The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage

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A sentimental favorite, The Cuckoo's Egg seems to have inspired a whole category of books exploring the quest to capture computer criminals. Still, even several years after its initial publication and after much imitation, the book remains a good read with an engaging story line and a critical outlook, as Clifford Stoll becomes, almost unwillingly, a one-man security force trying to track down faceless criminals who've invaded the university computer lab he stewards. What first appears as a 75-cent accounting error in a computer log is eventually revealed to be a ring of industrial espionage, primarily thanks to Stoll's persistence and intellectual tenacity.

Book Description

Before the Internet became widely known as a global tool for terrorists, one perceptive U.S. citizen recognized its ominous potential. Armed with clear evidence of computer espionage, he began a highly personal quest to expose a hidden network of spies that threatened national security. But would the authorities back him up? Cliff Stoll's dramatic firsthand account is "a computer-age detective story, instantly fascinating [and] astonishingly gripping" (Smithsonian).

Cliff Stoll was an astronomer turned systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab when a 75-cent accounting error alerted him to the presence of an unauthorized user on his system. The hacker's code name was "Hunter" -- a mysterious invader who managed to break into U.S. computer systems and steal sensitive military and security information. Stoll began a one-man hunt of his own: spying on the spy. It was a dangerous game of deception, broken codes, satellites, and missile bases -- a one-man sting operation that finally gained the attention of the CIA...and ultimately trapped an international spy ring fueled by cash, cocaine, and the KGB.

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding Book.......2007-10-16

I first read this book as one of the texts that were reviewed during an undergraduate computer security course. I found the book to be entertaining and informative. You won't be a better equipped computer security professional by reading this book; however, I think you will be better for it and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I still recommend this book to people I talk to that are interested in an introduction to computer security.

My wife also read the book. She knows nothing about computer networking or security, yet she found it to be a great story and was able to follow the storyline pretty easily.

75c doesn't seem much but..... .......2007-08-11

Although the event occured some 20 years ago the story is as relevant today as ever. Stoll relates his story well; how an afternoon spent tying up a 75c accounting error in the labs logging software leads him to suspect, and ultimately help catch, a hacker on the KGB payroll. The book is of particular interest to readers in the computing/info technology fields but any reader will find the story interesting. Stoll devotes much of his working day monitoring/logging the hacker's activities, putting aside his regular work. Following the hacker's trail reveals to Stoll how insecure the main US military computer networks are and how easy it is to access sensitive documents. The documents themselves might not be of a classified nature but when they information they contain is combined it provides a major insight in to the activities of the US military. On the way Stoll informs the various US agencies: CIA, NSA, FBI etc. about the hacker to hopefully gain their assistamce. Interesting insight is provided on the internal machinations of the agencies and their seeming reluctance to help. Stoll continues on regardless, tracking the hacker across the US to the European continent. Eventually the govt steps in as they get wind of espionage on a grand scale. The vast majority of the book focuses on Stoll's personal efforts with fairly scant coverage of the international efforts being carried out by the CIA etc. This is a result of Stoll only being able to extract a small amount of info from the CIA about the case. In a way it would have been interesting to have read more about the CIA/KGB end of things but that certainly doesn't detract from the appeal of Stoll's accounts. Well written and recommended.

A World of Acronyms .......2007-07-02

Not only a great story about tracking a Cracker. It is packed with the basics of computer science. If you are interested in computers at all or would like to know a little bit more about how my mind works, pick up this book. It will fullfill your needs for acronyms and problem solving. It will have you captivated to find out the answers to problems still plaqueing our computer systems. I will enjoy re-reading this book to see how my profession has evolved.

The dawn of computer espionage.......2007-06-03

When astronomer/computer administrator Clifford Stoll discovered a 75-cent discrepency in an accounting program, he decided not to overlook it. From this insignificant starting point, the trail led to a computer hacker in contact with the KGB and working out of Germany who was systematically targeting the computers of NASA and the US military. It also brought him into contact with the American intelligence community and led to a new emphasis on preventing computer espionage.

Stoll tells his story in a light, humorous style and explains the workings of computer networks with great clarity. In addition to the mystery of the hacker, I enjoyed a peek into the bohemian lifestyle of the Berkeley community as well as the evolution of Stoll's thinking on computer and national security and the way it put him at odds with many of his left-leaning friends and forced him to take a hard look at many of his own values.

Probably the First Internet Hacking HandBook.......2007-05-13

I read this for the first time in 1992 during my post-grad year. At the time, it was the first decent book about hacking that I could find in a bookshop. Also Bruce Sterling's book "The Hacker Crackdown" gives a different but equally informative perspective. Both books touch on issues that are still relevant today.

In Cuckoo's Egg, I initially expected more technical details, compared to Cliff Stoll's paper published by the ACM, but was still highly entertained and even more informed about the legal and law enforcement issues at the time.

While current Internet usage mainly involves mouse clicks, the average person will gain an understanding of the internet services that are still the building blocks for web surfing.
The hackers tools have evolved significantly, but the basic techniques are still relevant for monitoring, anonymity, routing packets through networks, search and access.

The Deep Beyond: Cuckoo's Egg / Serpent's Reach

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Growing Up Among Aliens
On being an Alien
Reissue of two great C.J. Cherryh Stories
A long over due re-issue of 2 books

The Deep Beyond: Cuckoo's Egg / Serpent's Reach
C. J. Cherryh
Manufacturer: DAW
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0756403111

Customer Reviews:

Growing Up Among Aliens.......2006-09-18

The Deep Beyond (2005) is an omnibus edition including Serpent's Reach and Cuckoo's Egg. These early SF novels take place on alien planets rather than human space. Both are about young people who are raised among aliens.

Serpent's Reach (1980) is an SF novel in the Alliance-Union Universe. In 2223, the interstellar probe Celia discovered the majat, a sapient alien species, on Alpha Hydri III -- Cerdin -- in the Serpent's Reach. The majat body structure and organization was much like social insects such as ants. At the time of discovery, there were four different hives, each ruled by a collective intelligence with memories spanning millions of years.

There were no survivors from the Celia, but the hives did decide that each human was an individual intelligence. In 2229, the crew of the Delia probe was kept alive and, in 2235, under terms of the Hydri Treaty, one shipload of colonists was allowed to settle on the planet. These became the Kontrin Company. The colonists, however, brought a shipload of embryos, from which were grown the Betas. These Betas, in turn, grew clones of themselves, the azi, with biological timers that limited lifespan to forty years.

In this novel, Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren is Kontrin. She is the direct lineal descendent of The Meth-maren, destined to lead the family some day. For the past fifteen years, she has been learning the things that she should know to govern. Since all Kontrin have been made potentially immortal by the majat, she has many years of learning before she is old enough to have fun.

One day, the family estate at Kethiuy is visited by the Houses of Thon and Yalt, but these welcome guests bring others from the House of Hald and, worse yet, members of the Ruil-sept of the Meth-marens. Neither Hald or Ruil would have dared to set foot on the estate without Thon and Yalt. The Ruil cadet-sept has come to suggest a change in the relationships with the majat, but the talks are only a cover for an attack on the Sul-sept.

Only Raen survived the vicious attack by the Ruil-sept, Red and Gold majats and majat-azi. She manages to escape to the nearby Hive of the Blue majats and to convince the Hive Mother to help her wrest Kethiuy from the Ruil-sept and others who have assisted in the attack. She succeeds in destroying the Ruil-sept, but the Blue Hive is also destroyed and she is captured.

She is brought before the Council and Eron Thel, the head of the conspiracy, is almost allowed to relinquish Raen to her enemies. Yet Moth, second oldest of all Kontrin, protests that there has been no vote and Lian, the Eldest, agrees with Moth. Lian makes a speech, at the conclusion of which Moth kills all the known conspirators. Raen is banished from Cerdin.

Cuckoo's Egg (1985) is the third SF novel of the Age of Exploration Series, but is essentially a standalone work. Dana Duun Shtoni no Loghn is a Hatani, a judge without appeal. He has been called Sey -- general -- and Mingi -- lord -- but now he is just Dunn. He is unique, for none have been asked to judge so important a question.

Duun accepts the bundled infant from the meds and starts to care for him. He soon stinks of urine and excrement, but he does not clean himself off, for the infant is more comfortable with the stench. Duun does ask his friend Ellud to prepare Sheon, the estate where he grew up, to provide a simpler environment for the infant's development.

When Sheon has been cleared of the people who had claimed the property, Duun takes the infant there and raises him to be hatani. Since the infant differs from ordinary shonunin, Dunn has to adjust his lessons. Most things, like the five fingers instead of four, are insignificant, but the child grows up to be scent-blind and lacking much fur.

Duun calls the infant Haras, with Thorn as his use name. He teaches Thorn to never say "can't" unless he is physically, mentally or emotionally unable to do something and Thorn finds that Duun never asks him to do anything that he cannot do. Duun also teaches Thorn to deny many of his needs, for these are really only desires.

Duun also teaches Thorn hand-to-hand combat, escape and evasion, and other martial skills. Duun is better than Thorn at close combat, despite the severe injuries that had scarred his face and torso, but the damage to his knee made him less agile than Thorn while climbing. Besides, Thorn's feet gave him a better grip on rocks than Dunn's claws.

One day Thorn is running from Duun as usual, but heads down the mountain instead of up, for he knows that Dunn would expect him to use his greater climbing ability. He runs all the way down to the nearby settlement where he can expect food and water. As he nears the first house, he sees and hears two children playing in the yard. Thorn notices that they are not like him, but look much like Duun.

These stories are unrelated to any other works by the author. Serpent's Reach ends at a suitable point and fits neatly into the Alliance-Union universe. Yet Cuckoo's Egg ends with many dangling plot threads. Indeed, it is difficult to place this work in any of the author's known universes, although it is arbitrarily placed in the Age of Exploration Series. There is some question about whether Thorn is truly human.

Highly recommended to Cherryh fans or to anyone else who enjoys tales of alien cultures and cross-cultural relationships.

-Arthur W. Jordin

On being an Alien.......2006-04-05

Voyager in Night takes you inside the personality, inside the world view, inside the feelings of an utterly alien computer program.
These stories develop the same combination of shock, revulsion and empthy as the protagonist journeys from something like human to something very different. Cuckoo's Egg resonates with Pyanfar Chanur, in that the protagonist starts as an Alien. Who we come to admire and respect.
Serpent's reach, the protagonist starts out fairly human. As in Voyager, the destination is immortality and a hive mind. Essential Cherryh!

Reissue of two great C.J. Cherryh Stories.......2005-10-04

The Deep Beyond contains two of C. J. Cherryh's great early works.

Serpents reach is a masterpiece of world building as it gives a totally plausible, totally believable world where Ants are the intelligent and evolved race. It explores how virtual immortality could affect wealth power and family relations. This is a great story about betrayal and revenge and acceptance.

The Cuccoo' s Egg is another great story that might be compared to the part (the part that you don't get to read., about when Valentine Smith is still on Mars.) of "Stranger in a Strange Land" As it is the story of a human boy raised on an alien planet by aliens, in an attempt to understand humans and to make up for killing humans. Hard to explain but a great read.

If you don't already have these two great stories... This is a great book to buy.

A long over due re-issue of 2 books.......2005-08-21

The Deep Beyond title reflects that old adage of map makers of yore: Here there be Dragons. And the implied warning that Dragons rule their worlds.

Serpent's Reach was printed in August 1980 by DAW and Cuckoo's Egg was printed in October 1985 by DAW. Both, according to C.J. Cherryh's website, take place in The Alliance-Union Universe, but much further down the time line from her classic Cyteen. (Cyteen is a MUST read for any person interested in Science Fiction.) While I rate both books at 4 stars, I am suprised that Cuckoo's Egg from the Era of Exploration was paired with Serpent's Reach from the Era of Rapprochement. A more natural pairing would have been Forty Thousand in Gehenna with Serpent's Reach as both are from the Era of Rapprochment with a focus of humans merging into the Alien's societies. (I suspect as those two novels together would have about 700 pages, this may have forced the publisher's choice.) Cuckoo's Egg has a tricker focus hinted so strongly by the title Cuckoo's Egg.

All of Cherryh's work should be required reading in Science Fiction and The Deep Beyond brings out-of-print works back for fans old enough to have read the first printings and for new Science Fiction fans born since 1985. Oh, the cover of The Deep Beyond is the same as the 1985 1st Edition of Cuckoo's Egg.

Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church: Unmasking a Cuckoo's Egg Tradition

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O Joy! A Comprehensive Source for Women's Ordination at Last

Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church: Unmasking a Cuckoo's Egg Tradition
J. N. M. Wijngaards
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0826413390

Book Description

John Wijngaards may be the only Roman Catholic priest to have resigned from the priesthood because of the church's refusal to ordain women. A biblical scholar and a popular spiritual writer, he's long been a supporter of women's ordination. He wrote a book championing it in 1977 and the following year he attended the National Women's Ordination Conference in Baltimore, one of the few men to do so. In 1998 he resigned from the priesthood to devote himself full time to the campaign for women's ordination. This book is the result.

In this engaging and informative book, the author shows how the church's anti-woman tradition is a veritable cuckoo's egg--a spurious import from Greek philosophy that destroys all contrary evidence from scripture and tradition (for instance, the fact that for many centuries women were ordained deacons). Offering a rigorous examination of Rome's arguments, the book includes extracts from key materials and supplies website links to comprehensive documentation, making this the most complete and authoritative resource on the issue.

Customer Reviews:

O Joy! A Comprehensive Source for Women's Ordination at Last.......2002-01-28

In the last two years, I have done a lot of personal reading, writing & questioning on the subject of women's ordination & the Roman Catholic Ban on such, and worse, that loyal RC's have been told by our Holy Father to drop the subject of 'OW' entirely. This is a deeply disturbing ban to me -- I am a spiritual woman, I am Catholic & I -WANT- to talk about it! John Wijngaards has summarized in one neat package, with detailed references, both theological & personal, why and how women's roles in the dear RC have been limited and lost. That they need to be rediscovered, reclaimed & refreshed -- not to mention enriched & enhanced -- is no mean journey for the world's community of Catholics to embark upon. It's all here -- from the early deaconesses to the late (and very great) Therese of Lisieux. Church history has come to claim as its own the cuckoo's egg of ancient Roman Law that in its heyday also denigrated women. Either women are the spiritual equals of men or they are not; either there is no male and female in G_d or there is; either we are all called to a royal priesthood, or we are all sadly misinterpreting the great love of Jesus the Christ. The flaws in all the supposed theological arguments are carefully laid out & dissected & laid to rest herein. The RC Church cannot have it both ways.

This book is simple, eminently readable, and profoundly moving. I wrote to Hans tonight and told him I would read a few pages, then cry, read a few more, and cry more -- if the book was any longer, I don't know how I would survive it. It is not strident, but clear & respectful & authoritative, with lots of sources & resources. If you are beginning a search on this topic, or on a long personal journey of understanding how G_d is calling you, THIS is a good book. If you are already of a mind that reform in the RC priesthood is good & necessary, here are all the talking points in one straightforward package. If you are wondering what the fuss is about and why can't these women just go off to a nunnery somewhere, well, YOU are called to examine your true faith: the women can't go off somewhere else -- we are all in the body of Christ. We are all loved by G_d -- and this is a work of love by John Wijngaards.

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A Changeling Among Aliens

One of Cherryh's Best

Brilliant as usual

consistent intensity

keeps you guessing

Cuckoo's Egg
C. J. Cherryh
Manufacturer: Mandarin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage

ASIN: 0749301163

Download Description

They named him Thorn. They told him he was of their people, although he was so different. He was ugly in their eyes, strange, sleek-skinned instead of furred, clawless, different. Yet he was of their power class: judge-warriors, the elite, the fighters, the defenders.
Thorn knew that his difference was somehow very important -- but not important enough to prevent murderous conspiracies against him, against his protector, against his caste, and perhaps against the peace of the world. But when the crunch came, when Thorn finally learned what his true role in life was to be, that on him might hang the future of two worlds, then he had to stand alone to justify his very existence.

Customer Reviews:

A Changeling Among Aliens.......2006-09-18

Cuckoo's Egg (1985) is the third SF novel of the Age of Exploration Series, but is essentially a standalone work. Dana Duun Shtoni no Loghn is a Hatani, a judge without appeal. He has been called Sey -- general -- and Mingi -- lord -- but now he is just Dunn. He is unique, for none have been asked to judge so important a question.

Duun accepts the bundled infant from the meds and starts to care for him. He soon stinks of urine and excrement, but he does not clean himself off, for the infant is more comfortable with the stench. Duun does ask his friend Ellud to prepare Sheon, the estate where he grew up, to provide a simpler environment for the infant's development.

When Sheon has been cleared of the people who had claimed the property, Duun takes the infant there and raises him to be hatani. Since the infant differs from ordinary shonunin, Dunn has to adjust his lessons. Most things, like the five fingers instead of four, are insignificant, but the child grows up to be scent-blind and lacking much fur.

Duun calls the infant Haras, with Thorn as his use name. He teaches Thorn to never say "can't" unless he is physically, mentally or emotionally unable to do something and Thorn finds that Duun never asks him to do anything that he cannot do. Duun also teaches Thorn to deny many of his needs, for these are really only desires.

Duun also teaches Thorn hand-to-hand combat, escape and evasion, and other martial skills. Duun is better than Thorn at close combat, despite the severe injuries that had scarred his face and torso, but the damage to his knee made him less agile than Thorn while climbing. Besides, Thorn's feet gave him a better grip on rocks than Dunn's claws.

One day Thorn is running from Duun as usual, but heads down the mountain instead of up, for he knows that Dunn would expect him to use his greater climbing ability. He runs all the way down to the nearby settlement where he can expect food and water. As he nears the first house, he sees and hears two children playing in the yard. Thorn notices that they are not like him, but look much like Duun.

Seeing him, the children huddle together and yell at him. An adult comes out of the house, sees him and goes back for his gun. Thorn decides not to attack them, but instead runs for home. Other adults join the chase, shooting at Thorn and hitting him once in the arm. Dunn finds him, tells him to go to the estate and continues on to the hunters. When Thorn hears more shots, he turns and runs back toward Duun, but once again Dunn finds him and this time he escorts him home, carrying him over the last part.

After this episode, Dunn leaves Sheon and takes Thorn to the capital city. There he provides Thorn with companions in his studies. These four young shonunin mostly accept Thorn without objections, but they are still aware of the differences.

In this story, Thorn learns that he is different from Dunn and everyone else he sees. From the description, Thorn appears to be human, but his eye structure doesn't fit this assumption. Human or not, Thorn has some needs that Duun can't train out of him; even as an infant he had a need for close intimacy which Duun filled by holding him most of the time. Later, Duun provides him with a new teacher, Sagot, a 159 year old great-great-grandmother who has raised many boys and is not embarrassed when a young man cries in her presence.

Thorn knows that he is different from everybody else, but he later discovers that some people actively hate him and are willing to kill him in cold blood. Duun has always known this and has protected Thorn as much as he could, but he cannot keep others from plotting against Thorn and himself. At least Thorn learns that there are people that he can trust.

This story does not seem to be part of any of the author's universes. In fact, Thorn may not be human. The ending leaves plenty of dangling plot threads, but I do not know of any sequel. Be warned that you will be left wishing for more!

Highly recommended for Cherryh fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of adventure, close relationships and unresolved mysteries.

-Arthur W. Jordin

One of Cherryh's Best.......2004-09-03

In this story, an alien world whose inhabitants are vaguely feline (not unlike Chanur) is visited by a human ship. The aliens are at a very early stage of space voyaging, but they manage to kill the humans and take the ship. Then, by cloning (although this is not explicitly stated) they create a human baby to be studied. The story follows his growing up and how his captors/foster parents deal with him. The book is powerful because of the viewpoints Cherryh creates. We see both through the alien eyes and through those of the young boy learning to be an adult. It is the tension produced by this dual view that makes the book so engrossing. Cherryh raises questions of ethics and explores the parent/child bond in an unusual and wonderful way.

Brilliant as usual.......2003-11-17

I've only read a few Cherryh novels but none have failed to impress me yet (including the amazing Cyteen, one of the best SF novels I've ever read), particularly how she manages to keep everything in a consistent universe (the Alliance-Union series, for those taking notes) while spinning off any number of stories about different people in different parts of the giant canvas she's constructed. While I like overarcing plots and continuing stories just as much as the next guy, I love the possibilities of this setup, since any story could conceivably happen against this background, it's only really bordered by her imagination. And what ideas she has. Cherryh isn't a "hard SF" writer, and more often she deals with the fine details of characterization and interactions and the like, all of which to me resonate more on an emotional level than watching a writer go through the motions and prove some obscure law of physics with his plot. Sometimes you want to learn and sometimes you want to be entertained. In this book, we have the exact setup that the title suggests, a boy is raised on an alien world and realizes quite early on that he's not quite like anyone else who lives there. The whys and hows are left until nearly the end, as Cherryh drips hints little by little, but it's the interactions that count for the most here, whether their between the boy, Haras and his "father" Dunn, or Dunn and the other people of his race, or Haras and others, the book sparkles, keeping it's own momentum even when it's just people standing around and talking. Cherryh manages to craft an entire alien culture without requiring the reader to go read a separate sourcebook, giving us just enough details to fill in the blanks, making them not so alien that we can't relate to them but giving us a general sense of their "alieness" (along the lines of visiting an unfamiliar country with an utterly new culture). The style of the book is notable as well, in keeping with the alien viewpoints, Cherryh affects a brilliant use of minimalism and stream of consciousness, driving the book along with short, to the point sentences, breaking it up with cascading series of phrases illustrating thoughts, giving the book a taut, lean feel that almost makes it feel like it's from another world. In the end the plot is almost secondary, she immerses you in this new world and makes you care about these people who aren't us and in a genre where people try to be as weird as possible, this is something indeed. One of her best book, although not as famous as the oft-mentioned Cyteen or Downbelow Station (also excellent reads), this is well worth checking out for fans of literate, well thought out SF, and remains an underappreciated and minor masterpiece of the genre.

consistent intensity.......2001-04-30

This is the first book I read by Cherryh and one of the best. She creates an astonishingly vivid warrior culture, so subtle that you forget it is just fiction, yet utterly alien. I have given this book to many friends, all of whom have gotten hooked on her. A triumph of the imagination.

keeps you guessing.......2000-05-11

We've all read the standard books where a person from another race/species must live inside another culture, and overcome prejudices. Cuckoo's Egg addresses this question, but refuses to do so in any of the standard forms. I did not guess Thorn's true past until the last few chapters, and even then, not in its entirety. Cuckoo's Egg is interesting because it ends almost before it really begins. We see Thorn grow up, and understand the character he is growing up to be, but we can only guess what happens as he tries to fufill his destiny. Nevertheless, the book is complete like that - left open to our our imaginations. Thorn's mentor, Duun, is especially fascinating. Like Thorn himself, I found myself both loving and hating him in turn. Thorn cries a lot, but he's still a good guy, trying his best. The principles introduced in Cuckoo's Egg, like those of the Hatani, will make you think. In all, the author delievers a rich and compelling answer to an old question, an answer that will entertain and surprise you.

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Cuckoo's Egg

Manufacturer: Phantasia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HKGLRE

The Cuckoo's Egg Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage

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The Cuckoo's Egg Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage
Clifford Stoll
Manufacturer: Doubleday & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GUQUEO

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The Cuckoo's Egg
Clifford Stoll
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NUK9RQ

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The Cuckoo's Egg
Cliff Stoll
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000P1F9U0

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Appropriately named

The Cuckoo's Egg - Tracking A Spy Through The Maze Of Computer Espionage
Clifford Stoll
Manufacturer: Pan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QS13TS

Customer Reviews:

Appropriately named.......2007-09-16

A cuckoo bird will lay its egg in another birds nest letting that bird raise the offspring as her own.

I saw the TV program on this story before reading the book. Coming from a UNIX background it was fun to see a system I recognized. It could have been titled "The story of Ping" oops that title has been taken. I remember being billed for time on the computer and could only gain access at 2 AM. Many of these skills are now lost to people that do not have a shell account. I especially like how they kept the intruder on the line ling enough to track. The hunt was intriguing and it makes you wonder what is happening today. While this book deals with such things as passwords, the many new avenues created on today's Internet may afford for a newer mystery. Until then this is the classic.

A student managing the computer at Berkley notices an unusual charge to his account. He finds that someone is hacking before it was fashionable. To track down the culprit(s) he must first learn the tracking skills. This process is in its infancy so he even has to invent a few of the skills himself. The use of timing and knowledge of the speed of light allows for a good guess at the distance. The only way to go through the old timing switching stations was to hold the intruder on line ling enough. This required the creation of a dummy database with intriguing information.
Who's is this mysterious intruder(s)?
Will they get caught?
What implications does it hold for us today?

The Cuckoo's Egg : Inside the World of Computer Espionage

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The Cuckoo's Egg : Inside the World of Computer Espionage
Clifford Stoll
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GSBC7Q

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