{"id":41888,"date":"2026-06-23T13:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T13:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/41888\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T13:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T13:51:10","slug":"the-man-who-helped-send-a-renowned-hacker-to-jail-received-a-porsche-911-from-him-decades-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/41888\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who Helped Send A Renowned Hacker To Jail Received A Porsche 911 From Him Decades Later"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine gifting a car like the Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS to someone who put you in jail. This rare story may sound straight out of a movie, but it actually played out in real life, involving famed hacker Kevin Mitnick and his former adversary Shawn Nunley.<\/p>\n

In the story first shared by The Drive<\/a> that goes back all the way to the 1990s, Mitnick repeatedly tried to break into the computer network of software company Novell, where Shawn Nunley worked as a network administrator.<\/p>\n

Nunley became suspicious when he received a phone call from Mitnick, who claimed to be a Novell employee seeking special access to the company\u2019s network. The hacker knew details about a real employee and an actual project at the company, but Nunley felt that something was amiss.<\/p>\n

Instead of granting access, Nunley asked the caller to leave a voicemail. His clever thinking led him to record the message, which later became a key piece of evidence against Mitnick.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image Credit: Porsche<\/p>\n

When Mitnick was eventually arrested, Nunley supported the prosecution at first. However, after years of legal delays, he became frustrated with how the case was being handled and stopped cooperating with the Department of Justice. Nunley wrote on the CSOH website:<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I worked very closely with the prosecutors, including Christopher Painter and Ken McGuire, for five years. Eventually, I became fed up with the delays and concerned that Kevin hadn\u2019t even been given a chance to argue for bail or access evidence. I questioned the long delays. I said, \u2018There are people who believe you are violating his civil right to due process.’\u201d<\/p>\n

However, a DOJ prosecutor told Nunley:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say we are violating his rights, but we are sending a message to other would-be hackers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nunley stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prosecutor\u2019s response sent chills down my spine. As a strong believer in the rule of law, I couldn\u2019t accept his words. Our right to due process is the foundation of a just society. This was unacceptable. If this was acceptable, it meant they could put anyone in prison just to intimidate people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nunley then decided to call Mitnick\u2019s lawyers. He wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cI immediately tried to contact Kevin\u2019s lawyers, but since all they knew was that I was the star witness on the opposing side, they weren\u2019t interested in talking. I finally left a convincing voicemail, which resulted in a call with both of his lawyers and Kevin himself the very next day. <\/p>\n

\u201cKeep in mind, up until that phone call, Kevin and I were adversaries. Up until then, I had done everything possible to ensure a conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoon after, Kevin was released from prison with a plea deal. While he did bring a lot of this on himself, that doesn\u2019t justify the government acting like an oppressive regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitnick and Nunley Become Close Friends<\/p>\n

After Mitnick was released from prison, he got in touch with Nunley to apologize. The two eventually became close friends despite their unusual history. In a new chapter of his professional life, Mitnick founded a cybersecurity consulting business and became a respected figure in the industry.<\/p>\n

But in 2023, Mitnick died from pancreatic cancer, and he left behind enough money for Nunley so he could go buy his dream car: a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS. Nunley wrote that he feels very sad about the loss of his friend:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyway, we hit it off when we met. Somehow, we became great friends in the process, and I have had a wonderful time watching him develop into a real man. I am truly sad he is gone as he was a big part of my life for the last quarter century.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to say, I loved this man like a brother and I will miss him more than I can say. I have promised to make sure his soon-to-be-born son is trained in the ways of the Jedi, Amateur Radio, and maybe a bit about staying out of prison. RIP Kev.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Image Credit: Porsche<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imagine gifting a car like the Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS to someone who put you in jail.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21181],"tags":[21245,8406],"class_list":["post-41888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-porsche","tag-21245","tag-porsche"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}