Dark Side Hacker Seen As Electronic Terrorist                   January 8, 1989
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By John Johnson Los Angeles Times

                   "Computer an 'Umbilical Cord to His Soul"

When a friend turned him in and Mitnick asked why, the friend replied, "Because
you're a menace to society."  Mitnick is described as 25, an overweight,
bespectacled computer junkie known as a "dark side" hacker for his willingness
to use the computer as a weapon.  His high school computer hobby turned into a
lasting obsession.

He allegedly used computers at schools and businesses to break into Defense
Department computer systems, sabotage business computers, and electronically
harass anyone -- including a probation officer and FBI agents -- who got in his
way.

He also learned how to disrupt telephone company operations and disconnected
the phones of Hollywood celebrities such as Kristy McNichol, authorities said.

So determined was Mitnick, according to friends, that when he suspected his
home phone was being monitored, he carried his hand-held keyboard to a pay
phone in front of a 7-Eleven store, where he hooked it up and continued to
break into computers around the country.  "He's an electronic terrorist, said
[the friend who turned him in], "He can ruin someone's life just using his
fingers."

Over the last month, three federal court judges have refused at separate
hearings to set bail for Mitnick, contending there would be no way to protect
society from him if he were freed.  Mitnick's lack of conscience, authorities
say, makes him even more dangerous than hackers such as Robert Morris Jr., who
is suspected of infecting computer systems around the country with a "virus"
that interfered with their operations.

Mitnick's family and attorney accuse federal prosecutors of blowing the case
out of proportion, either out of fear or misunderstanding of the technology.

The story details his "phone phreak" background, and his use of high school
computers to gain access to school district files on remote computers, where he
didn't alter grades, but "caused enough trouble" for administrators and
teachers to watch him closely.  He used the name "Condor," after a Robert
Redford movie character who outwits the government.  The final digits of his
unlisted home phone were 007, reportedly billed to the name "James Bond."

[He and a friend] broke into a North American Air Defense Command computer in
Colorado Springs in 1979.  [The friend] said they did not interfere with any
defense operation.  "We just got in, looked around, and got out."

What made Mitnick "the best" said a fellow hacker and friend, was his ability
to talk people into giving him privileged information.  He would call an
official with a company he wanted to penetrate and say he was in the
maintenance department and needed a computer password.  He was so convincing,
they gave him the necessary names or numbers.

He believed he was too clever to be caught.  He had penetrated the DEC network
in Massachusetts so effectively that he could read the personal electronic mail
of security people working on the case of the mysterious hacker and discover
just how close they were getting to him.  But caught he was, again and again.

Mitnick's motive for a decade of hacking?  Not money, apparently... Friends
said he did it all simply for the challenge.  [His one-time probation officer
says,] "He has a very vindictive streak.  A whole bunch of people were
harassed.  They call me all the time."  His mastery of the computer was his
"source of self-esteem," said a friend.