Kevin Mitnick was a hacker before hacking was even illegal. He was famous for having broken into the computer networks of some really large companies. He didn’t make a single dime from his activities; he just wanted to prove it could be done. He was eventually arrested, convicted and given a harsh five-year sentence, served in solitary confinement because the judge was convinced Mitnick could “start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone” (source: Wikipedia).

Later, he was released from prison and started a security consulting business (Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC), and now gets paid by companies to break into their computer systems and tell them what they need to fix.

Since he’s no longer dangerous (many argue that he was never all that dangerous, in the “this guy wants to destroy the world” way the prosecution claimed), Mitnick has also become a popular conference speaker. He knows the single biggest security flaw in every single commercial or private computer system, including yours:

It’s the people.

Time and again, Mitnick bypassed high-tech means of hacking (using software to force his way into a system) in favor of low-tech hacks: calling people on the telephone and asking for information.

It’s called social engineering, and it amounts to tricking people into giving away information simply by talking to them.

Mitnick concentrates on corporate network security, teaching businesses how to keep their data safe. However, the same goes for your own personal online safety: you are the weak point. How public have you made the names of your pets, your birthdate, your children’s names and birthdates, or the school(s) you attended? (I’m looking at you, MySpace and Facebook users.) All of this information can be used to steal your identity, by providing a would-be thief with enough information to talk you into accidentally revealing too much information.

Mitnick’s business card, a miniature lock-picking set, has become quite famous these last few years. Look at his website again, under the “Get Kevin’s Business Card” section. It says “Send your IP address and password to:” and his address. It’s obviously meant as a sly inside joke, but I wonder how many people actually mail this information to him.