Hacker Mitnick Sentenced, Ordered to Pay Firms $4,125

Notorious computer hacker Kevin Mitnick was ordered Monday to pay $4,125 to the high-tech companies he victimized, a sum that the judge described as a “token” amount as she completed the last sentencing detail in one of the most publicized computer crime cases in history.

Mitnick, a San Fernando Valley native who led the FBI on a two-year chase in the early 1990s, also was formally sentenced to 46 months in prison by Judge Mariana Pfaelzer in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The length of the sentence reflected a plea agreement that Mitnick reached with prosecutors last spring. Accounting for time served, the 36-year-old hacker could be released in January, nearly five years after his dramatic capture in a North Carolina apartment.

“We’re very happy that this chapter in our lives is over,” said Alan Mitnick, Kevin’s father, who called the small restitution imposed a major win.

The figure was far short of the $1.5 million that federal prosecutors sought, let alone the hundreds of millions of dollars in damages claimed by the many companies he victimized, including such high-tech giants as Sun Microsystems Inc. and Novell Corp.

Chris Painter, a federal prosecutor in the case, acknowledged disappointment but said the sentence represents “an appropriate and fair conclusion of the case.”

Pfaelzer said she would have preferred to impose a “much, much larger” restitution order but did not believe Mitnick would be able to pay more.

Prosecutors said the $4,125 represents a 15% garnishment of what Mitnick might earn in a minimum-wage job during his three-year supervised release after his sentence is completed.

Mitnick’s attorney, Don Randolph, has argued that his client’s earning potential will be constrained for years by the terms of the plea agreement.

In fact, the judge spent several minutes Monday outlining those restrictions, listing all of the devices--from PCs to cellular phones--that Mitnick will not be allowed to use while on probation.

Mitnick appears to have not profited from his hacking but seems to have taken great satisfaction in the technical challenge of penetrating computer systems.

He became an underground icon over the course of a career that spanned two decades. On Monday, the courtroom was packed with reporters and Mitnick supporters, including other hackers who have come to see him as something of a martyr.