In the days when the presence of a computer did NOT presume the presence of a network (they used to be freestanding units that could not easily communicate with another system), accounts to use the computer were expensive to maintain and heavily scrutinized by management. When the Accounting staff of Stoll's university employer discovered 75 cents' worth of time used with which no user was associated, they called him and demanded that he locate the "phantom" user. Stoll wasn't even a computing pro - he was an astronomer that used the computer to run programs that pointed telescopes properly. But he was a member of a club that exists today - that person elected to do network administration because he drew the short straw. Stoll tells the ensuing circa 1985 tale of analysis when people worldwide were only just discovering what networks could reveal... and hide. Rather like today.
Great introduction to information security: spies, philosophy, and so much more.
5 stars
This book is an excellent introduction to hacking. It's great for beginners as it explains concepts on a fundamental level. It asks moral questions surrounding information security and who protects users. It is also a great starting point for people who need to see the picture of their learning or are struggling with being interested in learning about information security.
I enjoyed this exploration of "vintage" computer systems. It differed from some other hacking tales I've read in that it was from the perspective of a person watching the hacker rather than that of the hacker. This gives it a fun detective story vibe. The hacking itself was pretty low stakes and a lot of time was spent talking about how the hack wasn't bad enough to warrant any law enforcement getting involved. Somewhat frustrating, though probably not as much as it was for the writer at the time.
I'm usually super into tales about the early days of computers, technology, the internet, and gaming, but I think this one was a miss for me. The author was an astrophysics student at UC Berkeley who accidentally discovers a hacker while trying to explain a 75 cent(!!!) discrepancy in the computer time books. Rather than shut the guy out, Stoll spends months meticulously tracking the hacker's moves through the early 'net and creating a web of connections within basically every letter agency active at the time. Nobody wants to be the one agency to act, so there's a lot of back-and-forth between agencies at various points of the book, until someone finally loses patience, blinks, and the hacker gets caught.
I had a few issues with the book. I understand it's basically a computer period piece of how technology was at the time, but it still got super repetitive about …
I'm usually super into tales about the early days of computers, technology, the internet, and gaming, but I think this one was a miss for me. The author was an astrophysics student at UC Berkeley who accidentally discovers a hacker while trying to explain a 75 cent(!!!) discrepancy in the computer time books. Rather than shut the guy out, Stoll spends months meticulously tracking the hacker's moves through the early 'net and creating a web of connections within basically every letter agency active at the time. Nobody wants to be the one agency to act, so there's a lot of back-and-forth between agencies at various points of the book, until someone finally loses patience, blinks, and the hacker gets caught.
I had a few issues with the book. I understand it's basically a computer period piece of how technology was at the time, but it still got super repetitive about halfway through. The beginning was really interesting, the end was similarly compelling, but the middle was basically a series of "I see the hacker in my systems, here's what he's doing, I wish I could stop him" short segments. I also was mildly annoyed at the author's massive Main Character Syndrome, where he turns the hacker information over to the proper authorities, and then gets all shocked/angry/annoyed at not being immediately privvy to whatever the government does with the information. Long segments of the book are dedicated to the author waxing philosophical about how he's working with The Man and how much he hates not knowing what's going on. It gets kind of annoying.
I did like the glimpse into the computer technology from the period, though. I liked reading about the innovative ways the author used to track the hacker, determine his location, and mess with him to keep him on the line long enough to be traced. Well done in that respect.
Just kind of a mixed bag of a book all around, honestly.
It was interesting to hear about vim, emacs, and various other technologies from the perspective of 1989... some things have changed a lot and some things really haven't changed.
This is the kind of book that will appeal to computer nerds, and perhaps no one else, but since I am a computer nerd I quite enjoyed it. It is a true story involving computer hacking, and one of the earliest ones. The protagonist of this story is Clifford Stoll, who was trained as an astronomer but was managing computers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. One day he asked to look into a $.75 discrepancy in the billing for the computer accounts. With a magnificent obsession he tears into it, and eventually traces everything to a Soviet spy operating out of West Germany. Along the way Stoll has to deal with various agencies that don't really know what to do about this, and wonder if it as even anything they should worry about. After all, a 75 cent accounting error is not a big deal. But when it is …
This is the kind of book that will appeal to computer nerds, and perhaps no one else, but since I am a computer nerd I quite enjoyed it. It is a true story involving computer hacking, and one of the earliest ones. The protagonist of this story is Clifford Stoll, who was trained as an astronomer but was managing computers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. One day he asked to look into a $.75 discrepancy in the billing for the computer accounts. With a magnificent obsession he tears into it, and eventually traces everything to a Soviet spy operating out of West Germany. Along the way Stoll has to deal with various agencies that don't really know what to do about this, and wonder if it as even anything they should worry about. After all, a 75 cent accounting error is not a big deal. But when it is clear that a foreign agent is looking for information about the Strategic Defense Initiative (aka Star Wars), it is time to take action.
