Earth’s Most Wanted Hacker
Kevin Mitnick was once the most wanted hacker in the world. The highly stylized film juxtaposes his extraordinary hacking adventures with the infamous Koobface virus that hit social networks in 2008.
On December 8, 1998, the world’s most popular website was hijacked by hackers who revealed that every computer using Yahoo at the time was now infected with a virus. On December 25, it will detonate, destroying millions of infected computers, unless authorities give in to demands for Kevin’s release. But “Who is Kevin?” many people asked.
Three years earlier, in 1995, 32-year-old Kevin Mitnick was arrested and convicted of computer hacking, wire fraud, cell phone cloning, and more. By this time, Kevin was a veteran hacker with 20 years of experience, including the alleged hack of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in 1981, when he was just 17 years old.
Using social engineering and legitimate computer science knowledge, he also took over Pacific Bell’s voicemail and infiltrated Nokia, Fujitsu, and other major corporations. He was on the run for two years before being captured by a top cybersecurity expert. He spent four of his five years in prison in solitary confinement.
Fast-forward to 2008, when a virus called “Koobface” spread to various websites and the Mac ecosystem through early social media platforms such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo Mail and Gmail.
In this case, Kevin and Koobface have a lot in common, both using social engineering to scam. Koobface uses Fast-Flux, where IP addresses are constantly changing at a high rate, making it extremely difficult to trace the source. It’s so cleverly disguised that people download it without knowing it, and it secretly attaches itself to a CTA button that, when clicked, downloads a PDF to scan the contents of your computer.
The virus then redirects you where it wants you to go, usually various affiliated networks, before clicking back to your original destination. They make money from those clicks.
When users notice slow loading times and increased pop-ups, Koobface offers virus removal software. Once you sign up and pay, they take your money and run away, leaving you with less cash and more viruses. Ultimately, digital investigators pinpointed who was behind Koobface, a group known as “Alibaba and 4.” Koobface is offline and his perpetrators are off the grid.
Back in 1997, Christmas came and went, but without the promised FREE KEVIN explosion. This is a huge deception created by the Free Kevin movement.
Kevin Mitnick was released in 2000. He was considered a high-risk criminal when he went to prison, but until his release the world needed his skills. He previously testified and made recommendations to the Senate on how to better protect computers from hijackers, and is now a white hat hacker.
