A Genius Hacker
American Martin Mitnick is the most famous computer criminal active before the year 2000.
He was regarded as a first-class criminal who could easily obtain trade secrets worth $1 billion.
But despite the FBI’s efforts, it took seven years to arrest Martin.
It was only when he was in high school that he began to hack.
At the time, 18-year-old Martin had already invaded the computer systems of the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Harvest Springs and tested his skills.
“If you have a simple modem, you can start a nuclear war,” he would usually boast.
The police would follow the criminal’s whereabouts while tracing the telephone’s location, but they always ended up empty-handed. All the police’s actions were being leaked to him.
In 1980, he stole confidential files about telephone subscribers from a telephone company in California.
In 1981, he stole data on launch parameters for intercontinental ballistic missiles from a computer in the Department of Defense in Washington.
In 1982, he illegally accessed a computer used at a university in Southern California and locked out all others.
He was finally added to the FBI’s watchlist at the end of the year, but he disappeared soon after. Like the police, the FBI’s actions were all leaked to him.
Six years later, Martin Mitnick had completely vanished.
However, as he continued to run away, he did not stop hacking.
He could no longer stop taking over computers. For him it was a hardcore drug. His desire to invade machines and dominate everything could no longer be suppressed.
In 1988, it was discovered that Martin seemed to be involved in the data breach of a company.
After a long time, the FBI found a clue to Martin’s whereabouts and came up with the idea of using a hacker to arrest him.
An engineer of Japanese descent named Jerry Kawai who worked at the Supercomputer Center in San Diego was selected.
Kawai, in cooperation with the FBI, set out to capture Martin.
Martin’s fatal mistake was that he misunderstood that he had the absolute advantage. Being on the run for seven years, instead of depleting Martin, gave him more and more omnipotence and a sense of invincibility. Martin came to think that there was nothing beyond his own existence when manipulating computers.
When his phone’s signal was detected by a scanner and his hideout located, Martin could not believe he lost the battle of wits to the FBI.
Martin met Kawai for only a few seconds, just before being captured and pushed into a police car. Martin realized that Kawai was the same kind of person as himself.
“So, you’re the one who beat me. You win,” Martin said. “I respect your abilities”
Kawai shook his head and did not respond.
The police had no idea what the total damages of Martin’s crime would be.
However, as a result of independent calculations performed by the mobile phone companies, the amount of damages was estimated to be in the millions of dollars.
Martin was released from prison in Los Angeles on January 21, 2000. However, since then, he has been forbidden from using computers, the Internet, and mobile devices.
Translator’s Note: Martin Mitnick is based on famous hacker Kevin Mitnick. Kevin Mitnick was active in the 1990s.
Harvest Springs is a reference to Colorado Springs, the real-life HQ of NORAD.
Jerry Kawai is probably based on Tsutomu Shimomura.
A Genius Hacker
American Martin Mitnick is the most famous computer criminal active before the year 2000.
He was regarded as a first-class criminal who could easily obtain trade secrets worth $1 billion.
But despite the FBI’s efforts, it took seven years to arrest Martin.
It was only when he was in high school that he began to hack.
At the time, 18-year-old Martin had already invaded the computer systems of the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Harvest Springs and tested his skills.
“If you have a simple modem, you can start a nuclear war,” he would usually boast.
The police would follow the criminal’s whereabouts while tracing the telephone’s location, but they always ended up empty-handed. All the police’s actions were being leaked to him.
In 1980, he stole confidential files about telephone subscribers from a telephone company in California.
In 1981, he stole data on launch parameters for intercontinental ballistic missiles from a computer in the Department of Defense in Washington.
In 1982, he illegally accessed a computer used at a university in Southern California and locked out all others.
He was finally added to the FBI’s watchlist at the end of the year, but he disappeared soon after. Like the police, the FBI’s actions were all leaked to him.
Six years later, Martin Mitnick had completely vanished.
However, as he continued to run away, he did not stop hacking.
He could no longer stop taking over computers. For him it was a hardcore drug. His desire to invade machines and dominate everything could no longer be suppressed.
In 1988, it was discovered that Martin seemed to be involved in the data breach of a company.
After a long time, the FBI found a clue to Martin’s whereabouts and came up with the idea of using a hacker to arrest him.
An engineer of Japanese descent named Jerry Kawai who worked at the Supercomputer Center in San Diego was selected.
Kawai, in cooperation with the FBI, set out to capture Martin.
Martin’s fatal mistake was that he misunderstood that he had the absolute advantage. Being on the run for seven years, instead of depleting Martin, gave him more and more omnipotence and a sense of invincibility. Martin came to think that there was nothing beyond his own existence when manipulating computers.
When his phone’s signal was detected by a scanner and his hideout located, Martin could not believe he lost the battle of wits to the FBI.
Martin met Kawai for only a few seconds, just before being captured and pushed into a police car. Martin realized that Kawai was the same kind of person as himself.
“So, you’re the one who beat me. You win,” Martin said. “I respect your abilities”
Kawai shook his head and did not respond.
The police had no idea what the total damages of Martin’s crime would be.
However, as a result of independent calculations performed by the mobile phone companies, the amount of damages was estimated to be in the millions of dollars.
Martin was released from prison in Los Angeles on January 21, 2000. However, since then, he has been forbidden from using computers, the Internet, and mobile devices.
Translator’s Note: Martin Mitnick is based on famous hacker Kevin Mitnick. Kevin Mitnick was active in the 1990s.
Harvest Springs is a reference to Colorado Springs, the real-life HQ of NORAD.
Jerry Kawai is probably based on Tsutomu Shimomura.
