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This article is interesting. He isn't world famous because of his skill, he was world famous because he was caught. Being famous does not make you a good hack

This article is interesting. He isn't world famous because of his skill, he was world famous because he was caught. Being famous does not make you a good hacker, the best hackers will never be known. I would be surprised if any pen testing group didn't have a 100% success rate. When you hire a pen tester or contract it out, the amount of information you get is absurd (but prioritized by severity). Has a pen tester ever found a system that didn't have a vulnerability?

eyeareque 12y ago
Kevin is well known for his skills, mostly as a social engineer. I'd argue that he's one of if not the best at it. He became famous when he was on the run from the FBI for a few years. This was one of my favorite stories: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Watch-Kevin-Mitnick-Explaining-How-He-Used-to-Troll-the-FBI-401959.shtml http://news.softpedia.com/news/Watch-Kevin-Mitnick-Explainin... A lot of people don't know the history around him because it happened years ago. If you were following him at the time or if you've read his "ghost in the wires" book you'd see why he he's rightfully famous.
- wyclif 12y ago
  For some reason the video is missing from that post.
  - eyeareque 12y ago
    Here is it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn3O8XD1z0w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn3O8XD1z0w
- omgitstom 12y ago
  I just worded this incorrectly. I'm sure Kevin is skilled. Being famous for hacking doesn't mean you are a skilled hacker. This is the way the article was phrased. Then they went on to say pen testing and have 100% finding vulnerabilities makes you good. Again, another false point. Thanks for your view of the article though, I'm always curious on other peoples views :)
runjake 12y ago
> He isn't world famous because of his skill, he was world famous because he was caught. You're wrong. He's famous for a number of reasons, including a penchant for notoriety and the spotlight, but he was also a prolific pioneer of social engineering since before there was a term for it. He is/was amongst the best of the best of known social engineers. I'd argue that social engineering is the most important skill for a hacker. And when he was "operational", he wasn't a "known", which leads me to... > Being famous does not make you a good hacker, the best hackers will never be known. This line may or may not be true, but it's tiring and obvious at this point.
- sukilot 12y ago
  It was called conning before it was called social engineering.
- deleted 12y ago
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eyeareque 12y ago

Kevin is well known for his skills, mostly as a social engineer. I'd argue that he's one of if not the best at it. He became famous when he was on the run from the FBI for a few years. This was one of my favorite stories: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Watch-Kevin-Mitnick-Explaining-How-He-Used-to-Troll-the-FBI-401959.shtml http://news.softpedia.com/news/Watch-Kevin-Mitnick-Explainin... A lot of people don't know the history around him because it happened years ago. If you were following him at the time or if you've read his "ghost in the wires" book you'd see why he he's rightfully famous.

wyclif 12y ago
For some reason the video is missing from that post.
- eyeareque 12y ago
  Here is it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn3O8XD1z0w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn3O8XD1z0w
omgitstom 12y ago
I just worded this incorrectly. I'm sure Kevin is skilled. Being famous for hacking doesn't mean you are a skilled hacker. This is the way the article was phrased. Then they went on to say pen testing and have 100% finding vulnerabilities makes you good. Again, another false point. Thanks for your view of the article though, I'm always curious on other peoples views :)

runjake 12y ago

> He isn't world famous because of his skill, he was world famous because he was caught. You're wrong. He's famous for a number of reasons, including a penchant for notoriety and the spotlight, but he was also a prolific pioneer of social engineering since before there was a term for it. He is/was amongst the best of the best of known social engineers. I'd argue that social engineering is the most important skill for a hacker. And when he was "operational", he wasn't a "known", which leads me to... > Being famous does not make you a good hacker, the best hackers will never be known. This line may or may not be true, but it's tiring and obvious at this point.

sukilot 12y ago
It was called conning before it was called social engineering.
deleted 12y ago
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