Kevin Mitnick, Famed U.S. Hacker and Subject of 'Takedown' Film, Dead at 59
The hacker turned cybersecurity consultant died Sunday after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Kevin Mitnick, famed U.S. hacker and the subject of the film Takedown has died. He was 59.
Mitnick died July 16 in Las Vegas after a 14-month battle with pancreatic cancer, a spokeswoman for KnowBe4, a security training company where Mr. Mitnick worked confirmed.
"The Mitnick Family and KnowBe4 announce the passing of Kevin Mitnick, 59, following a 14-month valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. Kevin will always remain 'the world’s most famous hacker,' KnowBe4 said in a statement on Twitter Thursday.
Mitnick gained notoriety in the '90s, breaking into the computer systems of companies such as Motorola, Nokia and Sun Microsystems, causing what prosecutors alleged was millions of dollars in damage.
Mitnick reached the height of his fame as a hacker in 1995 when the FBI arrested him in the middle of the night at a North Carolina apartment. The highly publicized raid came after a 24-hour stakeout outside his home and brought an end to his more than two years as a fugitive.
In 1999, Mitnick pleaded guilty to several counts of wire fraud and other cybercrimes. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but served a brief sentence and was released in 2000, after being credited for time served in detention.
Mitnick was barred for three years from using computers, modems, cell phones and from public speaking. Those requirements were eased over time, but he was not allowed back on the internet until December 2002.
The lengthy manhunt and his eventual capture turned him into the nation’s most famous cybercriminal, with Riverdale's Skeet Ulrich portraying him in the film about his capture, Takedown.
Mitnick's interest in hacking started when he was just a teen, with his first arrest for computer crimes coming at the age of 17, after he walked into a Pacific Bell office, taking a handful of computer manuals and codes to digital door locks. He served a year in a rehabilitation center for the crime, and was deemed by a federal judge as "addicted to computer tampering." He even broke into a North American Air Defense Command computer as a teenager.
Mitnick later pivoted from life as a hacker to a lucrative career as a cybersecurity consultant. In addition to his work at KnowBe4, he ran a separate penetration-testing business with his wife, the former Kimberley, who is expecting the couple's first child later this year.
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