The Fugitive Game: Online with Kevin Mitnick
1996 non-fiction book by Jonathan Littman
The Fugitive Game: Online with Kevin Mitnick is a 1996 non-fiction book by American journalist Jonathan Littman. The book chronicles the life of computer hacker Kevin Mitnick during the period when he was a fugitive from United States law enforcement authorities between 1992 and 1995. Drawing on more than fifty hours of telephone conversations with Mitnick while he was in hiding, the book presents Mitnick's account of the events that led to his pursuit and eventual arrest.
Littman initially set out to research a broader story on computer security but shifted focus after connecting with Mitnick. The book portrays Mitnick's use of social engineering, cloned cell phones, and other techniques, while contrasting sharply with media narratives of the time.
The book was published shortly after Mitnick's arrest in February 1995 and offered a perspective that differed substantially from contemporary accounts presented in the media and in Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw by John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura.
Background
Littman began researching the world of computer hackers and security experts around 1994. His work intersected with the high-profile pursuit of Mitnick, who had become a media sensation following front-page stories in The New York Times. Through phone interviews conducted while Mitnick was still on the run, Littman gained direct access to the fugitive's side of the story, including details of his double life, narrow escapes, assumed identities, and motivations.
Synopsis
The book follows Mitnick's activities as a fugitive after violating the terms of his supervised release in 1992.
The public source identifies “The Fugitive Game: Online with Kevin Mitnick” as 1996 non-fiction book by Jonathan Littman. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Fugitive, Game and Online.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q140165702. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1996, 1992, 1995 and 1994.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Fugitive Game: Online with Kevin Mitnick” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.