Chapter 1
Kevin's Story
by Kevin Mitnick

Markoff in Pursuit

Take a step back to late 1992. I was nearing the end of my supervised release for compromising Digital Equipment Corporation's corporate network. Meanwhile I became aware that the government was trying to put together another case against me, this one for conducting counter- intelligence to find out why wiretaps had been placed on the phone lines of a Los Angeles P.II firm. In my digging, I confirmed my suspicion: the Pacific Bell security people were indeed investigating the firm. So was a computer-crime deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. (That deputy turns out to be, co-incidentally, the twin brother of my co-author on this book. Small world.)

About this time, the Feds set up a criminal informant and sent him out to entrap me. They knew I always tried to keep tabs on any agency investigating me. So they had this informant befriend me and tip me off that I was being monitored. He also shared with me the details of a computer system used at Pacific Bell that would let me do counter-surveillance of their monitoring. When I discovered his plot, I quickly turned the tables on him and exposed him for credit-card fraud he was conducting while working for the government in an informant capacity. I'm sure the Feds appreciated that!

My life changed on Independence Day, 1994 when my pager woke me early in the morning. The caller said I should immediately pick up a copy of the New York Times. I couldn't believe it when I saw that Markoff had not only written an article about me, but the Times had placed it on the front page. The first thought that came to mind was for my personal safety-now the government would be substantially increasing their efforts to find me. I was relieved that in an effort to demonize me, the Times had used a very unbecoming picture. I wasn't fearful of being recognizedthey had chosen a picture so out of date that it didn't look anything like me!

As I began to read the article, I realized that Markoff was setting himself up to write the Kevin Mitnick book, just as he had always wanted. I simply could not believe the New York Times would risk printing the egregiously false statements that he had written about me. I felt helpless. Even if I had been in a position to respond, I certainly would not have an audience equal to the New York Times s to rebut Markoff's outrageous lies.

While I can agree I had been a pain in the ass, I had never destroyed information, nor used or disclosed to others any information I had obtained. Actual losses by companies from my hacking activities amounted to the cost of phone calls I had made at phone-company expense, the money spent by companies to plug the security vulnerabilities that my attacks had revealed, and in a few instances possibly causing companies to reinstall their operating systems and applications for fear I might have modified software in a way that would allow me future access. Those companies would have remained vulnerable to far worse damage if my activities hadn't made them aware of the weak links in their security chain.

Though I had caused some losses, my actions and intent were not malicious ... and then John Markoff changed the world's perception of the danger I represented.

The power of one unethical reporter from such an influential newspaper to write a false and defamatory story about anyone should haunt each and every one of us. The next target might be you.

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