A biography for Kevin Mitnickhasn’t been written yet.
“I saw myself as an electronic joy rider.”
“Most people assume that once security software is installed, they're protected. This isn't the case. It's critical that companies be proactive in thinking about security on a long-term basis.”
“Businesses should absolutely set aside funding in their budgets for security consultants. Unless there is an expert on staff, and there usually is not, it needs to be outsourced.”
“I can go into LinkedIn and search for network engineers and come up with a list of great spear-phishing targets because they usually have administrator rights over the network. Then I go onto Twitter or Facebook and trick them into doing something, and I have privileged access.”
“A hacker doesn't deliberately destroy data or profit from his activities.”
“The hacking trend has definitely turned criminal because of e-commerce.”
“To some people I'll always be the bad guy.”
“My primary goal of hacking was the intellectual curiosity, the seduction of adventure.”
“If you go to a coffee shop or at the airport, and you're using open wireless, I would use a VPN service that you could subscribe for 10 bucks a month. Everything is encrypted in an encryption tunnel, so a hacker cannot tamper with your connection.”
“My actions constituted pure hacking that resulted in relatively trivial expenses for the companies involved, despite the government's false claims.”
“I saw myself as an electronic joy rider. I was like James Bond behind the computer. I was just having a blast.”
“I think malware is a significant threat because the mitigation, like antivirus software, hasn't evolved to a point to really mitigate the risk to a reasonable degree.”
“It's actually a smarter crime because imagine if you rob a bank, or you're dealing drugs. If you get caught you're going to spend a lot of time in custody. But with hacking, it's much easier to commit the crime and the risk of punishment is slim to none.”
“Usually companies hire me, and they know full well who I am, and that's one of the reasons they want to hire me.”
“I have done a lot to rehabilitate my reputation.”
“I was fascinated with the phone system and how it worked; I became a hacker to get better control over the phone company.”
“No way, no how did I break into NORAD. That's a complete myth. And I never attempted to access anything considered to be classified government systems.”
“You can never protect yourself 100%. What you do is protect yourself as much as possible and mitigate risk to an acceptable degree. You can never remove all risk.”
“It was used for decades to describe talented computer enthusiasts, people whose skill at using computers to solve technical problems and puzzles was - and is - respected and admired by others possessing similar technical skills.”
“Then again, my case was all about the misappropriation of source code because I wanted to become the best hacker in the world and I enjoyed beating the security mechanisms.”