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Man on the Run

Well, not anymore. These days, reformed computer hacker extraordinaire Kevin Mitnick works for The Man.

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My cell phone is ringing.

I pick it up off the table of a busy Los Angeles restaurant and look to see who is calling. Weird. The caller ID flashes my home phone number, but I know for certain that nobody is there. ¶ Across the table from me, Kevin Mitnick is smiling. Once the most notorious computer hacker in the country - he was the FBI's most-wanted hacker and a fugitive for three years - ­Mitnick has more than a passing knowledge about using technology for devious, deceptive purposes. Using his own cell phone, Mitnick takes just a few seconds to demonstrate how he accomplished this tele­phonic sleight of hand known as caller ID spoofing, a particularly effective trick for identity thieves and con artists. (Think about it: How likely would you be to withhold personal or financial information from someone who your caller ID says is from your bank?). Equally as quickly, Mitnick pulls upGeorge H.W. Bush's driver's license number and then offers to retrieve mine, but I demur.

On the day we meet, Mitnick, 43, certainly doesn't look like much of a threat. Wearing a dark T-shirt and jeans, he is engaging and self-deprecating; he bemoans his latest doctor's visit because his physician was pestering him about losing weight. These days, ­Mitnick - who served five years in federal prison for breaking into the computer systems of large companies like Motorola and Nokia and then fleeing from prosecution - has very much gone legit. Instead of covertly, and illegally, breaking into corporate computer systems, Mitnick - through his Las Vegas-based company, Mitnick Security Consulting - uses those same skills to protect companies. "I get paid to do what they call ethical hacking," he says. "Companies call me mostly to do security assessments, which is when they want someone to evaluate their technical, physical, and ­human-based security to find out if they have any holes in their infrastructure that bad guys can break through."