Kevin Mitnick detained, released after Colombia trip
Famous hacker Kevin Mitnick was detained U.S. customs agent when his plane from Colombia landed in Atlanta on September 16. He was questioned for four hours and released. CNet has a pretty detailed account of what happened, but the most interesting part of the story, to me, was the list of stuff the authorities found in his luggage.
In his luggage, they found a MacBook Pro, a Dell XPS M1210 laptop, an Asus 900 mini-laptop, three or four hard drives, numerous USB storage devices, some Bluetooth dongles, three iPhones, and four Nokia cell phones (with different SIM cards for different countries).Kevin Mitnick detained, released after Colombia tripThey also found a lock-picking kit and an HID proximity card spoofer that can be used to snag data stored on physical access cards by swiping it in front of them. The data can then be used to enter locked doors without having to make a forged access card. Mitnick says he used the device in a demonstration about security in his speech in Bogota, but that the customs agents' eyes lit up when they saw it, thinking it was a credit card reader.
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FREE KEVIN MIT ... oh.
In the words of the Massachusetts State Police, he should be glad he's not in the morgue.
Ah, if only he had packed a slab of metal that had "NOTHING TO SEE HERE" stenciled into it, none of this would have happened.
The "lock-picking kit" is quite likely his business card. He has an aluminum business card which is die-cut with the shape of lock-picking tools which you can pop out of the card. It makes sense, conceptually, with him being a security expert.
Bah this is a man who had been declared to be able to launch nukes with a phone call. He should have done the hacker survivor thing, a small screwdriver, a whistle, and memorized programs in his head that he could type in from memory! That would have been more impressive.
To get out of trouble, he had to win a game of Tic-Tac-Toe...
Honestly having met the man several times and been to his talks, none of this surprises me in the least. What surprises me is that we have this untapped and totally mismanaged genius running around not being employed by the Federal Government as a spy.
Also, why is everybody still using that ancient picture of him in press releases?
PHREAK HEAVEN!
oh drats @1 you beat me.
Well you didn't finish the story...they also found:
6 rabbits
2 Cigars
3 Cigar Cutters
1 Aloe Vera Plant
4 Condoms - ribbed
1 Soldering iron, sans solder
3 kiwis
1 sand dollar
1 copy of "Unmasked" a Harlequin romance book
16 dog collars
1 DVD set of 90210
14 saltine crackers
2 small cats
and 1 goblet with the word PIMP written in rhinestones
Is he still under that ridiculous order that he can't use any computer?
Wait. He had all this hackerish stuff and the Feds freaked out because they thought he had a credit card reader?
Hey! Maybe _he_ caused the recent financial meltdown, using his cel phones, laptops and evil hacker knowledge from the safety of South America!
If you want to hear it straight from his mouth, listen to the first 20 or so minutes of the Off The Hook show from today.
http://archive.wbai.org/ at the 7:00 PM slot or http://www.2600.com/offthehook/ under New Shows
small typo "detained BY A U.S Customs Agent."
I'm so glad Mitnik's reformed. Or is he... .> :D
from the safety of South America!
from the safety of his remote Andean mountain-top lair deep in South America!
Mitnick sux, always has always will.
@ PURLY - What surprises me is that we have this untapped and totally mismanaged genius running around not being employed by the Federal Government as a spy.
shhhhh. ;)
Gotta say, that list of gear would send red flags up for just about everyone. And I think it would be odd for Mitnick to be surprised by this.
Bet he wished he had Star's flashing LED hoodie to complete that ensemble..
But when is going to help John Travolta rob that bank? And where is his hydra headed computer?