Kevin Mitnick, ‘the catch me if you can of cyberspace,’ dies at age 59 | WRAL TechWire

Kevin Mitnick, one of the most famous hackers in the history of cybersecurity, died over the weekend at age 59 after a more than year-long battle with pancreatic cancer, his family said in a published obituary.

Before his death on July 16, Mitnick’s hacking sprees were legendary, and multiple films were inspired by him.

“I was the catch me if you can of cyberspace,” he told WRAL News in a 2018 interview. “Why I was a hacker was (for) the intellectual curiosity, the pursuit of knowledge, the seduction of adventure.”

The first, “WarGames” starring Matthew Broderick, was partially based on allegations that Mitnick successfully hacked the computer systems at North American Aerospace Defense Command as a teenager. He denied ever having done so.