Mitnick had so many stories that entranced the people around him. I heard one second hand of Mitnick dealing with a bank who had early voice verification software. Upon meeting the CEO he gave the executive his card and departed for the evening. Arriving back at his hotel, he called the CEO and asked him to read his phone number to him. The phone number contained all ten digits which Mitnick had neatly tape recorded so as to make the CEO’s voice reproducible. He then proceeded to use the bank’s vocal banking system to transfer $1 from the CEO’s account to his as the authentication mechanism was reading out your own account number in your voice.
When Mitnick arrived back in the board room the architect of the voice verification system was crestfallen and the bank CEO delivered a check on a silver platter.
Now how much of that tale is embellished I will never know as it was second hand, but that was the kind of whimsy Mitnick brought to our world.
Rest in Power.
"Okay, so you heard me type in the PIN? So now you can know my PIN?"
"Oh no", he said, "it's just beeps, like this - ", and pressed a few digits.
"Right so you typed 1 6 3 2 4, there."
"..."
"That's what you typed, isn't it?"
"Uhm... yes, how did you guess?"
"I didn't guess, I could hear the beeps. I've got a reasonable ear for pitch, so I can tell what the numbers are from the tones. Any chance you could escalate this to your manager after the call, and tell them to give me a phone if they've any questions?"
They rang me the next day, and I explained the situation to them.
Now, at least in the UK, you get transferred away from the call handler when you put your PIN in.