The story behind the world's most wanted hacker

Kevin Mitnick's ‘electronic joyride’ made him part of the FBI’s most wanted list for hacking into more than 40 major corporations in the 1990s. Mitnick gained access to the computers and networks of the world's biggest companies while eluding the authorities through phone switches, computer systems and cellular networks. For three years he went on the run, using false identities and escaping from city to city until a final showdown with the Feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down. 

After a well-publicised pursuit, the FBI arrested Mitnick in 1995 on federal offenses related to a two and half year period of computer hacking. Mitnick was charged with wire fraud, possession of unauthorised access devices, interception of wire or electronic communications, unauthorised access to a federal computer, and causing damage to a computer. Mitnick served five years in prison and was released on January 21, 2000. 

Mitnick's creativity, skills and persistence forced the authorities to rethink the way they pursued hackers. Those ripples brought permanent changes to the way companies and people protect their most sensitive information. His story became legendary and is the basis for many books, articles, films and TV programmes.

Today, Mitnick is a trusted security consultant to the Fortune 500 and governments worldwide. As the CEO of Mitnick Security Consulting, Kevin, and The Global Ghost Team™ now maintain a 100 percent successful track record in their ability to penetrate the security of any system they’re paid to hack, using a combination of technical exploits and social engineering. 

In his role as Chief Hacking Officer of KnowBe4 he endorses and helps produce the world's #1 security awareness training and platform to train employees to better manage the urgent IT security problems of social engineering, spear phishing and ransomware attacks.