books:

	• CYBERPUNK: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, Revised Katie Hafner Simon & Schuster, 1995 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 35 reviews view larger image
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I teach classes for computer professionals in UNIX. One of the courses is a 2-day class in unix security, and the "Morris worm" is one of the case studies we discuss. We don't go into too much detail in the class on the subject, and I usually recommend this book for those who want to go further.

The other reason I recommend this book to students in my class is the story (in Kevin's section) of Susan Thunder. The concept of "social engineering" is one that transcends computer model, operating system version, etc. Many computer types just don't understand it, in the same way they don't understand office politics. If you fall into this category, or if you have an interest in the social side of hacking/cracking/phreaking, Hafner and Markoff do an excellent job of presenting these concepts.

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Read this together with...

...Steven Levy's "Hackers". Hackers is the more technically and historically detailed of the two. Cyberpunk is a breezy bit of pop journalism centering on three early cases of hackerism. It's an entertaining read, though substantively little more than a gloss on Levy's much better book.


Back in the good 'ol days...

I have read this book a number of times over the years (I picked it up when it first came out) and have always enjoyed reading it. Even though it does only scratch the surface of the hacker culture, it's definitely an entertaining read. I know that I've heard that many of the things that were written in here (especially about Kevin Mitnick) have been termed libelous and untrue by some people. I can't vouch for what's fact and what's not in this book. I can only say that it does give a good idea what hacking was like in the good 'ol days.
If you like this book, you might want to try Steven Levy's book "Hackers", which really (I think) gives you a better understanding of the spirit of most hackers, and covers the history of hacking from the early days of MIT, up until now. Cyberpunk doesn't, but it's still definitely worth reading if you enjoy a good story.

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Using the exploits of three international hackers, Cyberpunk provides a fascinating tour of a bizarre subculture populated by outlaws who penetrate even the most sensitive computer networks and wreak havoc on the information they find -- everything from bank accounts to military secrets. In a book filled with as much adventure as any Ludlum novel, the authors show what motivates these young hackers to access systems, how they learn to break in, and how little can be done to stop them.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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