Review by New York Times Review
A pioneer of the corporate-computer break-in tells how he did it. CONSIDERING the fact that Windows 95 hadn't even been released when federal agents finally caught up with the computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, one might assume his new memoir would be full of stale old tech-and-techniques that no one in 2011 could possibly care about. But as Mitnick makes clear here, don't jump to conclusions. While he excelled at infiltrating computer systems from a keyboard and had a sharp memory for numbers, "Ghost in the Wires" (Written with William L. Simon) really showcases another of Mitnick's skills: social engineering, or what he describes as "the casual or calculated manipulation of people to influence them to do things they would not ordinarily do." By doing his research and impersonating authority figures over the phone or by e-mail, Mitnick found he could persuade just about anybody - programmers, technicians, even the nice lady at the Social Security Administration - to give him the things he wanted, like passwords, computer chips and personal information about F.B.I, informants on his tail. "People, as I had learned at a very young age, are just too trusting," he writes. It's this element to his story that makes "Ghost in the Wires" read like a contemporary über-geeky thriller. Many of today's computer viruses and identity-theft scams - and even the recent phone-hacking scandals of certain newspapers - depend on social engineering mixed with a misuse of technology to dupe the unsuspecting. In that regard, Mitnick's memoir also serves as a wake-up call for anyone trying to keep personal information private. (Out of prison since 2000, Mitnick now works as a security consultant.) Kevin Mitnick grew up as an only child of divorced parents, moving frequently in the Los Angeles area. He was something of a loner, and his early pursuits included studying magic tricks and ham radio. When he was 12, the revelation that he could ride the local bus system free with a $15 punch and books of half-used blank transfer tickets fished out of a Dumpster behind the bus depot gave him a sense of what he could do (legal or otherwise) if he put his mind to it. Even if one is unfamiliar with Mitnick's life story, it's kind of obvious where he's heading here, and it's far beyond the bus routes around San Bernardino County. In high school, Mitnick developed an obsession with the inner workings of the telephone company's switches and circuits, a hobby known as "phone phreaking" (and one that was shared by the future Apple founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, in their own formative years). By the time he was 17, in 1981, Mitnick was happily spending his time on things like persuading a Pacific Telephone employee to give him Lucille Ball's home number and burrowing into different corporate computer systems. It was also at the age of 17 that he had his first run-in with the authorities for his activities. Thus began a nearly 20-year cat-and-mouse game with law enforcement that makes up much of the book. Driven by curiosity and compulsion ("There's always something that's more challenging and fun to hack"), Mitnick spent most of his young adulthood pilfering proprietary code from technology companies like Sun Microsystems and Novell, partly so he could look for bugs and security holes to use to his advantage, and partly for the thrill of the hunt. He also spent plenty of time making free calls on his hacked cellphone and going to the gym. As the authorities began to close in on him in 1992, he created several false identities, and went on the run until he was finally nailed in February 1995. When not recounting his clever exploits, Mitnick devotes chunks of the book to defiantly rebutting myths that became attached to him - for example, that he had hacked into government computer systems. (He does, however, admit to eavesdropping on the National Security Agency's telephone calls.) With its caper 'n' chase pacing, "Ghost in the Wires" is fairly entertaining, although the prose can veer into pulpy melodrama: "I had to move now. I had to get a new identity now. I had to get the hell out of my apartment now!" Like many memoirists, Mitnick clearly relishes the chance to have his say all these years later. He mocks some of the more incredible accusations leveled at him by the authorities: that he had repeatedly turned off the phone service of the actress Kristy McNichol, and that he could "whistle into a telephone and launch a nuclear missile from Norad." (Mitnick surmises that the federal prosecutor who made the latter claim probably mixed him up with Matthew Broderick's youthful computer enthusiast in the 1983 cold-war thriller "WarGames.") MITNICK'S sense of humor is evident as he recounts his adventures. When his ingenious combination of a radio scanner and software alerted him to F.B.I. agents' cellphones in the area, he cheekily had a box of doughnuts waiting for them when they raided his apartment. For those interested in computer history, "Ghost in the Wires" is a nostalgia trip to the quaint old days before hacking (and hackers) turned so malicious and financially motivated. Unlike computer criminals today, Mitnick ignored the credit card numbers he stumbled across in his pursuit of code. He writes: "Anyone who loves to play chess knows that it's enough to defeat your opponent. You don't have to loot his kingdom or seize his assets to make it worthwhile." He summed up his personal motive to the former Wall Street trader Ivan Boesky when they were both in prison: "I didn't do it for the money; I did it for the entertainment." J.D. Biersdorfer is the production editor of the Book Review and writes the Q&A computer column for The Times.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 14, 2011]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Mitnick was at one time the most wanted computer hacker in the country, perhaps the world. It was claimed that he could launch U.S. nuclear missiles simply by whistling into a phone. This was, of course, utter fabrication. In reality he was just a kid with a powerful curiosity and an innate knack fo. social engineerin. (or conning individuals into giving up deep secrets). Although he made free, untraceable phone calls at will, hacked his way into almost every major software company, and stole vast amounts of proprietary code, he never made monetary gain on any of it. His story reads like those of Frank Abagnale Jr. (Catch Me If You Can, 1980) and Steven Jay Russell (Steve McVicker's I Love You Phillip Morris, 2003), both con men and impostors who assumed multiple personalities. But Mitnick's has a high-tech twist. He impersonated high-level phone company and computer field specialists simply to satisfy his addiction to hacking. He reveals in minute detail how he obtained some of the most closely guarded secrets of the computer industry, how he eluded the F.B.I. for years by living complete lives under false identities, and how one corporate IT security manager ultimately beat him at his own game.--Siegfried, Davi. Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
It's the piquant human element that really animates this rollicking memoir of high-tech skullduggery. Mitnick (The Art of Deception) recounts his epic illegal computer hacks of Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment Corporation, and any number of cellphone makers; his exploits triggered a manhunt that made headlines. He insists he did it not for money but for the transgressive thrill of looking at big, secret computer programs-otherwise he apparently lived a threadbare existence on the lam-and the claim rings true; there's something obsessive and pure about his need to hack and brag about it to others, habits which eventually brought about his downfall. Mitnick's hacking narratives are lucid to neophytes and catnip to people who love code, but the book's heart is his "social engineering"-his preternatural ability to schmooze and manipulate. By learning their procedures and mimicking their lingo, he gets cops, technicians, DMV functionaries, and other mandarins-his control over telephone companies is almost godlike-to divulge their secrets and do his bidding. The considerable charm of this nonstop caper saga lies in seeing the giant, faceless bureaucracies that rule and regulate us unmasked as assemblages of hapless people dancing to a plucky con man's tune. Photos. (Aug. 15) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A legendary hacker recalls his escapades and life on the run from the FBI.Mitnick (The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders and Deceivers, 2005, etc.), who now works as a computer-security consultant, spent nearly five years in a federal prison for computer crimes. With the lifting of a court ban that prohibited him from writing about his exploits, he offers a whirlwind account of his thrill-seeking adventures stealing source code and other sensitive data from phone and computer companies while leading the FBI and other federal authorities on a cross-country chase that ended with his arrest in 1995. Now in his late 40s, Mitnick grew up in California and developed an early fascination for pranks, deception and technology. At age 17, he was arrested for stealing phone-company manuals. At 23, he writes, his hacking gave him control over phone systems in much of the United States.One judge, in denying bail, said Mitnick posed a threat to the community when "armed with a keyboard." In fact, his strongest suit was his ability to manipulate people; he learned the inside lingo of bureaucrats, won their trust and gained access to information. "People are just too trusting," writes the reformed con man. The author delights in recounting his celebrated hacks of Sun Microsystems and other corporations; his outwitting of FBI pursuers; his elaborate methods of creating new identities; and his obsessive search for still edgier challenges. "Hacking was my entertainment," he writes.He never gained financially from his "trophies" (source codes, passwords, credit-card and social-security numbers, etc.), but gathered them "purely for the thrill." His breezy, in-your-face, anti-establishment narrative will please many readers, but some may find the author's self-important attitude grating.A lucid, brightly written tale for both techies and lay readers.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
