Mitnick cleared after customs scare

Tag : Cell Phone Conference Call

After landing at the Atlanta airport for a security conference,Mitnick was detained for four hours for reasons still not fullyexplained. To make matters worse, while customs officials inAtlanta were busy inspecting his cell phone, laptop, and luggage,police in Bogota were ripping open a package he had mailed to hisUS address on suspicion that it contained cocaine.
The simultaneous incidents gave Mitnick deja vu of his days as afugitive pursued by the FBI for breaking into computer networks , only this time, he hadn't broken any laws.
"There was uncertainty, fear, and panic because I didn't know whatwas going on, and I didn't do anything wrong," he said in a recenttelephone interview with ZDNet.com.au sister site CNET News. "In my mind, I thought I was being set upfor something."
Mitnick's Delta Airlines plane landed in Atlanta on September 16 ataround 3pm. He had flown in from Bogota, where he had gone to givea speech to the newspaper El Tiempo and to visit his girlfriend.
The first sign of trouble was when a US customs agent swiped hispassport through the computer system and started staring intentlyat the screen and typing. "Kevin," the agent said with a big smileon his face. "Guess what? There are some people downstairs who wantto have a word with you, but don't worry. Everything will be OK."
While he waited to retrieve his luggage, Mitnick's cell phone rang.It was his girlfriend in Bogota saying she'd just gotten a callfrom the police there. They wanted permission to open up a packageof computer equipment and souvenirs he'd mailed back to the US afew days earlier because they said they found traces of cocaine onthe package.
He finished the call and went back to the business at hand,offering his luggage up for inspection. A customs agent asked if hehad ever been arrested. "Yes." Had he ever been to jail? "Yes." Forhow long? "Five years." They knew the answers all too well, ofcourse.
In his luggage, they found a MacBook Pro, a Dell XPS M1210 laptop,an Asus 900 mini-laptop, three or four hard drives, numerous USBstorage devices, some Bluetooth dongles, three iPhones, and fourNokia cell phones with different SIM cards for different countries.
They also found a lock-picking kit and an HID proximity cardspoofer that can be used to snag data stored on physical accesscards by swiping it in front of them. The data can then be used toenter locked doors without having to make a forged access card.Mitnick says he used the device in a demonstration about securityin his speech in Bogota, but that the customs agents' eyes lit upwhen they saw it, thinking it was a credit card reader.
Mitnick asked if he was under arrest and was told that, no, he wasjust being detained. He asked if there is a warrant for his arrestand he was told, "We don't know yet." The agents let him call hislawyer and his family.
"I was really nervous because I didn't know what the hell was goingon," he said.
Agents from the Immigrations Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrived toquestion him. They asked why he was in Atlanta and he told them; hewas there to moderate a panel at a security conference sponsored bythe American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS). Asked forproof, he fired up a laptop to show them the itinerary in hisemail. But when he clicked "yes" to have Firefox clear his privatedata — an automatic response to a default setting — theagents snatched the laptop away from him, thinking he was deletingevidence.
"Then I realised I was logged in and I don't want them to have mypassword," Mitnick said. So, he quickly reached over and hits thepower button to "off."
Fortunately for Mitnick, one of the members of the panel he was tomoderate works for the FBI, and customs agents were able to reachhim to verify Mitnick's story.
Meanwhile, ASIS organisers, worried about Mitnick's non-arrival forhis awaiting airport ride, had also called the director of securityat the airport and helped clear things up. The FBI in Atlantacleared Mitnick of any wrongdoing, so ICE let him go afterapologising several times. After some more questioning from customsofficials, he was released.
But what about the package in Bogota? Police there tore open thebox, took the electronic equipment apart, and destroyed the harddrive trying to open it by drilling a hole in it, but didn't findany drugs. The two incidents were, apparently, completely unrelatedand coincidental.
"Can you imagine if I had said to the agents 'Does this have to dowith the cocaine?" Mitnick jokes.
He can laugh about it now, but he was willing to share the story asa cautionary tale for anyone traveling into the United States withcomputer equipment. He was red-flagged for obvious reasons, andsomeone without his background might be able to stay under theradar. However, scrutiny is at the whim of officials who have beensaid to target political activists, nuns, and people who justhappen to have a last name on no-fly government lists.
And then there is the recently bestowed right customs officialshave to seize laptops crossing into the country with no causewhatsoever — though that may change. Legislation was recentlyintroduced that would require reasonable suspicion of illegalactivity before border agents could search electronic devices of UScitizens.
"They can detain you for four hours, inspect everything, and putyou through the third degree for no reason. It's really a policestate," Mitnick said. "I travel in foreign countries that have evenmore stringent rules, and I never have problems."
To protect his privacy and that of his clients, Mitnick encryptsall the confidential data on his laptops, transmits it over theInternet for storage on servers in the US, and wipes it from thecomputer before returning from any international trips, just incase officials decide to search or seize his equipment. He alsoencrypts his hard drive. And now, he says he is going to keep a"clone" of his MacBook at home so he will have an exact duplicateof it if it is ever seized.
"I don't harbor any ill feelings toward [customs], but I was reallyscared because of the circumstances that were happening in Bogotaat the same time," he says. "I feel lucky in a sense, and I feelviolated in a sense."