According to The New York Times , Kevin Mitnick has been undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer more than a year ago.
After serving a prison sentence for hacking and tampering with corporate computer networks, he was released in 2000 and began a new career as a security consultant, writer, and speaker. Mitnick is best known for his crimes in the 1990s that involved stealing thousands of data files and credit card numbers from computers across the country.
He penetrated the US telephone and cellular networks, sabotaged computer systems of the government, companies and universities. Investigators at the time called Mitnick the most wanted hacker in the world.
Mitnick was arrested by the FBI in 1995 and charged with unauthorized use of a telephone access device and computer fraud. He was accused of accessing millions of dollars worth of trade secrets, said Kent Walker, a former assistant attorney general.
Kevin Mitnick dies at 59
In 1998, while awaiting sentencing, a group of Mitnick supporters took control of The New York Times website for several hours. A year later, Mr. Mitnick pleaded guilty to computer fraud as part of a deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to 46 months in prison. He was also banned from using a computer or cell phone without permission from his probation officer for three years after his release.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Kevin Mitnick was a loner who loved to study magic tricks. By age 12, he figured out how to ride the bus using $15 punch cards and blank tickets he took from the trash. By age 17, he was digging into corporate computer systems and getting into trouble with the authorities for his activities. It was the beginning of a decades-long game of cat and mouse with law enforcement.
In his memoir, Mitnick denied many of the allegations against him, including that he had hacked into government computer systems. He had been treated at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center after being diagnosed with the disease more than a year ago.
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