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Book Review: Ghost In the Wires
brothke writes "During the 1990's when Kevin Mitnick was on the run, a cadre of people were employed to find him and track him down. Anyone who could have an angle on Mitnick was sought after by the media to provide a sound bite on the world's most dangerous computer hacker. Just one example is John Markoff, who became a star journalist for his work at The New York Times, and a follow-up book and series of articles based on Mitnick. In Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the Worlds Most Wanted Hacker, the first personal account of what really happened; Mitnick says most of the stories around him were the result of the myth of Kevin Mitnick, and nothing more. In the book, he attempts to dispel these myths and set the record straight." Read below for the rest of Ben's review.
Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker
author
Kevin Mitnick
pages
432
publisher
Little, Brown and Company
rating
9/10
reviewer
Ben Rothke
ISBN
0316037702
summary
Kevin Mitnick's fascinating firsthand story
Some of the myths were that he was responsible for the phone of actress Kristy McNichol to be disconnected, and perhaps the most preposterous of them all, that he could whistle into a telephone and launch missiles from NORAD. The latter myth was responsible for him spending a year in solitary confinement. Mitnick notes that he thinks it was the federal prosecutor who got that idea from the movie WarGames.
But no one really knew Mitnick or what he was about. Left on his own, he would likely have been harmless. All he wanted to do was get into corporate sites, download code, play with the code and then move on to the next target. It is undeniable that Mitnick committed crimes; but it was unreasonable for the FBI to have made him a top priority for capture.
Perhaps the most widely stated myth about him is that he was strictly a social engineer without significant technical experience. While it was his gift of social engineering that facilitated his ability to get a significant amount of information from unsuspecting individuals; in many places in the book, Mitnick details technical Unix exploits that he carried out. The book makes it clear that Mitnick had the deep technical skills necessary to execute on the information he illicitly obtained.
While the book does have a lot of technical details, it mainly is about the human side of Mitnick. Chapter 1 is appropriately titled "Rough Start." He details his early days of growing up in the Los Angeles area.
These formative years as a hyperactive child, growing up with a single mom who had boyfriends that abused him and one who worked in law enforcement that molested him; may have been what led Mitnick to find solace behind a keyboard.
Mitnick writes how his first hack and entry into the world of dumpster diving was to forge bus transfers so he could ride around Los Angeles to occupy his time while his mother was at work.
In numerous places, Mitnick sincerely expresses his contrition for the pain he subjected his mother, grandmother, aunt, wife and others to.
Above and beyond his rough start, Mitnick also notes how he had his share of bad luck. He writes that too many times when he was growing up, including having to deal with various probation officers, unexplained failures in technology anywhere would be attributed to him. When the phone of his probation officers went dead, he was assumed to be the culprit.
The reality is that the world did not know what to make of Mitnick or what to do with him. It is pretty clear from the book and from every other account that Mitnick was never it in for the money. He simply was a hacker whose goal was to gain root, and nothing more. Such a notion was incredulous to law enforcement, and even to Ivan Boesky who Mitnick met in prison. When he briefly sat with Boesky on a prison bench, he writes that when Boesky found out he did it for the hacking thrill, Boesky replied that "you're in prison and you didn't make any money. Isn't that stupid?"
It is worthy to point out that Mitnick's escapades were radically different from that of Frank Abagnale, whom Mitnick is often compared to. In Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake, Abagnale writes that he impersonated an airline pilot, masqueraded as the supervising resident of a hospital, practiced law without a license, passed himself off as a college sociology professor and cashed over $2.5 million in forged checks; all before he was twenty-one. For those myriad offenses, Abagnale served five years in prison, roughly the same amount of time that Mitnick served.
In chapter 31, it details how Mitnick's world turned upside down and the myth of Kevin Mitnick took hold with the now infamous Markoff 1994 New York Times article Cyberspaces Most Wanted: Hacker Eludes F.B.I. Pursuit. Mitnick writes that the article is what put the myth of Kevin Mitnick into overdrive, and would later embarrass the FBI into making the search for him a top priority. It also provided a fictional image that would later influence prosecutors and judges into treating him as a danger to national security.
Mitnick's eventual capture is detailed in chapter 35 — "Game Over." He notes that Assistant US attorney Kent Walker made a secret arrangement to provide Tsutomu Shimomura with confidential trap-and-trace information as well as confidential information from Mitnick's FBI file. This was done so Shimomura could intercept Mitnick's communications without a warrant, under the premise that Shimomura was not assisting the agency, rather he was working for the ISP.
Mitnick writes that he was never charged with hacking Shimomura, as it would have exposed the gross misconduct of the FBI, who apparently violated Federal wiretapping statues in the rush to track him down.
Overall, Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the Worlds Most Wanted Hacker is a most interesting read. While the book does goes into technical details of how Mitnick carried out his attacks, editor William Simon provides the editorial assistance needed and makes the book extremely readable and enjoying. Much of the books readability is due to Simon, and Mitnick acknowledges this.
When a convicted felon writes a book emotions run high. In some ways, Mitnick's story is that of redemption. He did wrongs, paid his dues and is trying to move forward. Something like that should be admired. Never does Mitnick downplay his guilt or make Dan White-like excuses.
But some people will never let a person like Mitnick let go of the past. In his review of the book, Rich Jaroslovsky, a technology columnist for Bloomberg News shows no sympathy for Mitnick when he pretentiously writes that "genius comes in many forms. Kevin Mitnick has at least two, neither particularly admirable".
The book ends with Mitnick's release from prison and provides the reader with a fascinating story of one of the most recognized information security personalities. Ghost in the Wires is an interesting account of one of the most well-known information security personalities.
Mitnick's years on the run were simply a media circus and the years after his parole he found the terms of his probation so restricted that he could not touch a keyboard. Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the Worlds Most Wanted Hackeris an autobiography long in coming and worth the wait.
Ben Rothke is the author of Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know.
You can purchase Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
But no one really knew Mitnick or what he was about. Left on his own, he would likely have been harmless. All he wanted to do was get into corporate sites, download code, play with the code and then move on to the next target. It is undeniable that Mitnick committed crimes; but it was unreasonable for the FBI to have made him a top priority for capture.
Perhaps the most widely stated myth about him is that he was strictly a social engineer without significant technical experience. While it was his gift of social engineering that facilitated his ability to get a significant amount of information from unsuspecting individuals; in many places in the book, Mitnick details technical Unix exploits that he carried out. The book makes it clear that Mitnick had the deep technical skills necessary to execute on the information he illicitly obtained.
While the book does have a lot of technical details, it mainly is about the human side of Mitnick. Chapter 1 is appropriately titled "Rough Start." He details his early days of growing up in the Los Angeles area.
These formative years as a hyperactive child, growing up with a single mom who had boyfriends that abused him and one who worked in law enforcement that molested him; may have been what led Mitnick to find solace behind a keyboard.
Mitnick writes how his first hack and entry into the world of dumpster diving was to forge bus transfers so he could ride around Los Angeles to occupy his time while his mother was at work.
In numerous places, Mitnick sincerely expresses his contrition for the pain he subjected his mother, grandmother, aunt, wife and others to.
Above and beyond his rough start, Mitnick also notes how he had his share of bad luck. He writes that too many times when he was growing up, including having to deal with various probation officers, unexplained failures in technology anywhere would be attributed to him. When the phone of his probation officers went dead, he was assumed to be the culprit.
The reality is that the world did not know what to make of Mitnick or what to do with him. It is pretty clear from the book and from every other account that Mitnick was never it in for the money. He simply was a hacker whose goal was to gain root, and nothing more. Such a notion was incredulous to law enforcement, and even to Ivan Boesky who Mitnick met in prison. When he briefly sat with Boesky on a prison bench, he writes that when Boesky found out he did it for the hacking thrill, Boesky replied that "you're in prison and you didn't make any money. Isn't that stupid?"
It is worthy to point out that Mitnick's escapades were radically different from that of Frank Abagnale, whom Mitnick is often compared to. In Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake, Abagnale writes that he impersonated an airline pilot, masqueraded as the supervising resident of a hospital, practiced law without a license, passed himself off as a college sociology professor and cashed over $2.5 million in forged checks; all before he was twenty-one. For those myriad offenses, Abagnale served five years in prison, roughly the same amount of time that Mitnick served.
In chapter 31, it details how Mitnick's world turned upside down and the myth of Kevin Mitnick took hold with the now infamous Markoff 1994 New York Times article Cyberspaces Most Wanted: Hacker Eludes F.B.I. Pursuit. Mitnick writes that the article is what put the myth of Kevin Mitnick into overdrive, and would later embarrass the FBI into making the search for him a top priority. It also provided a fictional image that would later influence prosecutors and judges into treating him as a danger to national security.
Mitnick's eventual capture is detailed in chapter 35 — "Game Over." He notes that Assistant US attorney Kent Walker made a secret arrangement to provide Tsutomu Shimomura with confidential trap-and-trace information as well as confidential information from Mitnick's FBI file. This was done so Shimomura could intercept Mitnick's communications without a warrant, under the premise that Shimomura was not assisting the agency, rather he was working for the ISP.
Mitnick writes that he was never charged with hacking Shimomura, as it would have exposed the gross misconduct of the FBI, who apparently violated Federal wiretapping statues in the rush to track him down.
Overall, Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the Worlds Most Wanted Hacker is a most interesting read. While the book does goes into technical details of how Mitnick carried out his attacks, editor William Simon provides the editorial assistance needed and makes the book extremely readable and enjoying. Much of the books readability is due to Simon, and Mitnick acknowledges this.
When a convicted felon writes a book emotions run high. In some ways, Mitnick's story is that of redemption. He did wrongs, paid his dues and is trying to move forward. Something like that should be admired. Never does Mitnick downplay his guilt or make Dan White-like excuses.
But some people will never let a person like Mitnick let go of the past. In his review of the book, Rich Jaroslovsky, a technology columnist for Bloomberg News shows no sympathy for Mitnick when he pretentiously writes that "genius comes in many forms. Kevin Mitnick has at least two, neither particularly admirable".
The book ends with Mitnick's release from prison and provides the reader with a fascinating story of one of the most recognized information security personalities. Ghost in the Wires is an interesting account of one of the most well-known information security personalities.
Mitnick's years on the run were simply a media circus and the years after his parole he found the terms of his probation so restricted that he could not touch a keyboard. Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the Worlds Most Wanted Hackeris an autobiography long in coming and worth the wait.
Ben Rothke is the author of Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know.
You can purchase Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Look forward to reading this. The Art of deception was pretty good
Kevin was interviewed by Leo Laport and Tom Merritt this week on their TWIT show, Triangulation: http://twit.tv/tri21
It was really fun to listen too. His McDonalds story had me rolling.
Just based on the interview with Leo and Tom, I'm getting this book.
"Murderer? Well, that's a harsh word. I prefer to think of myself as a Mortality Technician."
He should have stuck to just playing a nice game of chess.
...make a lot of money.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
"All he wanted to do was get into corporate sites, download code, play with the code and then move on to the next target. "
No, all he wanted to do was steal cellphone service and other services. Mitnick was not some grand hacker, he at that time was simply a petty thief that had skills that others did not. He was after the next big score or what would give him something for nothing.
Why does everyone paint him to be some kind of leader for freedom and the Hacking Society. Most of us that were in the scene at that time and before did not have much respect for him.
He is not the Hacker Poster boy. He was treated unfairly in the courts and legal system.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Ironic that when *normal* people didn't have a computer, hackers were evil geniuses who could whistle into a telephone and launch nuclear missiles. Mitnik was FBI priority number one for a while.
But now, if a spammer breaks into your PC, zombies it and uses that to do whatever he wants (maybe even launch missles), the FBI hangs up on you if you try and register a complaint.
Now that *everyone* has a computer, computer crimes are no longer treated as a serious thing.
So lemme get this straight: Mitnik was a danger because the rest of the world was IGNORANT.
I have to wonder what the masses did the first guy who brought home fire.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
"you're in prison and you didn't make any money.", just doing it for.. eh, lulz, gets the autistic card nowadays.
anyhow, I feel for the guy, just getting your computers taken as a teenager sucks enough(for some stupid shit, not the most stupid but anyways, didn't get charged - 2.5 half years later got my stuff back, the hd didn't work after that so it was goodbye to some hobby coding sources). also the approach taken against mitnick just took the assumption that they couldn't secure their systems and therefore that anyone could whistle into a phone and make missiles fly, it's absurd to keep missiles even loaded in such case.
and "good guys" work without warrants in computer security when they would need them all the time, you know, your local fatso bofh's - the type of persons who don't even think they need warrants because they can peek in without one.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
How could he possibly dispel the myth that he's just a social engineer with no technical skill..
Oh thats right, he could use his social engineering skills to sucker people into believing him.
If someone goes through all the effort to try to convince you they're not a fraud, it's usually
because they're a fraud.
And lets face it, he's had plenty of time to cobble together a believable set of stories to
back up his rewriting of history.
I don't see anything about the Drupal chapter. Does this book contain information on configuring Drupal? Plz advise.
Ain't worth a damn and politicians are (for the most part) the reason for everything that goes wrong in America!
How a headline hungry, yellow journalistic, irresponsible press can take some petty crook with questionable technical credentials and make a science-fiction supervillan out of him, and the politically ambitious law enforcement officials who want to paint themselves as the superheros of the story at the expense of some ineffectual schlub, (make a toy of him/an example) a behavior that typifies oppressive regimes throughout the world.
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
Zero Cool? ... yo this is Zero Cool! lol
--- bruce CaddyInfo.com: Cadillac Automotive Information
I want one!
http://www.google.com/search?q=kevin+mitnick's+business+card
Now that *everyone* has a computer, computer crimes are no longer treated as a serious thing.
This is nonsense.
Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section
Sentencing for Oliveras is scheduled Oct. 28, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. EDT. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $1,541,349 on the wire fraud charge, and two years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the identity theft charge.
BROOKLYN MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ONLINE IDENTITY THEFT INVOLVING MORE THAN $700,000 IN REPORTED FRAUD [August 10]
"But some people will never let a person like Mitnick let go of the past. In his review of the book, Rich Jaroslovsky, a technology columnist for Bloomberg News shows no sympathy for Mitnick when he pretentiously writes that "genius comes in many forms. Kevin Mitnick has at least two, neither particularly admirable".
Oh give me a break. Even by slashdot standards this doesn't make sense. He's writing a book about his past. He's trying to make money from his past. A REVIEWER of that book should not take a look at that past when reviewing that book?
Mitnick presents to me as an excellent case of a person who has rehabilitated himself.
I'm real happy for him.
For those of you who missed this in the 90's, there is some great stuff on Tsutomu's site. The voicemails are pretty funny, even if most of them are fake, and you can replay Mitnick's telnet sessions to Tsutomu's machines in real time. http://takedown.com/evidence/index.html
bundle this book and 9780440222057 as a set (assuming that the publisher has them to sell)
We could call it the Fox News Bundle!
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
...written by the guy that nabbed him. "Takedown" was exciting, but a little bit of ego fluff. I read it a decade ago, and perhaps should read it in tandem with Mitnik's side of the story.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
they wrote things like Gaussian Copula Function code, CDO simulations, and models of mortgage securities for ratings agencies.
these were at the heart of what enabled the massive fraud of the CDO game during the bubble years of the early 2000s. Ratings agencies built shoddy models, and investment banks 'reverse engineered' and 'gamed' those models. They also payed the ratings-agencies managers to skew the results.
Out of it all came massive piles of bad mortgage debt, advertised and sold as good debt. This enabled more and more bad loans to be made, driving up housing prices for everyone, and creating an industry of 'house flipping' and 'cash out mortgage refinancing', all based on nothing more than the mathematical abstractions built by these hackers inside these investment banks and hedge funds and ratings agencies.
that is why unemployment is 10%, why the debt ceiling debate existed, why the european union may collapse, why the Euro may cease to exist, why China and Russia might move away from the Dollar as a reserve currency, etc etc etc. It is why trillions of dollars of taxpayer money disappeared into the basements and palaces of the hyper-rich, the investment bank officers and hedge fund managers who skimmed it all off as bonuses (for 'future projected revenues') and disappeared into the nethers.
this is why honest people working for the SEC were fired by the dozens while the corrupt and the conflicted continued to look the other way, so that they could then go work for these banks and hedge funds years down the line.
That is what these 'hackers' did. To all of us.
Mitnick is a threat? Mitnick is to be looked down on? What planet do you live on? What century do you live in?
we found James Risen doing a similar stunt against Wen Ho Lee... Lee was not in prison though , , he wound up suing the newspapers and the government, and winning.
actually got in criminal legal trouble for it. its been a long ass time since i read the story, but im guessing slashdot probably covered it.
Was his hard drive ever returned, or is that in the book?
I have to wonder what the masses did the first guy who brought home fire.
Way, WAY worse than five years in prison.
wow.....soo correct