I think it goes back to my high school days. In computer class, the first assignment was to write a program to print the first 100 Fibonacci numbers. Instead, I wrote a program that would steal passwords of students. My teacher gave me an A.

— Kevin Mitnick

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

It was used for decades to describe talented computer enthusiasts, people whose skill at using computers to solve technical problems and puzzles was - and is - respected and admired by others possessing similar technical skills.

— Kevin Mitnick

I wasn't a hacker for the money, and it wasn't to cause damage.

— Kevin Mitnick

I went from being a kid who loved to perform magic tricks to becoming the world's most notorious hacker, feared by corporations and the government.

— Kevin Mitnick

My actions constituted pure hacking that resulted in relatively trivial expenses for the companies involved, despite the government's false claims.

— Kevin Mitnick

People are prone to taking mental shortcuts. They may know that they shouldn't give out certain information, but the fear of not being nice, the fear of appearing ignorant, the fear of a perceived authority figure - all these are triggers, which can be used by a social engineer to convince a person to override established security procedures.

— Kevin Mitnick

Should we fear hackers? Intention is at the heart of this discussion.

— Kevin Mitnick

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Inc., which set the computing world on its ear with the Macintosh in 1984.

— Kevin Mitnick

The first programming assignment I had in high school was to find the first 100 Fibonacci numbers. Instead, I thought it would be cooler to write a program to get the teacher's password and all the other students' passwords. And the teacher gave me an A and told the class how smart I was.

— Kevin Mitnick