Kevin Mitnick was dubbed the “most famous hacker in the world” and became the most wanted cybercriminal in the US. Now, after 14 months of trying to fight pancreatic cancer with treatments at the University of Pittsburgh, he actually ended up dying at the age of 59, on July 16.
The hacker had his activity peak in the 1980s and 1990s, when he started several cybercrimes and was hunted, in 1995, by the FBI, having been sentenced to some time in prison. Shortly thereafter he was released and reinvented himself as a 'white hat' speaker, author and cybersecurity professional.
In the obituary, it is written that “Kevin Mitnick lived dozens of lives in a single, prematurely short one (…) It was an original; much of his life reads like a fictional story”. The company he partially owned, KnowBe4, recalls that “Kevin was renowned for his intelligence, humor and extraordinary computer skills, second only to his talent as the original 'social engineer'”.
The crimes of which he was accused, and I plead guilty, involved intrusions into the corporate networks of various organizations, with a view to stealing personal data and credit card information. After his arrest in 1999, the hacking community created the “FREE KEVIN” movement, with a view to his release. After leaving in 2003, Mitnick worked for several Fortune 500 companies and government agencies as an adviser and wrote several works.
