Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case

Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case
Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus 2002-06-24

The ex-hacker details his past control of Las Vegas' telecom network, and raids his old storage locker to produce the evidence.

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-25
Anonymous (3 replies)

Is "social engineering" the PC term for "con job"?...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-26
Anonymous

Simply put yes. Typically by pretending to be an authorized vendor or employee of the company, you convince someone to provide you with information you shouldn't have....

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-26
Anonymous

Glad Mitnick was able to bust Sprint's bubble-

those cocky bastards!!!!...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-07-08
Anonymous (1 replies)

Social Engineering is the discovery/creation of vulnerabilities in wetware (organic life forms), and the exploitation of those vulnerabilities to gain access to restricted information....

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Re: Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2007-07-03
Neha

Social Engineering is a term for getting information by non technical ways in a way manipulating.Like for eg pretending to be some1 to get hold of passwords or card number....

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-26
muse (2 replies)

"How do we know that you're not social engineering us now?"

-That must have generated considerable laughter....

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-28
Fantom Node

It's funny because it could be so true.

Mitnick could talk his way into anything.

Unfortunately for him, he talked his way into

jail for several years. ...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-28
keydet89 (2 replies)

Why laughter? Since "social engineering" is simply a PC way of saying "con job" or "lying", I don't see your point. After all, Mitnick lied to people to get this alleged Nortel document, so why is it so hard to believe that he might be "social engineering" the folks in the courtroom now?...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-07-02
Anonymous

"so why is it so hard to believe that he might be "social engineering" the folks in the courtroom now?"

Certainly not defending him, but he is in court, he is under oath. So I doubt he'd really want to put a spin on it and risk purgery.

...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-07-02
Downtym

Not liek it's all that hard. He pops out of the courtroom, finds a computer at a library, types up the list, crumples it up, and spill a little coffee on it. Viola! Instant evidence.

Of course, I don't think Mitnick's lying given that he wants to show up Sprint....

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-26
Anonymous

Interesting yet very typical of how Sprint denies CALRS' ability to be vulnerable to hackers. I do a lot of research in the field of telecom security. One might even call me a "phone phreak". Based on research I've done and manuals I've looked at, CALRS is by default exposed to remote intrusion. As ...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-26
Anonymous (1 replies)

Nice Job Mitnick....

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-26
Anonymous (1 replies)

Whats funny is you hear about Microsoft being hacked almost daily, yet all the major Telco's claim they are secure. Come on.... everyone knows if you have a modem on one side connected to a phoneline, there is a hacker out there that can get in, as simple as that. Even the government will tell you n...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-26
Anonymous

ITS ALL JUST 1's and 0's.....

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-26
Anonymous (2 replies)

proof that Mitnick indeed possessed technical skill and people

could benefit from his experience/knowledge......

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-27
Alex Kasper

Well, he releases a book in October which outlines exactly how he acheived his social engineering prowess. It might shake things up a bit.

Here's a link:

http://www.wiley.com/cda/product/0,,0471237124,00.html...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-27
Anonymous (3 replies)

What exactly is proving any skill or great experience here? Everything that has thus far been testified to only demonstrates his ability to a) war dial, b) read switch docs, c) con poorly educated switch techs and service reps into forking over information on a very popular product.

We're not ...

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second-handers 2002-06-27
no one of consequence

It's easy to criticize choices you'll never have to make, actions you'll never be in a position to take, and lives that you'll never lead.

Yeah, maybe anyone could have done it. But no one else did.

What have you done lately?

...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-27
Ira Wing

. . . I would not be so quick to speak on things you do not really understand.

There are things that some people can do that other people can't do. These things can still be done by those people . . . even if they get caught or end up in "trouble" for it.

It is easy to envision how these thin...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-29
Graverober

The thing is you just stated how vulnerable the Telco?s are! Yes, he did a 'simple' con job. The true question is: how many others have done the same thing that the Telco?s haven't caught (or reported)???

If there?s a network on it, there?s a hacker in it.

...

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Sex 2002-06-27
Ann Omie

Gotcha.

The thing that endlessly amuses me about all things involving communication networks is how much of what drives them is the selling of sex.

Here we have an outCALL operator hiring an uberhacker to prove that calls for his sex services were being diverted - and now we are discussing t...

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on case and comments 2002-06-28
Anonymous (1 replies)

ALL commenters, except one, were on the side of free Kevin. Interesting! As the last court he was before forbid him from using his skill in computers, and telco, to earn a living. The stupid judge and court which took away his right to earn a living thus, will likely be on him for his testimony "ab...

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on case and comments 2002-06-30
Anonymous (1 replies)

Mitnick's "COMPUTER-SKILLS"!?!? He was locked up before even

Windows95 was around... As far as computers go, he'd be an

incredible consultant...but only to people/companies whose

systems are all still running Windows for Workgroups 3.11...

...

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on case and comments 2002-07-01
Anonymous (1 replies)

Ever hear of Unix?...

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on case and comments 2002-07-02
pr10n

... or manuals?...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-06-29
DidMy (at) Time (dot) gov [email concealed] (1 replies)

While I have never been a Mitnick fan, I will say he has turned the heat up big time on Sprint's goose. So good on ya Kevin, and Sprint, grab a brain and try using it sometime. Not only did Sprint have a couple of security 'issues', but they were owned and its likely they are still owned but they ...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-07-02
Downtym

Always hit the weakest part of any system. In computing, that's the human element because of the frightening lack of security training that's been done. People who hold the keys to entire networks are unaware of what to do if someone should walk up and ask for them, so they do what they think is rig...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-07-01
Anonymous

Hmm. A con artist/ex con hacker he is. This is hopefully what will prove to large corporations that yes you can get hacked even just by social engineering with out a computer. He had done all his hacking before he dialed in the first time with Nortel codes in hand and what more did he need beside...

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Sprint Foolish 2002-07-01
Anonymous (1 replies)

It is interesting that Kevin was willing to take the stand, considering that his original employer had fallen behind on his payments and that there were no signs of tampering.

Though Sprint is foolish if they keep up the charade of being secure. If you've been had, why hide it? A con or social en...

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Sprint Foolish 2002-07-02
Anonymous

make sure you reset your default password on your sprint fone. The new ones require you to make one the first time you use voicemail, but if you have an older phone, they didnt always make you reset the password and I often had a number of deleted messages per month....

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-07-01
Hamster1

I think Mitnick is telling the truth about his escapade with Sprint's switches, and phone line manipulations. They say "truth is far stranger than fiction". Mitnick has no motive to lie, and the Telco's have a tendancy to do just that,(they call it damage control). Yes it is indeed odd for a convict...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-07-01
Anonymous

Stupid Government! Mitnick is probably the most dangerous man alive with a keyboard or phone. Why in the world didn't the CIA or one of those other "things" grab and turn him? Probably could have him for 100K/yr. We are not in good hands, folks------...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-07-02
Phantom

Nortel is another gigantic service provider who will certainly have its processes very weak ........Mitnick is correct and always any person in this world who know how to break processes and rules ,can HACK anything in this world

:-)...

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Mitnick Testifies Against Sprint in Vice Hack Case 2002-07-06
Anonymous

What I would like to know is, isn't Kevin exposing himself to arrest for having access devices (passwords)?

Was he ever sentenced for the sprint matters or could he still be prosecuted?...

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Dangerous? 2002-07-08
krypt0n0mic0n

I'd call Mr. Mitnick elite, but I'd hardly call him dangerous. I really don't think he'd hurt anybody with his skills. He has ethics....

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