Kevin Mitnick Quotes

Hackers rarely have full knowledge of the technology stack of a target.

If you wanna know how not secure you are, just take a look around. Nothing's secure. Nothing's safe. I don't hate technology, I don't hate hackers, because that's just what comes with it, without those hackers we wouldn't solve the problems we need to solve, especially security.

Systems are complex, so controlling an attack and achieving a desired level of damage may be harder than using physical weapons.

Hacking is exploiting security controls either in a technical, physical or a human-based element.

The next Pearl Harbor could very well be a cyberattack.

I am convinced that there are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be. And even they are converging into one category: companies that have been hacked and will be hacked again.

There's always some potential vulnerabilities in any system.

We've shown that when an attack does happen, our agents and analysts will move heaven and earth to find those responsible.

Technology businesses in general are susceptible to hacking. That's why you have to work really, really, really hard with law enforcement, with security experts, internal and external groups, to make sure you're paying attention and addressing security concerns.

Every time you take a train, step into your car, walk into the shopping mall, go to the airport - every single time, something could happen. That's how terrorism works.

It was immediately clear to me that security was a cross-cutting issue, so rather than dividing the space up in parallel with each of the other areas, I wanted security cut across the areas in addition to having its own content.

How many of the 'Fortune' 500 are hacked? 500.

It's kind of interesting, because hacking is a skill that could be used for criminal purposes or legitimate purposes, and so even though in the past I was hacking for the curiosity, and the thrill, to get a bite of the forbidden fruit of knowledge, I'm now working in the security field as a public speaker.

You have to have as many defences in place as you possibly can. But even then of course - and it's important to stress this - you cannot guarantee being able to prevent every attack or every kind of attack.

If I needed to know about a security exploit, I preferred to get the information by accessing the companies' security teams' files, rather than poring over lines of code to find it on my own. It's just more efficient.

Fear attracts attack.

In our rush to connect everything [via the Internet], we have created a monster of bad guys just waiting to take advantage of a weak line of code in a very complex program.

One thing about cyberattacks is that what works on Monday may not work on Thursday.

I think sometimes if you let it all hang out, it makes you a target.

From bank accounts to financial systems, power grids to air traffic controls - our most critical infrastructure remain attractive cyber targets, and if they are ever compromised, the effects could be devastating.

I talked to the general counsel of the DNC, and he assures me that every step along the way, when we were notified of these issues, that we changed systems, changed procedures, but these hackers are so sophisticated that they changed procedures.

There are two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those who don't know they have been hacked.

Forty-two thousand people is an attractive target for people who want to hurt us. And a ballpark that's about 6 feet, at one point, from the street is as big a target as any we can imagine.

There have been many attacks on my company.

Let's try to secure everything.