Kevin Poulsen

Kevin Poulsen
Poulsen in 2014
Born
Kevin Lee Poulsen

(1965-11-30) November 30, 1965
Pasadena, California, United States
Other namesDark Dante
OccupationContributing editor at The Daily Beast
Children2
Criminal information
Criminal statusreleased
Conviction(s)seven counts of conspiracy, fraud, and intercepting wire communications
Criminal penalty51 months in federal prison, banned from using computers without permission from his probation officer

Kevin Lee Poulsen (born November 30, 1965) is an American journalist and former computer hacker. He used to work as a senior editor at Wired and now writes for The Daily Beast. In the past, he was known as a black-hat hacker and was sent to prison for computer crimes.[1][2]

Early life

Kevin Poulsen was born in Pasadena, California, on November 30, 1965.

Hacking and Arrest

In 1990, Poulsen hacked the phone lines of a radio station in Los Angeles (KIIS-FM). He made sure he would be the 102nd caller and won a Porsche car.

When the FBI tried to catch him, Poulsen ran away and became a fugitive. Later, he was featured on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries, and strangely, the phone lines of the show stopped working. He was arrested in 1991.

In 1994, Poulsen pleaded guilty to computer hacking, fraud, and wiretapping. He was sent to prison for five years. After prison, he was banned from using computers and the internet for three more years. He was the first American to get this kind of ban.[3]

  • DEF CON
  • Kevin Mitnick
  • List of computer criminals
  • The Secret History of Hacking, a 2001 documentary film featuring Kevin Mitnick

References

  1. ↑ "Vol 27, Issue 4: A Crime By Any Other Name..." www.theta.com. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  2. ↑ "Kevin Poulsen". LivingInternet. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
  3. ↑ Littman, Jonathan (1993-09-12). "The Last Hacker : He Called Himself Dark Dante. His Compulsion Led Him to Secret Files and, Eventually, the Bar of Justice". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-05-27.

Further reading

  • Jonathan Littman, The Watchman: The Twisted Life and Crimes of Serial Hacker Kevin Poulsen, 1997, publisher: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-52857-9

Other websites

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