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The FBI arrested me in February of 1995 at my apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina, on federal offenses related to a 2½-year computer hacking spree. [2]
In 1999, I confessed to four counts of wire fraud, two counts of computer fraud and one count of illegally intercepting a wire communication, as part of a plea agreement before the United States District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles. I was sentenced to 46 months in prison in addition to 22 months for violating the terms of my 1989 supervised release sentence for computer fraud. I admitted to violating the terms of supervised release by hacking into PacBell voicemail and other systems and to associating with known computer hackers, in this case co-defendant Louis De Payne.
I served five years in prison, four and a half years pre-trial and eight months in solitary confinement, because law enforcement officials convinced a judge that I had the ability to "start a nuclear war by whistling into a pay phone".[3] I was released on January 21, 2000. During my supervised release, which ended on January 21, 2003, I was initially restricted from using any communications technology other than a landline telephone. I fought this decision in court, eventually winning a ruling in my favor, allowing him to access the Internet.
As per the plea deal, I was also prohibited from profiting from films or books that are based on his criminal activity for a period of seven years.
I now runs Mitnick Security Consulting LLC, a computer security consultancy.