Claim to fame:
The first hacker to have his face immortalized on an FBI "Most Wanted" poster. His status as a repeat offender -- a teenage hacker who couldn't grow up -- earned Mitnick the nickname The Lost Boy of Cyberspace.

First encountered a computer:
As a teenager. Mitnick couldn't afford a computer, so he hung out in a Radio Shack store. He used the store's demo models and modem to dial other computers.

Unusual tools:
During the three years he was on the lam, Mitnick used Internet Relay Chat (IRC) as a message drop and to communicate with his friends.

Little-known fact:
Sentenced to a year in a residential treatment center, Mitnick enrolled in a 12-step program to rid himself of what a judge agreed was his "computer addiction." Hey, it's California.