Hacker Mitnick Is Sentenced to 22-Month Prison Term
Labeling him a “threat to the community,” a federal judge Friday sentenced cyber-hacker Kevin Mitnick to 22 months in prison and ordered him to stay away from virtually all forms of high technology for at least three years.
U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer ordered the notorious hacker to keep clear of computer hardware, software, modems and cellular phones without the consent of his probation officer, when and if he is released from prison.
Mitnick was also ordered not to consult or advise any groups with regard to computers, work in computer-related fields or use false identities.
“Mr. Mitnick engaged in hacking,” Pfaelzer said sternly. “And we don’t want him to hack again.”
Mitnick, 33, has already pleaded guilty to possessing illegal cellular phone codes while on release from a computer fraud conviction in 1989.
Defense attorney Donald C. Randolf complained that the terms were overly broad and improper. “They are Amish-like,” Randolf said of the technology restrictions. Once Mitnick is released, Randolf said, it will be as if “he lived in a log cabin in the wilderness.”
Mitnick has been in custody since February 1995, when he was arrested in North Carolina. In that case, in which he was accused of possessing numerous fraudulent cell phone codes used to illegally access cellular phone networks, Mitnick pleaded guilty to one count of illegal possession of cell phone numbers and was sentenced to an eight-month prison term. That came in addition to 14 months for violating the terms of his supervised release after the computer fraud conviction.
Mitnick is awaiting trial, which will probably begin next year, on charges related to computer hacking that resulted in the alleged theft of millions of dollars in computer software, from June 1992 to February 1995, when Mitnick was a fugitive.
Browning said his client has already served more than 22 months in prison, and he will file a motion for bail. But authorities said they will keep Mitnick in custody based on the pending case, in which he faces more than 100 years in prison.
