The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders and Deceivers by Kevin D. Mitnick, William L. Simon Read Free Book Online Page A

stupid. It was easy to think that because these

    people were letting us get away with so much. But even so, I think

    he got over-confident.

    He was more of a daredevil, and also didn't fit the profile because

    he just looked like this teenage foreigner. So I think he tended to

    arouse suspicion. And he didn't go with a girlfriend or wife,

    which would have helped him fit in better.

    I think he just ended up doing things that brought attention onto

    him. But also, as time went on and we all got bolder, we evolved

    and tended to go to the more expensive machines that paid off bet-

    ter and that again put more risks into the operation.

    Though Mike disagrees, Alex seemed to be suggesting that they were all three risk takers who would keep pushing the edge of the window to see how far they could go. As he put it, "I think basically you just keep upping the risk."

    The day came when one minute Marco was sitting at a machine in a casino, the next minute he was surrounded by burly security people who pulled him up and pushed him into an interviewing room in the back. Alex recounted the scene:

    It was scary because you hear stories about these guys that will

    beat the shit out of people. These guys are famous for, "F__k the

    police, we're gonna take care of this ourself."

    Marco was stressed but he was a very tough character. In fact, in

    some ways I'm glad that he was the one that did get caught if any

    of us were going to because I think he was the most equipped to

    handle that situation. For all I know he had handled things like

    back in Eastern Europe.

    He exhibited some loyalty and did not give us up. He didn't talk

    about any partners or anything like that. He was nervous and

    upset but he was tough under fire and basically said he was work-

    ing alone.

    He said, "Look, am I under arrest, are you guys police, what's the

    deal?"

    It's a law enforcement type of interrogation except that they're

    not police and don't have any real authority, which is kind of

    weird. They kept on questioning him, but they didn't exactly

    manhandle him. 18 The Art of Intrusion

    They took his "mug shot," Alex says, and they confiscated the com- puter and all the money he had on him, about $7,000 in cash. After per- haps an hour of questioning, or maybe a lot longer -- he was too upset to be sure -- they finally let him go.

    Marco called his partners en route home. He sounded frantic. He said, "I want to tell you guys what happened. I sort of screwed up."

    Mike headed straight for their headquarters. "Alex and I were freaked when we heard what happened. I started tearing the machines apart and dumping pieces all over the city."

    Alex and Mike were both unhappy with Marco for one of the unneces- sary risks he ran. He wouldn't put the button in his shoe like the other two, stubbornly insisting on carrying the device in his jacket pocket and triggering it with his hand. Alex described Marco as a guy who "thought the security people were so dumb that he could keep pushing the enve- lope with how much he was doing right under their noses."

    Alex is convinced he knows what happened, even though he wasn't present. (In fact, the other three didn't know Marco had gone on a casino trip despite the agreement to clue each other in on their plans.) The way Alex figures, "They just saw that he was winning a ridiculous amount and that there was something going on with his hand." Marco simply wasn't bothering to think about what could cause the floor peo- ple to notice him and wonder.

    That was the end of it for Alex, though he's not entirely sure about the others. "Our decision at the beginning was that if any of us was ever caught, we would all stop." He said, "We all adhered to that as far as I know." And after a moment, he added with less certainty, "At least I did." Mike concurs, but neither of them has ever asked Marco the ques- tion directly.

    The casinos don't generally prosecute attacks like the one that the guys had