I was saddened to learn that one of my personal heroes, Kevin Mitnick, has passed away at the age of 59.
Kevin Mitnick, a reformed hacker who was once one of the most wanted computer criminals in the United States, died on Sunday, according to a statement shared Wednesday by a cybersecurity training company he co-founded and a funeral home in Las Vegas.
Kevin was one of my heroes back in the 1990s thanks to movies like Wargames and Sneakers. He inspired me to get into computer security at a young age. I never condoned the theft and vandalism that he did but I respected his massive talent and ability to do things way before anyone knew what he did was even possible. After he was released from prison, his contributions to the online security world have been ground-breaking.
“Ghost in the Wires" is an great book to read and will change your perspective on how fragile our networking infrastructure used to be and still is. He also authored a book titled "The Art of Invisibility". If you are in to online security then I recommend both of these great titles by Kevin.
Kevin passed away from Pancreatic Cancer at the age of 59. He was and always will be a legend.