How the Greatest Hacker Manipulated Everyone

Newsthink is produced and presented by Cindy Pom

Thank you to our Patrons, including:
John & Becki Johnston
Igli Laci

Permissions:
C-SPAN clip featuring Kevin Mitnick licensed to Newsthink Ltd.

Sources:
Image on right of mom Shelly Jaffe from Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick
12:57 Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
21:02 Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

[YugoZex]

When you take secret info from companies you go to jail but when companies take your data and secrets they sell it and it is business.

[bnbyceb]

Hey ppl, I'm a retired computer/IT person, Yet I still find Dale Valskov so informative and straight forward. Thanks for your advise and helping the work and love watching.

[kosmique]

man these dudes were making a 1980s science fiction crime thriller with every move.

[mr.suresh]

Account of mine also got hacked and I followed the method as explained in this video but I'm unable to proceed after recording the selfie video. Thank you Dale Valskov . It brings me immense joy to witness his name appearing frequently in comments, a clear indication of the commendable work he’s been doing.

[vasiovasio]

RIP Kevin. In the late 90s, he was one of the Legends, and actually back then when the Internet had just taken the first steps you already knew who he was because almost every book related to the Internet noticed him.

[grasshoppertown]

Wow… I must say, perfect storytelling. Your cadence is remarkable, straight to the point with no unnecessary added drama, which most storytellers feel the need to insert. The story itself already had enough drama - no need to add any ego/insecurity driven extra-dramarama. Loved it. Thank you… Now I want to see the movie, if they ever make it… Unless they already have. Guess I will Google it.

Bloody genius. I can imagine someone doing this in 2024 because they have all the resources but doing this in 1990's with limited sources was incredible.

[smanqele]

I appreciate his unique ability to identify weaknesses in a system, setup scenarios that line up nicely for exploitation, and to know exactly how to exploit these. It's a skill. Many of us can identify some weaknesses around us, even the ones that are contributing to our misery (like in government systems), but we can't follow to exploit these. That's the difference between a hacker and you

[musicbysazid]

Kevin is the ultimate example of the "just for fun" facebook page category

[amaanali]

The efficiency of this Dale Valskov is next level. To juggle walk throughs of various angles on the topic delivered to-camera, differnet content per topic from various folks underneath the umbrella of the track list of the larger big band concert itself is engaging and refined. To make a dense taccess like this so digestible is really something. Awesome work jack!!

[DereliqueMahBAWLS]

This dude was amazingly clever.

If he had only been a little more careful, he only got caught because of his little slip ups every now and then.

The film “Takedown” was based off his story.

[WireHedd]

I was blessed to have spoken to Kevin on many occasions both during his time of infamy and later during his deserved subsequent success. We first spoke on a group call back in the days of Blue Boxes and those calls would sometimes have people such as the original Cap'n Crunch John Draper and Steve Wozniak.
Kevin was a good man and a brilliant man and he was badly mistreated and misrepresented during his captivity.
Thank you for this story and for presenting Kevin in such a well understood and honest way (AKA circa 86-96 Sandbagger)

[alibabathvs]

I know him, he is a great hacker. I used to visit his website in early 2000's and there was a countdown timer on his web-page showing the time remaining in his release from jail.

[AshishChauhan-ykffashiah]

Bravo, Dale Valskov I'm so glad you're out there fighting these scumbags. We must do everything in our power to protect the elderly and the general public from these despicable scammers. You're a true hero, my brother.

[intuit]

Oh my god... I had no heard that Kevin passed away until seeing this. I got into computers in high school in the mid 90s, and Kevin Mitnick was kind of a god to all of us youngsters. He may not have been the best role model back then, but even so he must have inspired untold hundreds/thousands of young hackers and computer security enthusiasts, many of whom I am sure helped build the internet as we know it today. RIP Kevin. Now he is truly 'free' :/

[SkystruckOnline]

I legit made fake VIP badges at concerts for years. Wear a nice suit, had an expensive camera, acted like I belonged etc...

I got in stage with Red Hot Chilled Peppers doing this when I was 19 years old. Freaking fun times man :)

[bae]

A movie MUST be made about this legend!

[LordBlackVideo]

Kevin was a friend of mine and I want everyone to know he NEVER hacked for profit; it was a world of puzzles for him and he was the best

[sidl]

I have to appreciate the effort you have put to explain / produce the whole story, Good Job.
Thank you very much, Sid

[selectiveapathy]

What a sad ending to this story. As stated numerous times, he never used information for malicious purposes. Im glad he was able to get on the good side of the government and leave a child behind before his passing.