Posts on September 1, 2011

Ghost in the Wires review
Mood: hungry
Posted on 2011-09-01 11:47:00
Tags: reviews books
Words: 147

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book is Kevin Mitnick telling his story. Mitnick is probably the world's most infamous hacker, or at least he was until he was caught, served jail time, and reformed.

He's an expert on social engineering, and he talks at length about the techniques he'd use. Reading the book, you can't help but sympathize with his victims, and it's easy to see how a friendly request for information for someone who sounds like a fellow employee can both sound entirely reasonable, but lead to a security breakdown.

The book was entertaining but a bit repetitive. Also, he only alludes to this, but it's pretty clear he was addicting to hacking and having power, even if he never did any real damage.



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Farewell review
Mood: hungry
Posted on 2011-09-01 11:48:00
Tags: reviews books
Words: 150

Farewell by Sergei Kostin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is a book about the Farewell Dossier. Unfortunately, the part that I was most interested in was how we planted fake designs for technology that the Russians were trying to steal, including computer programs with hidden viruses that culminated in a giant explosion in a gas pipeline.

The book is all about Vladimir Vetrov, the KGB defector who provided the French a giant list of KGB spies as well as all the technology they were trying to steal and from where. It goes deeply into his life, eventual motivations for betraying Russia (mostly anger at the KGB over corruption and not getting promoted), and how he conducted his spying and was eventually caught.

The book was kinda long and vaguely interesting, but ultimately disappointing. If you're interested in Vetrov's life, though, I'd definitely recommend it.



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