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High-Tech Crimes Revealed
The book is a collection of high-tech investigations performed by Branigan in cooperation with the police force and sometimes the Feds. Generally Branigan would be involved in forensic research of the evidence and be on the scene as the "computer expert" that cops would refer to when dealing with cybercrime.
Twelve chapters take us through some of the high-tech crimes that the Western world faces today. An attack on the telephone network (unauthorized access to the switches), backdoors left at the former employer, hacking into university networks and the well-publicized identity theft are all covered in the book. Branigan brings up anecdotal evidence from his own career, describes some of his cases in great detail, and provides advice for practitioners in the forensics field.
The author is a Linux/Unix/BSD guru, and he shares his methods for retrieving telltale data from the equipment that the criminals leave behind. He also talks about the generic problems that law enforcement faces when investigating a high-tech crime - how do you obtain a warrant, what's a proper way to conduct searches, how do you work with the confiscated computer so that all the data is left intact?
However, don't expect some secrets to pop-up in regards to data collection - Branigan uses commonly available Linux tools like grep for searching the suspect's hard drive for needed data. More often that not, the investigator, it turns out, depends on his experience, not the book knowledge - one has to recognize the network sniffer log when they see it, and be capable of recognizing the tools freely downloadable from security sites.
Thus it's not surprising that there are some chapters in the book dedicated purely to the author's experience in the field. He describes working with the hackers who have been arrested, discusses how rootkits are spread around, discusses the motivation behind the network attacks (it's not always money, to say the least), describes the structure of a hacking ring and their potential revenues and also talks about ways to unravel the networks. His motto? No crime is too small, and sometimes things so little as missing the rent can lead to more discoveries and tie-ins into bigger crimes.
If you're thinking about becoming a security consultant, a law enforcement officer or just a sysadmin with better than average knowledge of security, this book is an interesting read. It's not a textbook, nor it is technical by nature. It reads more like a detective story, except the stories are real, the culprits are real and so are the victims. One can read the book on two levels - as a forensics tutorial (however, don't expect extended technical tutorials and tools overview) or as an autobiography of a cop, who had to deal with high-tech crimes all his life. If you liked Art of Deception or Hacking: The Art of Exploitation , this title would be a perfect complement.
Chapter 3, If Only He Had Paid the Rent, is available online from Addison-Wesley.
Alex enjoys reading programming, technology and business tech books in his spare time. He also keeps a list of free books available on the Internet for tech readers on a budget. You can purchase High-Tech Crimes Revealed from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
In a related story, a new spin-off of a popular series has just been announced. We're pleased to give you CSI:Geek starring Rick Moranis as Gil "Open Source" Grissom.
Underholdning.info
Branigan uses commonly available Linux tools like grep for searching the suspect's hard drive...
by double-edged:
I wonder if the author left out some "secret methods" he used in the field
yes. fgrep
2 1337 4 u!
"...criminals can also learn from other's mistakes and be more careful next time..."
.sig not found, using /etc/passwd instead
We should be advocating secrecy around how these crimes are solved because the next criminal might learn, and won't make the same mistake as the last one?
Why?
I don't know the exact statistics, but I am certain the clear majority of criminals are caught and convicted because they made the same mistake that millions of criminals before them made. Mistakes that have been publicized, written about, memorialized in songs, even had entire TV shows made out of them (think Law & Order, COPS, CSI, etc.).
You can tell criminals over and over: "Don't leave behind finger prints when you break and enter." But do they listen? NoooOOOOoo!
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Error:
Error:
This is nothing more than a promo for CBS's new CSI spinoff: CSI: Silicon Valley
From the make-believe press release:
Almost all of the shows will take place in chat rooms and virtual reality environments. There, the cast will be represented by their chosen avatars, ranging from a hulking Atlas mech to Yuna from FFX to a beatifully rendered Ulala look-alike avatar. "It's not just about the crimes either" says Berny Phillips, one of the lead produces, "there's a lot of character development, too. There is one particular espisode where a characters avatar is threatened and the Atlas mech nearly sacrifices himself to save her. It's very sweet."
Of course, in real-life, all of the cast members are males.
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I am joking. This is a joke. You have been joked with.
I especially liked the part in the sample chapter where he says "after all, why would the police ever arrest an innocent person?" What a great attitude!
Denver Isuzu Suzuki
Wow... That's the same number as on my luggage...