Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997 20:35:52 -0600 From: evian@escape.com (Evian S. Sim) Subject: Mitnick - LA Daily News, 05/13/97 Newsgroups: alt.2600,alt.fan.kevin-mitnick Message-ID: <865300875.25828@dejanews.com> Organization: None HACKER COMPLIED, LAWYER SAYS; COURT DELVES MITNICK PROBATION Daily News of Los Angeles (LA) - Tuesday, May 13, 1997 By: Janet Gilmore Daily News Staff Writer Edition: Valley Section: News Page: N7 Word Count: 366 TEXT: Even while the FBI was searching for the nation's most wanted computer hacker, Kevin Mitnick tried to call his probation officer. Or so his attorney says. The issue came up in U.S. District Court on Monday when Mitnick's attorneys told a judge that he tried to reach his officer and therefore cannot be accused of walking away from supervised probation. The San Fernando Valley man's attorney, Donald Randolph, said he wants to show that Mitnick allowed himself to be supervised, even after an arrest warrant was issued in 1992. Randolph said he expects to produce telephone records that detail Mitnick's attempts to call his probation officer - and he might call his client to the stand if necessary. Further, Randolph said the alleged violation and another involving the use of false identification would have occurred after December 1992, when the term of his probation was to expire. As a result, federal authorities had no standing to charge him with those violations. Not so, says Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Painter. He contends that Mitnick's probation should have ended in December 1992, but it didn't because he violated its terms. "If you don't allow yourself to be supervised you're not on supervision," Painter said. By the end of Monday's hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Mariana Pfaelzer agreed to set a June 9 hearing, so Randolph and prosecutors can settle whether Mitnick deliberately avoided meetings with his probation officer. Federal officials allege that Mitnick violated the terms of probation set after his 1989 computer hacking conviction. They contend that in the final months of 1992, Mitnick violated his probation by snooping into Pacific Bell computers, hanging out with a hacker, possessing fake identification cards and failing to file monthly reports with his probation officer. Mitnick's probation troubles make up one of three separate cases still pending against him. He also is accused of having broken into computers at the University of Southern California, Motorola and elsewhere during his 2-1/2-year run from authorities. For the probation violations alone, Mitnick could land in prison for two years. His most serious case, still awaiting trial, could send Mitnick to prison for more than 10 years if he is convicted as charged. Copyright (c) 1997, Daily News of Los Angeles -------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====----------------------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet ********************************************************* From: rich@cause-for-alarm.com (Rich Burroughs) Newsgroups: alt.2600,alt.internet.media-coverage Subject: Kevin Mitnick update Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 07:09:13 GMT from http://cause-for-alarm.com/flash/mitnick.html [updated Saturday, 29-Mar-97 00:55:54 PST] 2600 magazine and Jonathan Littman have both reported that a Wired News story from late December about Kevin Mitnick was inaccurate. According to 2600 and Littman, Mitnick was placed in solitary confinement on December 27 for being a "security concern," not for hoarding cans of tuna fish, as reported by Wired. Littman, author of The Fugitive Game, quotes Mitnick from another of their many phone conversations: "They believed I had the knowledge or the know how to modify a normal Walkman radio to be a transmitter." A transmitter which authorities claimed they feared might be used to bug prison officials. Mitnick confirms that version of events in a letter dated March 24, written from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles where he is being held without bail. "The excuse the associate warden gave is ridiculous," he writes. "The scenario...was converting a Walkman into an FM transmitter and surreptitiously placing it in one of the administrative offices. Sounds interesting. I would still like to know how I would gain access to their offices since I [am] locked in a cell block 24 hours a day." Some of the materials seized in the raid of Mitnick's cell were related to his defense, and they are no longer confidential nor available to him. "I believe MDC officials threw me in the 'hole' so they would have unfettered access to my attorney-client-privileged material," he continues. "All my magazines on amateur radio, electronics, computers and the Internet were confiscated and have yet to be returned. My attorney has made several requests to the Warden to return my property to no avail. All my back issues of 2600 and Phrack were also taken. I was in the process of highlighting certain information relevant to my case for my attorney. All my work went to waste." This incident was just more hardship to heap on Mitnick, who already faces a steep, uphill battle in his case. Yet Mitnick, who has been misrepresented and demonized in the media, somehow seems to remain optimistic. In his letter Mitnick mentions a decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals last month, which, he writes, "decided...a very important issue: whether unauthorized browsing or obtaining confidential information to satisfy one's own curiosity is a Federal crime. The First Circuit said, 'NO!'. If the Ninth Circuit adopts the First Circuit's analysis, my case should be dismissed with prejudice." "I am pleased with the decision," he adds. "The justices had the courage to do the right thing and use common sense. Now the Government has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the individual intended or made some gainful use of the information. It appears that a hacker cannot be convicted of wire fraud or computer fraud {18 USC 1030(a)(4)} unless the Government proves a purpose other than thrill seeking or curiosity." As for the Wired story, Mitnick writes, "It's nothing new. Most stories written about me aren't accurate, so what's one more? MDC officials made the decision to throw me in the hole before they found the 74 cans of tuna. It's pretty funny -- 74 cans of tuna. But if you sampled the food they give you at MDC, you would do the same thing." ----- Rich Burroughs, rich@cause-for-alarm.com Editor and Publisher, cause for alarm A web zine about electronic freedoms http://cause-for-alarm.com/ ****************************************************************************** From: CrACKeD Newsgroups: alt.2600 Subject: Mitnick Update Date: 12 Feb 1997 09:58:02 -0700 Organization: Primenet Services for the Internet Lines: 21 Message-ID: <5dssqq$sjs@nnrp1.news.primenet.com> X-Posted-By: cracked@206.165.5.106 (cracked) X-No-Archive: Yes MITNICK SENTENCING AGAIN DELAYED The sentencing of computer hacker Kevin David Mitnick, N6NHG, on parole violation and cellular telephone fraud convictions will be reset after a February 24th hearing on motions filed by his new lawyer. The defense and the prosecution agreed to postpone the sentencing date while the defense files some new motions. Mitnick's sentencing has been delayed twice since he changed attorneys last September. These charges are separate from a new twenty five count indictment returned last September. It alleges that Mitnick stole proprietary software from manufacturers, damaged University of Southern California computers and stole computer passwords. That complaint also alleges Mitnick and an accomplice used cloned cellular phone codes to make their calls and computer connections untraceable. Mitnick has pleaded not guilty to those charges. ----- Source: Amateur Radio Newsline #1017 - CrACKeD ****************************************************************************** Date: February 11, 1997 The latest informtion I have is that Kevin Mitnick's sentencing for one count each of probation violation and cellular fraud, which was scheduled for January 21, 1997, has been delayed. I do not know if a new sentencing date has been set. Ethercat ****************************************************************************** Date: 8 Feb 1997 08:45:15 GMT From: Davew@cris.com (Dave Harrison) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Kevin Mitnick Update Here's an article I came across in one of our online magazines ... I thought it may be of interest to Digest readers. Note that in a week, Kevin will have been in custody for *two* years and hasn't had a trial date set. The Feds also plan on dragging this out by prosecuting Kevin in multiple jurisdictions because he wouldn't sign a plea bargain. As a sidenote, a few weeks ago, Mitnick was throw in solitary for a weekend and his Walkman was confiscated -- the Feds actually thought he was going to modify it in to a walkie talkie. They also believe he can whistle commands over the phone to remote modems. ---------------------------------------------- Hacked, Cracked and Phreaked All these idiots," Kevin Mitnick told me when I was researching a book about his notorious network infiltrations. "They put their workstations on the Internet and then they run their [encryption] software on their Unix box, and I just backdoor it [for] their pass phrase." With all their bravado, hackers can make you skeptical about the latest advances in computer security. Sure, encryption, firewalls, intrusion detection programs and digital IDs are all helpful tools, but I'm not one of those expecting a miracle cure. As another former cracker recently told me, "Using encryption doesn't make people smart." Two guys named Kevin with eight years of jail between them -- and counting -- have taught me how the other side thinks. I started getting late-night calls on a pay phone from Kevin Mitnick more than two years ago, when he was on the run from the FBI and a little-known security whiz named Tsutomu Shimomura. Kevin Poulsen may be less notorious, but he's no less intriguing. Charged with everything from espionage to hacking radio giveaways -- he won two Porsches -- Poulsen recently finished a five-year stint in federal jail. Last fall, Mitnick's crimes were hinted at in a federal indictment. Since then I've tracked down some of his purported corporate victims and uncovered a clearer picture. The hacker's real targets were industry giants such as Motorola and NEC. Was their computer security bad? Not really. Did Mitnick teach these multinational corporations some very important lessons? Yes. The major alleged offenses against Mitnick are the misappropriation of the proprietary software of a Who's Who of the high-tech world -- Motorola, Nokia, Fujitsu, Novell and NEC. Eighty million bucks is what these companies lost, the government privately says. Some of the companies say the government is exaggerating, arguing that Mitnick seemed to be in it largely for the thrill. But the danger is clear. A hacker with his skills, hired by competitors or foreign governments, could have easily used his intrusions to steal millions of dollars' worth of secrets. How did Mitnick do it? A source at Motorola alleges Mitnick installed what now seems a dated technique -- a packet sniffer to suck up passwords. He did a little "social engineering," allegedly phoning the company and impersonating executives to trick Motorola out of the information he needed to complete his theft. "He did move a block of code," confirms a Motorola official. "He stole source code." Now, the company has new policies for information given out over the phone. Fortunately for Motorola, the company found "no pattern of abuse or fraud." Mitnick, in other words, didn't damage their computers, and as far as they could discern, had no plan to sell their code. In Motorola's defense, sniffers were still new at the time, and Mitnick was a gifted social engineer. The subsequent victims had fewer excuses. Months later, another major cellular phone maker was hit. "By then everybody knew about packet sniffers," says one of the victims. Everybody, it seemed, except for the victimized corporation. Again, they were lucky. Although Mitnick swiped the source code that operates their cellular phone and other wireless products, he didn't seem interested in money or wreaking havoc. Technically, there was no excuse for the success of Mitnick's attacks, because products to combat them were already widely available. But there's frequently a time gap between the latest hacking methods and how quickly companies respond with fixes. Countless Internet mailing lists and World Wide Web sites are posted weekly, highlighting new operating system bugs that could provide access. Staying secure is a fast-moving target. Hackers study and share the vulnerabilities more thoroughly than most security professionals. If you don't patch it in days, you may be the next victim. It's tempting to think that prepacked encryption and other technical innovations will eliminate these risks. But then I remember Mitnick telling me how frequently companies make mistakes in deploying such tools, things as simple as forgetting to delete decrypted messages. And there's another, more subtle problem. Often, the more technology corporations buy, the more they develop an aura of invincibility, an aura the Kevin Mitnicks of the world love to pierce. Pressure to join the Internet and the Web creates another dilemma. The Web may be the future, but its general absence of security is spinning us back into a hacker's Wild West. In the last few months, Web sites for the Air Force, the Department of Justice and the CIA have been hacked and plastered with graffiti. Topless pics of "Friends" TV stars aren't the images the Justice Department wants to portray to the public. Imagine the worst that might show up on your company's window to the public. It's tempting to think technology and the government's tough line on hacking will rid our networks of crime. But consider what the CIA recently told Congress: Hacker terrorists, warned the CIA's director, could execute a strike against our telecommunication and information infrastructure with the destructive force of a nuclear attack. Remember Kevin Poulsen? He wrote a program that ran on Pacific Bell's computers and tipped him off to nearly every FBI wiretap in the state of California. He found mob taps, DEA taps and national security taps. And he could wiretap whomever he wished. Just a kid with no high school diploma, without a political agenda. Imagine what the really scary criminals are doing. Jonathan Littman is a free-lance writer in Mill Valley, Calif., who writes and speaks about computer security. He is the author of "The Fugitive Game" and the upcoming "The Watchman: The Twisted Life and Crimes of Serial Hacker Kevin Poulsen." ****************************************************************************** December 31, 1996 From: CrACKeD Newsgroups: alt.2600 Subject: Mitnick Update Date: 31 Dec 1996 15:01:00 -0700 Organization: Primenet Services for the Internet ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 18:14:57 -0800 From: Rich Burroughs Subject: File 4--Kevin Mitnick placed in solitary Source - fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu More on Kevin Mitnick. http://cause-for-alarm.com/flash/mitnick.html >>>>>>>>> [updated Saturday, 28-Dec-96 17:48:32 PST] Kevin Mitnick was placed in solitary confinement yesterday for possessing reading materials related to hacking. Mitnick, whose hacking exploits and capture generated a media frenzy, is currently being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. This is not the first time he has been placed in solitary there. I first learned of Mitnick's move to solitary through the following email, sent by Fernanda Serpa: "URGENT!!! KEVIN MITNICK WAS PLACED UNDER SOLITARY CONFINEMENT TODAY, DECEMBER 27 TH, AT 1.00 PM, ON THE GROUNDS OF BEING A SECURITY RISK, DUE TO HIS READING LEGAL BOOKED IN THE LIBRARY. IT IS OBVIOUS THAT HE WAS EXERCISING HIS RIGHTS. WE ARE AFRAID THAT THE SANE THING THAT HAPPENED IN NORTH CAROLINA IS HAPPENING AGAIN WHEN KEVIN WAS PLACED IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR 7 DAYS AND HAD TO WAYVE HIS LEGAL RIGHTS IN ORDER TO BE RELEASED. WE KNOW THAT THE ONLY WAY FBI IS ABLE TO PRESSURE KEVIN IS TROUGH SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. PLEASE, DO SOMETHING AND INFORM THE PRESS URGENTLY ABOUT THIS SITUATION. WE ARE DOING OUR BEST HERE. FERNANDA SERPA "SUPPORT KEVIN CAMPAIGN" Serpa, who maintains a web site supporting Mitnick, further wrote me that "We do not have details about yesterday's events concerning Kevin Mitnick..... His cell was searched, and his personal belongings were seized. MDC does not release any information whatsoever.... Due to the case backgrounds, we are concerned about Kevin's life and physical integrity." Since receiving Serpa's email, I have confirmed the story with a source who is knowledgeable about the details of Mitnick's incarceration. According to my source, Mitnick's additional punishment came after a search of his cell revealed written materials related to hacking, including back issues of 2600 magazine. The magazines were allegedly sent to Mitnick by Emmanuel Goldstein, editor of 2600. Prisoners are able to receive written materials if they are sent directly from the publisher, and those materials are routinely searched. The reason the authorities gave for Mitnick's isolation? He's a "security risk." This latest twist in Mitnick's case begs several questions: Why is Mitnick being punished for possessing materials that he received through legitimate prison channels? How can he possibly be a "security risk" when he has no access to computers, and can't even use a phone for anything but collect, operator-assisted calls? Why place a prisoner in solitary confinement for their choice of reading materials? And how much did Markoff and Shimomura really make off of Mitnick's bust? Ironically, several recent issues of 2600 covered the imprisonment of Ed Cummings (aka Bernie S), a 2600 writer who was convicted of possessing a red box and software capable of cloning cell phones. Cummings, who was subjected to inhumane prison conditions, was attacked by another inmate after being transferred to a maximum security facility for "protective custody." He received a fractured jaw and arm in the incident, and was released soon after due to a grassroots protest campaign. Cummings served about a year and a half in jail. Maybe Mitnick was reading 2600 to catch up on Cummings' case, or maybe he was reading about how to do a SYN flood, who knows? Either way, he wasn't going to be able to do much with the information while behind bars. I'll try to pass on more news about Mitnick's situation, as it becomes available. Check back here for updates. >>>>>>>> Serpa's site is at: http://www.netmarket.com.br/mitnick Kevin's defense fund is at: http://www.kevinmitnick.com/ Rich -- Rich Burroughs, rich@cause-for-alarm.com Editor and Publisher, cause for alarm A web zine about electronic freedoms http://cause-for-alarm.com/ ------------------------------ Source: Computer Underground Digest #8.93 - CrACKeD ****************************************************************************** December 28, 1996 From: richieb@teleport.com (Rich Burroughs) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,alt.2600 Subject: FWD: URGENT !!! KEVIN MITNICK Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 20:21:26 GMT Organization: "That Darn Xenu" Productions I received this email yesterday. I have not been able to verify any of the facts, yet. I contacted the email's author, Fernanda Serpa, who wrote: "We do not have details about yesterday's events concerning Kevin Mitnick. Kevin is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, in Los Angeles. His cell was searched, and his personal belongings were seized. MDC does not release any information whatsoever. .... Due to the case backgrounds, we are concerned about Kevin's life and physical integrity." Kevin has been held in solitary at MDC before. Fernanda has a site about Kevin's case at: http://www.netmarket.com.br/mitnick/ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >Return-Path: fserpa@rubi.netmarket.com.br >Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 00:48:56 -0200 >X-Sender: fserpa@mail.netmarket.com.br (Unverified) >To: richieb@teleport.com >From: fserpa@rubi.netmarket.com.br (Fernanda Serpa) >Subject: URGENT !!! KEVIN MITNICK >Cc: webmaster@2600.com, ethercat@giveup.com, webmaster@kevinmitnick.com, > lewiz@netcom.com, cnn@turner.com, ricenter@igc.apc.org, > jlittman@well.com, ak47@nwark.com, rodrigde@usp.com.br >X-Status: A > >URGENT!!! > >KEVIN MITNICK WAS PLACED UNDER SOLITARY CONFINEMENT TODAY, DECEMBER 27 TH, >AT 1.00 PM, ON THE GROUNDS OF BEING A SECURITY RISK, DUE TO HIS READING >LEGAL BOOKED IN THE LIBRARY. IT IS OBVIOUS THAT HE WAS EXERCISING HIS >RIGHTS. WE ARE >AFRAID THAT THE SANE THING THAT HAPPENED IN NORTH CAROLINA IS HAPPENING >AGAIN WHEN KEVIN WAS PLACED IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR 7 DAYS AND HAD TO >WAYVE HIS LEGAL RIGHTS IN ORDER TO BE RELEASED. WE KNOW THAT THE ONLY WAY >FBI IS ABLE TO >PRESSURE KEVIN IS TROUGH SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. >PLEASE, DO SOMETHING AND INFORM THE PRESS URGENTLY ABOUT THIS SITUATION. WE ARE >DOING OUR BEST HERE. > >FERNANDA SERPA >SUPPORT KEVIN CAMPAIGN > > ______________________________________________________________________ Rich Burroughs richieb@teleport.com http://www.teleport.com/~richieb U.S. State Censorship Page at - http://www.teleport.com/~richieb/state dec96 issue "cause for alarm" - http://www.teleport.com/~richieb/cause ****************************************************************************** December 27, 1996 From: fserpa@rubi.netmarket.com.br (Fernanda Serpa) URGENT!!! KEVIN MITNICK WAS PLACED UNDER SOLITARY CONFINEMENT TODAY, DECEMBER 27TH, AT 1:00 P.M., ON THE GROUNDS OF BEING A SECURITY RISK, DUE TO HIS READING LEGAL BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY. IT IS OBVIOUS THAT HE WAS EXERCISING HIS RIGHTS. WE ARE AFRAID THAT THE SAME THING THAT HAPPENED IN NORTH CAROLINA IS HAPPENING AGAIN, WHEN KEVIN WAS PLACED IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR 8 DAYS AND HAD TO WAYVE HIS LEGAL RIGHTS IN ORDER TO BE RELEASED. WE KNOW THAT THE ONLY WAY FBI IS ABLE TO PRESSURE KEVIN IS THROUGH SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. PLEASE, DO SOMETHING AND INFORM THE PRESS URGENTLY ABOUT THIS SITUATION. WE ARE DOING OUR BEST HERE. SUPPORT KEVIN CAMPAIGN FERNANDA SERPA (Visit Fernanda's page at http://www.netmarket.com.br/mitnick/english.html) ****************************************************************************** November 17, 1996 From: CrACKeD Newsgroups: alt.2600 Subject: Mitnick Update Date: 17 Nov 1996 18:24:04 -0700 MITNICK SENTENCING DATE A federal judge has set January 21st as the sentencing date for computer hacker Kevin David Mitnick, N6NHG on two counts of cellular telephone fraud and probation violation. The November 4th announcement by U.S. District Court Judge Mariana Pfaelzer also delays setting a trial date in a new case against Mitnick and a associate until after a December 9th status consultation. Mitnick is named in a twenty five count indictment that alleges he took proprietary software from several hightech manufacturers, damaged computers at the University of Southern California and pilfered and then used computer passwords. This, during a two year cross country hacking spree. The indictment also charges Mitnick and one other defendant with using illegally obtained cellular telephone numbers to make their computer hacking calls untraceable. As previously reported, Mitnick was arrested in February of 1995 in Raleigh North Carolina after being tracked down by a San Diego computer security consultant. He pleaded earlier this year to the cellular phone fraud and probation violation charges. If found guilty on all twenty five new charges, N6NHG could wind up spending the rest of his life behind prison bars. --- Source: Amateur Radio Newsline #1005 15 Nov 1996 - CrACKeD