What surprised you most about Kevin using “social engineering” to con people at the phone company at such a young age?
Hackers like Kevin don’t sell information, damage files, or use other people’s credit card numbers. Do you think they still pose a danger to society?
If a child of yours was spending a lot of time on the computer working with computer code you didn’t understand, would your response be different as a result of reading this book?
Do you believe that hacking like Kevin’s can really be an addiction, or was this claim just a ruse to try to fool a judge?
Why do you think it took the FBI so long to find Kevin?
The New York Times front-page story about Kevin was filled with false statements from a single source, a phone phreaker who had once been a friend of Kevin’s. Yet the statements—such as Kevin having broken into NORAD—were presented as fact. What is your view of this?
After Kevin’s release from prison in 1989, the FBI sent an informant to befriend Kevin, who encouraged him to hack into telephone company computer systems. Do you consider this unethical on the part of the government?
FBI Special Agent Kathleen Carson solicited the victim corporations to state their losses exceeded $80 million based on the research and development cost of the software Kevin viewed or copied. Do you think this is a reasonable indicator of the harm Kevin caused?
Kevin’s first experience of face-to-face social engineering occurred when he saw his Uncle Mitchell have his business at the DMV taken care of on the spot, ahead of all the people waiting in line. What do you think Mitchell might have said to the DMV clerk to make this possible for him?
Kevin was able to penetrate the FBI’s sting operation against him. With advances in computer security, do you feel confident that this would be possible today?
Do you believe Kevin Mitnick deserved harsh punishment, in an effort to deter other hackers, or do you think his punishment was excessive?
Do you believe the Federal judge who ordered Kevin Mitnick detained without access to a telephone, which resulted in his being held in solitary confinement for nearly a year, really thought Kevin could launch a nuclear weapon by whistling into a telephone?