As one of the people whose credit card number was stolen from Netcom, I would strongly object to this. I'm not here to speak poorly of the dead, but I'm definitely here to judge those who think too highly of him.
It isn’t about thinking highly of him. His impact on security is well documented and very extensive. The black banner is used for honoring notable technologists who pass away. Regardless of personal thoughts, he was a very notable technologist and sort of first famous social engineer.
But he wasn't a first famous social engineer. That was extremely old hat by then.
People keep claiming he is a notable technologist, but I can't think of how. The Internet and other systems had intrinsic design flaws in the early day because it was birthed as an overly trusted network of well-known peers. Poking for flaws in those days didn't require any skill. The Morris worm, for example, was extremely skillful.
My biggest exposure to anything related to him is KnowBe4 and it is an utter piece of crap. It provides training modules that have no idea who their audience is so it veers wildly between terrible advice and overly technical advice with alongside the correct advice.
And lastly, and I mean this sincerely, my condolences to his family and friends. No one should have to go through this so young.
As someone too young to have a credit card in 1995, I’m curious: was its theft more of a “big deal” back then?
My Amex account number was stolen a month ago. It took me three minutes on the call with a rep to get it locked + a new card issued. I think I spent more time and effort on the phone with my dentist later that week.
Credit card number theft isn't so bad today. Having someone cash a fake check from your bank account is another story. You need to close the whole account and lose all your bill pay stuff. All the regular incoming transfers (VA, pensions, etc) have to be updated to a new account. Some of those take up to 45 days to change over. You also have to send a notarized document that the check wasn't from you to the bank and wait for them to restore the funds.
Source: Someone cashed a fake check against my terminally ill father's People's Bank checking account this year and it was a couple months of work to deal with the fallout. Faking a check is absurdly easy and US banks kinda suck at dealing with it.
Yes. People were afraid to put their credit card into early websites because they were afraid of theft. It took decades to convince people it was 'safe'. Only thing that makes it safe these days is the fact that now credit card companies won't hold you responsible for the theft. That theft is then offset and socialized by the insanely high APYs.
I just have to log into my online banking app, click on the credit card, and then slide a lock switch from left to right. A prompt comes up whether I'd like to report it lost or stolen too. If it's just misplaced, I don't have to bother.
Are you asking if I lost money or was inconvenienced when someone stole my personal info? If I steal your medical records, are you only victimized if I share them?
It's almost always an inconvenience, and doesn't cost you a thing. They refund the fraud, and send a new card. You might have to fill out some paperwork.
I'm sorry to hear that you suffered from the event, and although I'm sure you're not the only one with a negative experience, I do think the positive experiences people had from interacting/watching/hearing/meeting/reading Mitnick outweigh the negative ones.
What greedy executives? This was the early days of the Internet and there was tons of competition. And yes, OF COURSE IT WAS MITNIC'S FAULT. Why in 2023 would you even think of blaming the victim.
