walked me to the door and all the way to my car. As I drove off into the distance, I glanced in my rearview mirror. They were all waving good-bye.
My career at GTE had lasted a total of nine days.
I heard later that the guys from Pacific Bell Security razzed the hell out of their buddies at GTE, thinking it was hilarious that any company could be stupid enough to hire the notorious phone phreaker Kevin Mitnick—whom Pacific Bell had been keeping a file on for years.
One step back and one step forward. A Computer Learning Center instructor who also worked at Security Pacific National Bank as an Information Security Specialist suggested I apply for a job there. Over a period of weeks, I had three sets of interviews, the last one with a vice president of the bank. Then a fairly lengthy wait. Finally the phone call came: “One of the other candidates has a college degree, but we’ve decided you’re the person we want.” The salary was $34,000, which for me was great!
They sent an in-house memo around that announced, “Please welcome new employee Kevin Mitnick, who starts next week.”
Remember that article in the
Los Angeles Times
, which covered my juvenile arrest and printed my name, a violation of law as well as a violation of my privacy because I was a minor? Well, one of the people at Security Pacific National Bank remembered that article, too.
The day before I was to start, I got a strange call from Sandra Lambert, the lady who’d hired me and who founded the security organization Information Systems Security Association (ISSA). The conversation was actually more like an interrogation:
SL: “Do you play Hearts?”
Me: “The card game?”
SL: “Yes.”
I had a sinking feeling that the party was over.
SL: “Are you a ham radio operator with the call sign WA6VPS?”
Me: “Yes.”
SL: “Do you dig around in the Dumpsters behind office buildings?”
Me: Uh-oh. “Only when I’m hungry.”
My attempt at humor fell. She said good-bye and hung up. I received a phone call from Human Resources the next day withdrawing the employment offer. Once again, my past had come back to bite me in the ass.
Sometime later, media outlets received a press release from Security Pacific National Bank announcing a $400 million loss for the quarter. The release was a phony—it wasn’t really from the bank, which had not in fact lost money in that quarter. Of course the higher-ups at the bank were sure I was behind it. I didn’t learn about any of this until months later, at a court hearing, when prosecutors told the judge that I had committed this malicious act. Thinking back, I remembered telling De Payne that my job offer had been pulled. Years afterward, I asked him if he had been behind that press release. He vehemently denied it. The fact is, I didn’t do it. That wasn’t my style: I’ve never practiced any kind of vicious retribution.
But the phony press release became another part of the Myth of Kevin Mitnick.
Still, I had Bonnie in my life, one of the best things that had ever happened to me. But have you ever felt that something was so good it couldn’t possibly last?
Hitched in Haste
Kvoh wg hvs boas ct hvs Doqwtwq Pszz sadzcmss kvc fsor hvs wbhsfboz
asac opcih am voqywbu oqhwjwhwsg cjsf hvs voa forwc?
B onnie recently said that she still remembers “how much fun Kevin was, how sweet he was.”
I felt the same about her. There had been other girls I’d had crushes on, but Bonnie was a first for me in how serious I felt, a first in how much I cared. We enjoyed so many of the same things, even down to the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups that we’d drive out of our way to pick up at a 7-Eleven on our way home. You probably know the satisfaction when you’re just comfortable and happy being in one particular person’s company. There was no doubt that having her there for me, after those two rapid-fire job losses, was exactly what the doctor ordered. I was spending so much time at her
My career at GTE had lasted a total of nine days.
I heard later that the guys from Pacific Bell Security razzed the hell out of their buddies at GTE, thinking it was hilarious that any company could be stupid enough to hire the notorious phone phreaker Kevin Mitnick—whom Pacific Bell had been keeping a file on for years.
One step back and one step forward. A Computer Learning Center instructor who also worked at Security Pacific National Bank as an Information Security Specialist suggested I apply for a job there. Over a period of weeks, I had three sets of interviews, the last one with a vice president of the bank. Then a fairly lengthy wait. Finally the phone call came: “One of the other candidates has a college degree, but we’ve decided you’re the person we want.” The salary was $34,000, which for me was great!
They sent an in-house memo around that announced, “Please welcome new employee Kevin Mitnick, who starts next week.”
Remember that article in the
Los Angeles Times
, which covered my juvenile arrest and printed my name, a violation of law as well as a violation of my privacy because I was a minor? Well, one of the people at Security Pacific National Bank remembered that article, too.
The day before I was to start, I got a strange call from Sandra Lambert, the lady who’d hired me and who founded the security organization Information Systems Security Association (ISSA). The conversation was actually more like an interrogation:
SL: “Do you play Hearts?”
Me: “The card game?”
SL: “Yes.”
I had a sinking feeling that the party was over.
SL: “Are you a ham radio operator with the call sign WA6VPS?”
Me: “Yes.”
SL: “Do you dig around in the Dumpsters behind office buildings?”
Me: Uh-oh. “Only when I’m hungry.”
My attempt at humor fell. She said good-bye and hung up. I received a phone call from Human Resources the next day withdrawing the employment offer. Once again, my past had come back to bite me in the ass.
Sometime later, media outlets received a press release from Security Pacific National Bank announcing a $400 million loss for the quarter. The release was a phony—it wasn’t really from the bank, which had not in fact lost money in that quarter. Of course the higher-ups at the bank were sure I was behind it. I didn’t learn about any of this until months later, at a court hearing, when prosecutors told the judge that I had committed this malicious act. Thinking back, I remembered telling De Payne that my job offer had been pulled. Years afterward, I asked him if he had been behind that press release. He vehemently denied it. The fact is, I didn’t do it. That wasn’t my style: I’ve never practiced any kind of vicious retribution.
But the phony press release became another part of the Myth of Kevin Mitnick.
Still, I had Bonnie in my life, one of the best things that had ever happened to me. But have you ever felt that something was so good it couldn’t possibly last?
Hitched in Haste
Kvoh wg hvs boas ct hvs Doqwtwq Pszz sadzcmss kvc fsor hvs wbhsfboz
asac opcih am voqywbu oqhwjwhwsg cjsf hvs voa forwc?
B onnie recently said that she still remembers “how much fun Kevin was, how sweet he was.”
I felt the same about her. There had been other girls I’d had crushes on, but Bonnie was a first for me in how serious I felt, a first in how much I cared. We enjoyed so many of the same things, even down to the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups that we’d drive out of our way to pick up at a 7-Eleven on our way home. You probably know the satisfaction when you’re just comfortable and happy being in one particular person’s company. There was no doubt that having her there for me, after those two rapid-fire job losses, was exactly what the doctor ordered. I was spending so much time at her
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