Ex-hacker Kevin Mitnick is a hero to the small town of River Rouge, Michigan, after using his tech skills to help officials nab the culprit behind a harrowing series of bomb threats.
The trouble began a few months ago, when staff members at River Rouge High School began receiving threatening phone calls at home from an anonymous caller, police Detective Lt. John Keck says. Then, on April 2nd , a caller phoned in a bomb threat to the high school during school hours - students were evacuated and the town's three patrol cars diverted to the school to conduct a thorough search. No bomb was found. Another call came in on April 5th, with similar results.
It wasn't the crime of the century, but taking place barely two weeks ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Columbine massacre, the hoaxes unnerved some residents of the Detroit suburb, which boasts a population in the high four digits. "I don't put anything past these kids now days, I really don't," says Keck.
But when the detective served a search warrant on SBC Ameritech for the source of the calls, the phone company came up dry.
Mitnick says he was happy to help. "It's a big deal over there in that little community, because apparently he was really wreaking havoc," says Mitnick, a security consultant and author of the book the Art of Deception...
...Mitnick's role in helping solve the mystery made the local paper, and "everybody in town now knows who Kevin Mitnick is, and they realize that he helped out tremendously," says Keck.
But Mitnick says part of the credit belongs to the man who ended his hacking spree in 1995. "Basically, I gave them the same techniques that [Tsutomu] Shimomura used to track me," he says.
And does the ex-hacker have any mixed feelings about helping bust River Rouge's trouble-making teen? "He wasn't really hacking," says Mitnick. "He was really just being a jerk."
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News source: The Register
The trouble began a few months ago, when staff members at River Rouge High School began receiving threatening phone calls at home from an anonymous caller, police Detective Lt. John Keck says. Then, on April 2nd , a caller phoned in a bomb threat to the high school during school hours - students were evacuated and the town's three patrol cars diverted to the school to conduct a thorough search. No bomb was found. Another call came in on April 5th, with similar results.
It wasn't the crime of the century, but taking place barely two weeks ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Columbine massacre, the hoaxes unnerved some residents of the Detroit suburb, which boasts a population in the high four digits. "I don't put anything past these kids now days, I really don't," says Keck.
But when the detective served a search warrant on SBC Ameritech for the source of the calls, the phone company came up dry.
Mitnick says he was happy to help. "It's a big deal over there in that little community, because apparently he was really wreaking havoc," says Mitnick, a security consultant and author of the book the Art of Deception...
...Mitnick's role in helping solve the mystery made the local paper, and "everybody in town now knows who Kevin Mitnick is, and they realize that he helped out tremendously," says Keck.
But Mitnick says part of the credit belongs to the man who ended his hacking spree in 1995. "Basically, I gave them the same techniques that [Tsutomu] Shimomura used to track me," he says.
And does the ex-hacker have any mixed feelings about helping bust River Rouge's trouble-making teen? "He wasn't really hacking," says Mitnick. "He was really just being a jerk."
View: Complete Article News source: The Register
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good stuff for him. though missing school wouldt have been all that bad. btw 5 years anniversary get over it. it was terrible but US needs to move on with stuff. It isnt healthy to constantly have a memorial for everythign bad that happened.
you wont beleive this!
someone today bring me a dvd to watch..
the movie Hackers 2 - Operation Takedown
lol
it was about kevin
and it was telling us that was a true story
before 15 the dvd finish and i search about "free kevin" at google
lol
of cource the #1 was http://www.kevinmitnick.com/ and after i come here to read this
lol
Its called "Takedown", The hackers title is that of the bootleg version of the movie... it has nothing to do with the movie Hackers, and not even by the same ppl or company that made Hackers...
On that note, Takedown was awsome, i wanna get the DVD of it.
(crap, didn't mean for this to be a reply)
congrats on catching the lamer Kevin,
but I would like to add , Takedown made Kevin look like some monster hacker.
ive seen it and I was shocked to see the way Kevin was portrayed by the actor that played him.
Takedown wasn't that good!
Last edited by 7725 on 04 May 2004 - 00:40
Kevin is just good at social engineering, and that's a skill that FBI or whatever should practice more..
Excuse me!??!??!
He stole commercial intellectual property (cellphone operating software) and attempted to sell it for his own gain!!! He has changed now and is an excellent example of how a criminal can reintegrate into society and prove to be as honest and valuable as any other.
But he was a criminal and deserved to go to jail!
just because the US goverment and the FBI wanted to make an example of him.
kevin may be free from prision now, but will kevin ever be "free" ??
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