The best way to prevent hacking is to have a hacker show you where the holes are, how to secure the environment and what aspects you might be missing in terms of user and client security. That's exactly what ex-convicted hacker Kevin Mitnick is doing as a security consultant these days. While he was prohibited from using computers or the Net after his prison stint, he's now advising and consulting companies about the dangers inherent in social engineering--how users give out confidential information without even realizing it sometimes and how they share files they shouldn't.

For more on the value of a hacker's perspective:
- read this article at News.com