It's true, I had hacked into a lot of companies, and took copies of the source code to analyze it for security bugs. If I could locate security bugs, I could become better at hacking into their systems. It was all towards becoming a better hacker. Kevin Mitnick More Quotes by Kevin Mitnick More Quotes From Kevin Mitnick So the ethic I was taught in school resulted in the path I chose in my life following school. Kevin Mitnick taught path school I was addicted to hacking, more for the intellectual challenge, the curiosity, the seduction of adventure; not for stealing, or causing damage or writing computer viruses. Kevin Mitnick challenges writing adventure All they need to do is to set up some website somewhere selling some bogus product at twenty percent of the normal market prices and people are going to be tricked into providing their credit card numbers. Kevin Mitnick twenties numbers people My actions constituted pure hacking that resulted in relatively trivial expenses for the companies involved, despite the government's false claims. Kevin Mitnick hacking government action I trust online banking. You know why? Because if somebody hacks into my account and defrauds my credit card company, or my online bank account, guess who takes the loss? The bank, not me. Kevin Mitnick banking loss cards New security loopholes are constantly popping up because of wireless networking. The cat-and-mouse game between hackers and system administrators is still in full swing. Kevin Mitnick swings cat games Back in my day, I would probe by hand. Now you can get commercial software that does the job for you. Kevin Mitnick doe jobs hands Of course I'm sure half the people there hate me and half the people like me Kevin Mitnick hate half people For the average home-user, anti-virus software is a must. Kevin Mitnick viruses home average A hacker doesnt deliberately destroy data or profit from his activities. Kevin Mitnick hackers profit data We have problems with our physical security, operational security through to management. Kevin Mitnick physical-attraction problem management It doesn't work the same way everywhere. The Americans are the most gullible, because they don't like to deny co-workers' requests. People in the former Soviet bloc countries are less trusting, perhaps because of their previous experiences with their countries' secret services. Kevin Mitnick secret country people No company that I ever hacked into reported any damages, which they were required to do for significant losses. Sun didn't stop using Solaris and DEC didn't stop using VMS. Kevin Mitnick damage sun loss No way, no how did I break into NORAD. That's a complete myth. And I never attempted to access anything considered to be classified government systems. Kevin Mitnick government break way So what I was essentially doing was, I compromised the confidentiality of their proprietary software to advance my agenda of becoming the best at breaking through the lock. Kevin Mitnick becoming-the-best locks agendas But a lot of businesses out there don't see the return on investment, they look at it as a liability, and until they can understand that proactive security actually returns, gives them a return on investment, it's still a hard sell for people. Kevin Mitnick giving people looks The perfect PIN is not four digits and not associated with your life, like an old telephone number. It's something easy for you to remember and hard for other people to guess. Kevin Mitnick perfect numbers people My primary goal of hacking was the intellectual curiosity, the seduction of adventure. Kevin Mitnick intellectual goal adventure I did get a huge endorphin rush when I was able to crack a system because it was like a video game. Kevin Mitnick cracks video games Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Inc, which set the computing world on its ear with the Macintosh in 1984. Kevin Mitnick apples ears jobs