Read This: The Story of the Guy Who Stole Your Credit Card Number

Slipping in over his VNC client, Max could see what was on the computer's screen, as though standing right in front of it. Since he worked at night, the display on the dormant PC was usually dark, so he'd nudge his mouse to clear the screen saver. If there was anyone in the room, it might have been a little spooky: remember that time your computer monitor flipped on for no reason, and the cursor twitched? It might have been Max Vision taking a quick look at your screen.

Former hacker and Wired's Threat Level blog editor Kevin Poulsen has a new book out today, detailing the story of Max Vision, "a white hat computer hacker who turned to the dark side." This excerpt from 'Kingpin -- How One Hacker Took Over the Billion Dollar Cyber Crime Underground' gives a glimpse into a pulpy narrative straight out of Hollywood, but it's true stuff.

Read This: The Story of the Guy Who Stole Your Credit Card Number originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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