Kevin Mitnick, the most wanted cybercriminal of the 1990s, dies

2023-07-21 12:04:09

Kevin Mitnickfounder of the cybersecurity company KnowBe4 and considered one of the most famous cybercriminals of the 1990s, died last Sunday at the age of 59 in the US town of Pittsbusgh, as reported by ‘The New York Times’. The death has been confirmed by the spokesperson for the company created by the deceased himself, who has indicated that the death occurred due to pancreatic cancer that he suffered.

“Kevin will always remain the ‘world’s most famous hacker’ and was recognized for his intelligence, sense of humor and extraordinary prowess with technology, second only to his talents as the original ‘social engineer.’ Most importantly, Kevin was a loving and loyal husband to his wife Kimberley, who diligently stood by him through his battle with cancer. Kimberley awaits the arrival of the couple’s first child at the end of this year,” the company said in a statement.

Considered one of the most notorious cybercriminals of the 1990s, Mitnick became famous after stealing thousands of data files and credit card numbers from users in the United States. Specifically, he managed to get hold of 20,000 bank card numbers; some belonging to big Silicon Valley executives.

By stealing this information, he caused millions of dollars in damage to corporate IT operations. In addition, he managed to steal software used to maintain the privacy of wireless calls and manage billing information.

To access different government, corporate and university computer systems, he used social engineering techniques, that is, he deceived users into leaving their data uncovered without realizing it. A technique that, today, is still widely used by cybercriminals. Both when attacking Internet users and large companies or public institutions.

Thanks to his activity, Mitnick became known as the “world’s most wanted” cybercriminal, as ‘The New York Times’ recalled. Precisely, this newspaper suffered the consequences of the arrest of Mitnick, which took place in 1998, for these actions, because a group of criminals attacked the newspaper’s website for several hours as a show of support.

He pleaded guilty to computer fraud and was sentenced to 46 months in prison, however, in his memoirs he disputed many of the accusations made against him. Europa Press reports that, in a meeting that took place more than a decade ago in the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, the convicted man acknowledged that what he did “was immoral, wrong and negatively affected many companies.”

After serving five years in prison for different computer crimes, the cybercriminal reformed and became a computer security consultant, founding his own company dedicated to this area, Mitnick Security Consulting.