The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.63 (691 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1416507787 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 399 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 0000-00-00 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Stoll began a one-man hunt of his own: spying on the spy. But would the authorities back him up? Cliff Stoll's dramatic firsthand account is "a computer-age detective story, instantly fascinating and astonishingly gripping" (Smithsonian). Before the Internet became widely known as a global tool for terrorists, one perceptive U.S. Cliff Stoll was an astronomer turned systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab when a 75-cent accounting error alerted him to the presence of an unauthorized user on his system. citizen recognized its ominous potential. The hacker's code name was "Hunter" -- a mysterious invader who managed to break into U.S. computer systems and steal sensitive military and security information. Armed with clear evidence of computer espionage, he began a highly personal quest to expose a hidden network of spies that threatened national security. It was a dangerous game of deception, broken codes, satellites, and missile bases -- a one-man sting operation that finally gained the attention of the CIAand ultimately trapped an international spy ring fueled by cash, cocaine, and the KGB.
"An interesting story but a slow read" according to julio. Interesting story, poorly told.Cliff Stoll is an exceptionally bright guy and one of the very first to go to work as a white hat hacker, trying to foil a European hacker using Cliff's systems at Berkeley to break into US military networks. The concept and the actual story are great-- what's not so great is the pacing and the digressions he takes trying to make what would be a very quickly told spy story into a novel. He never quite seems to know why he's shoehor. High intrigue! Terry Zechman I'm not much of a book reader, but this was a real page turner! I was there back in the 300 baud modem days and can really identify what the author had to go through to track down this attacker during this time. Still in computer business today, I can't imagine calling a company or university and actually getting through to THE admin and freely sharing information about vulnerabilities in their systems. What's real interesting is that the attack methodology real. "Hasn't lost any luster" according to Cybele Bell. I reread this after reading sometime in the 90's after hearing about it. I loved it then, and it hasn't lost any luster. The guy is a great storyteller, and all of it was gripping. The ending was disappointing, but it was a real life ending, and engaging for the fact it was disappointing for the writer. I read 2 other hacker books Ghost in the Wires and Kingpin, and they all seemed equally good. This author Clifford seemed a bit better and more personable writer
A sentimental favorite, The Cuckoo's Egg seems to have inspired a whole category of books exploring the quest to capture computer criminals. Still, even several years after its initial publication and after much imitation, the book remains a good read with an engaging story line and a critical outlook, as Clifford Stoll becomes, almost unwillingly, a one-man security force trying to track down faceless criminals who've invaded the university computer lab he stewards. What first appears as a 75-cent accounting error in a computer log is eventually revealed to be a ring of industrial espionage, primarily thanks to Stoll's persistence and intellectual tenacity.