Book Review: The Cuckoo’s Egg

August 7, 2005 @ 12:47 am · Filed under Books

I read an extremely intesting book last week. Cliff Stoll’s “The Cuckoo’s Egg” is a true story about how the author was tracking a hacker in the mid-eighties. It reads like a spy novel, but is appearently all true. I picked the book up at 11 at night, and was unable to put it down until I had completed the whole thing!

The book gives a pretty good understanding of computer crime, crimefighting, and the basic methods of the typical script kiddie. The exploits that the bad guy uses are all real vulnerabilities, but happily, they are all (mostly) corrected today.

Despite its technical detail and accuracy, the book should be accessible to the general public. I highly recommend it!

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    I read it a few years ago and had a similar experience to you: I bought a copy on a Friday afternoon on the way home from work and finished it at about 3am the following morning!
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    I purchased this book on a Tuesday morning and finished it by the next afternoon. I simply could not lay it down. I've been studying Software Engineering in college since April and was fascinated with how Stoll's book fit all of the pieces together from all of my classes. I recommend this book to everyone but especially to people with an interest in computer networks, software engineering, as well as computer and Internet security.
    I actually enjoyed the folksy pieces of the book too. They helped me see Cliff Stoll as a person trying to live a normal Californian life only to be totally changed by this experience.
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