There's a hacker ethic out there
that says that all information should be free.
Sort of a hacker communism, if you will.
There is a subculture of people who claim...
24 hours a day working on a computer.
And they want to show how smart they are.
The cyber thief had removed valuable files.
The virus then reproduced itself.
The entire planet has access to the Internet.
The entire planet has access to your computer system.
As telephone technology gets easier...
A growing high-tech crime wave.
Telephone lines are...
With a hacker's treasure trove of files...
They range from extortion to industrial espionage
to blackmail to just malicious behavior.
There are other hackers eager to cause damage.
It's getting worse because we're increasingly connected.
As the need increases to try criminals through...
Cellular telephones and fax machines.
The FBI is asking phone companies
to prepare for the day when...
What point did you first question
the ethical propriety of what you were doing?
Once the FBI knocked at my door.
What's up, baby?
What's going on? Sorry I'm late. I'm Lance.
I'm Alex. This is Kevin.
Mitnick. What's going on?
So, I heard a lot about you boys, especially you, Kev.
Oh, yeah? We've heard nothing about you.
Yeah.
Never heard of the Icebreaker? That's me.
No.
I'm telling you I'm the shit.
Look, we have no doubt.
You set this up. What do you want?
I thought we should talk because I like to stay current.
We like staying informed.
I'm not hacking anymore.
- And neither are we. - Yeah. Right.
I thought we should talk. I like to share information.
What do you got?
I got DMV access.
We got it.
I got cellphone tumbling.
Your cherry list is tired old hacker bullshit.
And so are you.
Hey! What do you guys know about SAS?
What's that?
Haven't heard of it, have you?
What is it?
A service Southern California Telephone offers the FBI.
Can monitor any phone, anytime, anywhere.
Would you be interested in that service?
Yeah, if it wasn't "Fantasia" bullshit.
It's insecure. It's dial-up. It's impossible.
I got it, kid. What do you got?
To go.
We'll be in touch. Give you a call.
All right, another possibility would be let it go.
You know what I mean? This guy was weird.
This whole thing reeks of entrapment.
Then there's something to consider, which is we're older,
and we got jobs, and you got a wife.
We're not just kids anymore.
This is where you always get in trouble.
This is where you cross the line.
We're on probation, for Christ sakes.
The FBI's been looking for a reason to nail you.
Don't give it to them, man. Just walk away.
Why do you have to do this?
I just have to know.
Joe Fredy.
Hi, this is Joe Fredy.
Hi, this is Joe Fredy down at the Wilshire office.
Hi, I'm Joe Fredy.
I just want to steal some stuff.
This is Joel.
It's Joe Fredy at the Wilshire office.
I'm putting together an inventory report,
and he wants it yesterday, you know?
Bastards always do.
Yeah, they sure do.
What can I do for you, Joe?
I need some info on the SAS system you got there.
SAS system? What the hell is that?
You got me. I'm reading it off the page here.
My guess is it's probably a gray box,
maybe sort of the end of the rack, near the bottom?
All right. Hold on a second. I'll check.
- Got it. - Great, great.
Yeah, it was where you guessed, except on the top.
Well, nobody's perfect. What's it say on it?
"SAS. Switched Access Services. "
While you're at it, can you give me the serial number?
Oh, yeah, the manufacturer name, too, please.
Yeah?
Yeah, hi. I'm trying to get in touch with Chris Munsen.
This is Joe Fredy at Southern California Telephone.
I was told you were the engineer who designed the SAS system.
Yeah, I'm him.
I was sorry Netcorp went out of business.
You guys produced good product.
Yeah, we thought so, too.
Till the company got liquidated.
Me and 200 other people found ourselves
out on the street and out of luck.
Aw, man, that sucks.
Anyway, I just wanted to compliment you on your SAS work.
Really?
Yeah.
It's pretty good, isn't it?
Good? It's beautiful.
It's obvious you know your stuff.
I'd love to pick your brain
about the design and application.
Yeah. No problem. Sure.
Well, how about this?
I've got all the designs and info on my hard drive.
Let me fax it to you.
And then I can answer any question you got.
Hell, I'll send you a copy on floppy.
- How does that sound? - That'd be good.
Western Electric.
Statement balance. Constant rate.
This is pretty damn amazing, Alex.
FBI, L.A.P.D., Justice Department.
You can listen to how agents get their information.
Their names, badge numbers.
Who works what, who reports to whom.
You could play Big Brother, beat them at their own game.
Hey, Shelley.
Alex.
- Hey, baby. - Hey.
So, what's next, dude?
Mike Leahy.
Tony Green in corporate. How are you?
Just fine, Tony. Yourself?
I'm doing okay. I'm in a bit of a pickle right now.
I promised my boss I'd have the phone numbers for the SAS,
but I got wrapped up in meetings.
- You know the drill. - Do I ever.
Listen, I need a favor. I need to get those right away.
Don't sweat it. I'll fax it right up.
Even better. I'm gonna have someone pick them up.
- You sure? - It's that important.
I'll get them ready.
Mike, how are you? Joe Turner.
I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude.
But do you work for Southern California Telephone?
No, no, I'm in sales at Calcom.
Just trying to close a deal with Tony's office.
Do you know what this is?
Look, Mike, I'm just doing Tony a favor.
I was heading to corporate.
He asked me to pick up a package.
That's all I know.
Just have Tony send it back through intercompany mail.
Will do.
Hi, Jane.
Jane, would you stick that in the mail?
I'm late for a meeting.
Send it to Mike Leahy.
I owe you one. Don't talk to your boyfriend.
I'm not talking to... Can you hold on a second?
I don't know who that was.
Hey, boys.
Glad you called.
We brought some toys.
Yeah? Great. Love it. Thanks.
We scanned the place. It's clean.
Great. Yeah. Of course it is.
Hey, I got the need to pee. I'll be right back.
What a nice guy.
Yeah, what a tremendously nice guy.
And really current.
He's the shit.
He's completely the shit. Icebreaker is the shit.
Oh, all right.
Got a present for you.
Nice.
Let's see it.
I think you'll like this.
It's Christmas day. Let's see it.
All right.
Whoo!
Where the fuck did you get this?
Where did you get this?
When you have something for us, we'll have something for you.
We gots to go.
Oh, shit.
You told them about SAS? How could you be so stupid?
The plan was I start a dialogue! I did what I had to do.
You told me you could deliver Mitnick,
but instead, you tell him about SAS?
You know what that means?
Mitnick will now do anything he can to get that system,
which means we have to shut the system down!
He's already got it.
The system.
Lance.
I did my best.
Lance!
Where are you calling me from?
What?
Where are you calling me from?
My house, why?
If you're Mitnick and Lowe, what would be the first phone number
that you would activate with the SAS system?
Might it not be yours?
Uh...
Shit.
Oh, man, that is awesome.
That is awesome.
Oh, dude. They're pissed at you.
They're gonna come looking for you.
My probation's up in three days.
Yeah, they're gonna come in 3 days, minus 2 seconds.
I know.
Damn it!
Good morning, Osiris.
What time is your flight to Washington?
Good morning. 10:00.
- Want me to drive you? - No.
You want some coffee?
Why don't you just stay here and sleep in?
Like I ever sleep in.
Listen to this.
"Combining technical wizardry with the guile of a grifter,
Kevin Mitnick is a computer programmer run amok,
and officials cannot seem to catch up with him. "
"Now one of the most-wanted criminals,
Mr. Mitnick is suspected of stealing
from leading cellular telephone manufacturers,
coaxing employees into giving him passwords and codes
that could be used to break into their computers. "
"While he's thought to be in California, Mr. Mitnick... "
Mister. I just can't get over that.
"Has eluded an FBI manhunt for more than a year and a half.
Last year, he managed to gain control of a phone system
that allowed him to wiretap the FBI agents searching for him. "
Kevin's on the front page. He's a star.
Yeah. He's a marked man, that's what he is.
And he's got John Markoff to thank.
Why do they use that ugly picture?
He looks like a hit man or something.
You want a more flattering picture?
Why do you care?
This is great.
What?
It's Kevin.
Really?
He's back.
Did you read this?
Yeah. It's bullshit.
Yeah, but Washington wants an arrest now.
The article says there's no proof it's Mitnick.
It's just this reporter hyping a story.
Mitch, it's the perception that we're helpless
against these hackers.
I just spent an hour getting reamed by the director
and the Attorney General, no less, for that perception.
You want me to arrest him for violating probation?
I don't know. It's up to you.
McCoy, I got real cases with real victims.
Mitch, Mitch, find Kevin Mitnick,
arrest Kevin Mitnick, then it's over.
Aren't you taking this shit a little far, Kevin?
This is kind of creepy.
Thanks for coming, Alex.
I was worried about you.
Were you?
Yeah.
Yeah, I was.
I need a favor.
I'm tired.
I need a place to crash for a couple weeks.
All right. All right.
We thank Tsutomu Shimomura
for appearing before the committee today.
Mr. Shimomura is a computational physicist
and one of the leading experts on computer-security technology.
He's done consulting work with Fortune 500 corporations,
as well as the State Department, Defense Department, and others.
He's currently senior fellow
at the San Diego Super Computer Center
at the University of California.
Mr. Shimomura, please proceed with your demonstration.
What I have in my hand
is a cellphone sold by the Nokitel corporation.
But really, it's a radio controlled by a small computer.
That is, a scanner.
Babe, can you make it next weekend?
Margaret's still in Spain, right?
Come on, sweetheart. I'm needed on the Hill.
- I mean, all this talk... - That will be sufficient.
Honey, I need to get on top of you.
Enough!
I want to point out the scanning features
were put in by the manufacturer.
All I did was discover them.
Oh, bullshit.
Yeah.
Who does he think he's kidding?
He's like, "I just found them. "
Really.
Mr. Chairman, in the future, the public will find itself
vulnerable to the prying ears.
What he meant to say was "the unsuspecting public. "
God, this guy bugs me.
Is he even an American?
Come on, man.
It's the same sanctimonious crap.
You know what I want?
I want that Nokitel code.
With that, I stay ahead of the Feds.
I can hear them coming, and I'm gone.
- Hey, baby. - Hi, honey.
- How are you? - I'm good.
You have a nice day?
Yeah.
Hello, Kevin.
So, did you go by Tim's?
Yes, I did.
Did you feed his piranha fish?
Yes, I did.
Speak to me.
Is this Mr. Shimomura?
- Who's this? - Right, sorry.
This is Bill Rondell at Sun Microsystems.
- We met at Comdex. - Uh-huh?
Well, we here at Sun Microsystems
saw your testimony, and we were pretty impressed.
A fine, wonderful piece of reverse engineering.
Well, thanks.
I'm calling in regards to an advisory
posted on sendmail vulnerabilities,
and, frankly, I need help trying to fix it.
Bill, I have another call. Can you hold on?
- So, Bill. It is Bill? - Right. You got it.
Bill Rondell at Sun Microsystems?
Right. If you could send me...
There is no Bill Rondell at Sun Microsystems.
If you're gonna con somebody, get your story straight.
Is that so hard? How lame are you?
Whoa, whoa, man!
He said I was lame.
He didn't know who you were. He doesn't know it's you.
Speak to me.
Shimomura, speaking of stories, you still fucking Julia?
I believe it's Julia, right?
Peter Maddox's old lady? Peter's a friend, right?
When you're fucking, does she call Peter's name?
I mean, that would be pretty perverse, wouldn't it?
Who are you?
Someone who cares.
That was really productive.
Don't start with me, Alex.
Look, Kev, that guy's not gonna be easy.
It was a crank call. Nothing more.
You didn't hear him.
Tomu, the thing between me and Peter is over.
It's been over. You know that.
You're missing the point, Julia.
This is a guy who took the time to find out about you.
If he's good, he can be looking into everything.
I've got to get going.
I've got a long night at the clinic.
See you later.
Bye.
You know, they can wait a little while.
Don't you dare.
Yes?
Who is this?
Hey, I got a new story for you.
It's the story of the nation's top computer-security expert.
He gets hacked, and, believe me, I got the story straight.
What?
Tomu?
Come on.
You want to tell me what's going on?
Good evening, Mr. Shimomura.
No way.
No fucking way.
No fucking way!
35 cents? Fuck.
What's up?
You won't believe this hack, man.
Our brother Tsutomu's deep in toys.
I mean, Nokitel's just the tip.
Shut up, man, okay?
I'm listening.
There's a Crown Victoria across the street.
Government car. It's been there all morning.
They talk to you?
No, they're like vultures. They're watching.
Fucking Markoff and "The Times" is what this is about.
That and SAS.
You switched the pair assignments?
Day I moved in. They're listening to the neighbors.
Hello?
Did you hear about Jim's father?
The one that coaches Little League?
I heard he's only got one testicle.
Well, Sam went in for a vasectomy.
Died of a blood clot.
- Oh, my God. - Son of a bitch!
Son of a bitch.
Fuckers are good.
Fuckers are real good.
They're leaving.
Do me a favor. Leave the door open.
I'll see you later, okay?
I get paid to stay one step ahead of hackers.
It's my job to create the cure for the ultimate disease.
But the first step is to create that disease.
I've done that.
And I named it "Contempt. "
Contempt breaks down known system defenses.
Obliterates them completely.
So it's a virus.
No. You don't understand.
This is not just any attack virus.
Contempt understands the Internet links infrastructures,
so in a few keystrokes,
you could bring a city, maybe a country, to its knees.
You could overload phone lines, disrupt air-traffic control,
black out a city, scramble software used by banks.
And nothing could stop you.
And now it's out there.
The hacker stole literally thousands of files from Osiris.
Research articles, papers, e-mail.
I save everything.
Take him less time to go through the Manhattan phone book.
Odds are, he was after the Nokitel code.
That'll keep him busy for a while.
You're gonna have to get help.
You're gonna have to tell.
- What? - Not about Contempt.
But Brad and those guys here can help you track this guy.
Use them. Use me.
Because you were right.
You can't stop looking.
- Lowe! - What?
Could you turn the fucking music down, please?
All right!
What's your problem? Why don't you ask politely?
It's in my fucking house!
I could be so rich right now.
Right now, I could be on that computer this minute.
I could take money from any bank anywhere in the country.
I could put it into any account that I want to, and I don't!
I don't!
And I get that!
I'm not John Dillinger.
"Warrant was issued. "
You scare them. That's all, man.
Look, come on, you're reading their e-mail.
Sergeant?
Let's do this quick and easy.
Will somebody check the bedrooms?
We're going down, man! We got it!
We got it, man!
We got it!
What's up?
Morning, Mr. Lowe.
Special Agent Gibson, FBI.
Hey.
Hey, buddies.
Come on.
What's going on here?
Shit.
Come on. What?
What the hell's going on here?
What the fuck is going on here?
That little fucker.
Saturday, 8:34 P.M.
Mr. Shimomura, I'm the best.
My boss is number one.
I know sendmail technique.
Hey, you! Your Kung Fu no good!
You been naughty boy.
Don't you know me?
Me and my friends will kill you.
This is Osiris in my bedroom.
This is the machine where I keep the Nokitel code.
This is Ariel on my desk in the center here.
Osiris can't talk to the world. She only communicates to Ariel.
Ariel is the firewall.
Ariel, in turn, is connected to the Internet via modem.
It was Ariel whose log files began to be subject to deletion.
Now, he got to Ariel, which is password protected.
But to get to Osiris. Not possible.
The 4-minute mile. Not possible.
We're talking about a lot of money here.
Make it happen. We delay, we lose the deal.
I am making it happen.
Nobody knows better than me what a delay would mean,
and I don't need you to point it out.
Last night, I found a piece of code left behind on Osiris
by someone interested in finding out
if any of the files contain the sequence "I-T-N-I,"
as in Mitnick.
You think Mitnick did it?
- You cracked the Nokitel code? - I got it.
Now I need pictures of the Feebs.
You know what else is weird?
What?
The phone call announcing the hack.
What about it?
Well, why did you even get it?
- Gibson. - This is Warren Fox.
I'm an investigator
at the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
I got a call from someone saying he was you.
What did he want?
He requested photographs of a dozen Bureau agents,
including his own.
In the perfect hack, the victim doesn't even know, right?
Mm-hmm.
So, this guy called to gloat? To rub your nose in it?
That would imply it's someone you know
or someone that you've really pissed off.
Try everybody, Julia.
I love you, too, Brad.
You got a weird way of showing it, boss.
This guy's smart. Check this out.
The number he gave us was an FBI fax number.
But when we were faxing the cover sheet,
the fax said he was at a copy center in Culver City.
The guy just simply call-forwarded the number.
Give me the address of that place, would you?
I think that's addressed to me.
You're right. It's addressed to "A. Cocksucker. "
Oh!
Come on. Go, go.
Son of a bitch.
Fucking Nazi.
Fuck!
Fuck.
Keep going.
Fucker.
Are you typing?
- Are you typing? - I'm not typing.
Are you sure? Because that's extremely rude.
I would never be rude.
It's rude when you're talking to somebody.
Can you say where you are?
No.
You're typing!
Will that be window or aisle?
What?
You know how it is. I travel light.
Pourquoi?
Are you checking your luggage?
The way I look at it, the Internet's a storage facility.
- Do us a favor, all right? - Yeah.
Just don't get caught.
You can't catch what you can't see.
You been naughty boy, huh?
Don't you know me?
Me and my friends will kill you.
Are there any questions?
Yeah.
Would you comment on the speculation
that this break-in is the work of Kevin Mitnick?
No. No comment on that.
Was he after the Nokitel code?
That would be a logical assumption.
What else they get?
That's confidential.
Not anymore.
Hey, what do you know?
I'm sorry. That's confidential.
Yeah, not for long.
You're looking good, baby. Thank you.
Thank you for enlightening us.
Whoo!
Hey, weren't there supposed to be free doughnuts?
Take a deep breath.
Step back, Tomu.
That's how you're gonna beat him.
Mr. Shimomura!
Hi. Mitch Gibson, FBI.
Got a minute?
Okay.
Could it be Mitnick?
It could be a number of people.
I've been trying to get a better grasp of you hackers.
I'm a hacker. Mitnick's a cracker.
That's a big difference.
Look, I've been given a mandate to catch Mitnick.
For what crime? Damned if I know.
He's a punk and capable of doing damage,
but short of violating probation and unlawful flight.
- What's your name again? - Mitch.
Do you understand any of this?
I mean, are you qualified to be handling this?
You may look at me and think, "This guy is just stupid. "
Huh?
"I don't have the time to bother with him. "
To your thinking, I am stupid.
But my way of thinking is all that matters.
To my way of thinking,
I'm a guy with intelligence experience,
and you're just a desocialized computer geek,
not including the pretty girlfriend.
Mitch!
Mitch, what's up, baby? You remember me?
That's Alex Lowe.
Close friend of Mitnick's.
Hey, Tomu! Number one on super speed!
If I was a betting man, he left the message.
Your Kung Fu style very good!
I think we got off to a bad start here.
I know you can help me. Maybe I can help you.
Hear me out, okay?
Come on, Kevin. Know what I'm saying?
My stepfather was radical Jewish Defense League.
The bastard was "an eye for an eye," all that shit.
Get this.
He used to take Adam and me for target practice.
He'd put up these large Hitler posters, and we'd blast...
You see this?
What? What are you looking at? Where?
TAR file.
In a directory named "Contempt. "
Some of the code is encrypted.
What is this?
Shit. I don't know.
This is like no code I've seen before.
Right.
What have we got here, Tsutomu?
Looks like some worm and virus code all rolled into one.
Like some stealth-attack code.
But I don't see any government classifications.
In fact, there's no propriety designation.
There's no CIA, no FBI, no NSA, which is weird.
The "G" likes to take credit.
I don't think he did it for Big Brother.
Come on, that doesn't make any sense.
He would do it for himself? Why would he do that?
Because he can.
Hi.
Thanks for telling me.
I didn't know.
Hey. Can I get you anything else?
Yeah. Another espresso, please.
Reading about cyber terrorists?
The First Amendment freedom fighters.
This is like the Contras and the Sandinistas.
It's all a perspective thing.
Well, anything anti-Big Brother is good, don't you think?
Yeah. I'd have to agree with that.
Well, I'll get your espresso.
Hey.
I think, in the interest of a free and open society,
that we should continue this conversation.
You're on.
I'm Karen, by the way.
Yes?
This is in Seattle?
Right.
You confirm the MINs?
Jake, give me your number. I'll call you back in an hour.
- Tsutomu? - Yeah.
Jake Cronin, Cellular One Fraud Division.