IMHO The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll is a very fascinating read and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Cliff is kind of an odd person but also very likeable. For example you could be talking to him about a very deep or technical subject and it would not be unusual for him to whip-out a yo-yo and start doing around-the-world or pull a pet mouse from his pocket and start playing with it. I am intimately familiar with many of the key players and the events Cliff mentions in his book as some of the people and groups Cliff talks about were under a hacker surveillance program I managed for the federal government at the time.
And dungbeetle, if you liked his book perhaps you will also like mine. I’m hoping to put mine out this year; more or less at cost just for the fun of it. It is called “Breaking Into Government Computers, For Fun And Profit”. I had to get some approval from some federal government heavy’s as some of the material is now part of classified reports. Also I had to allow for the passage of time so as not to overly embarrass some people in office at the time. I’m sure that more then a few people will be pissed off when they read it and realize I am talking about them and real events that make some of them look quite foolish, but too-bad. If you want to get more info on what really went on during the KGB hacker/spy incidents and learn more about the inside of these hacker/spy groups, talked about in Cliff’s book, take a look at my book and some of the gaps will be filled in for you.
Which now brings me to my last and most important point. And that is that now is a very bad time to be playing with other people’s computers. Some branches of the federal government are becoming more then just a little interested in protecting what is now considered part of the national infrastructure. My advice, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time….
Just my ramblings
Freeman