business.