|
I'm just finishing up The Cuckoo's Egg[^], by Cliff Stoll.
Have you read this book? The events take place in 1986 (book published in 1989) & it tells the story of the first Internet hacker -- hacking into University, Gov't & Military computers.
The amazing thing is that Clifford Stoll literally discovered many Security challenges before anyone else.
Dictionary Attacks - Stoll discovered hacker was stealing Unix password files but he knew hacker couldn't crack them (one-way hashed) so he was confused. Then he understood that the hacker was simply generating hashes for every word in dictionary.
Need For Sharing Discoveries - Stoll tried to share info with CIA, FBI, NSA, AFOSI (Office of Special Investigations) but no one "owned" the info so they all just ignored it.
Various Software Bugs which allow elevation - Discovered how other apps could cause bugs which expose secure info.
Clifford Stoll Gnu emacs was the hole in our system’s security. A subtle bug in an obscure section of some popular software. Installed blindly by our systems programmers, we’d never thought that it might destroy our whole system’s security.
Fantastic book that is literally the beginning of the security industry.
Have you read it?
|
|
|
|
|
I saw the 1990 PBS "Nova" episode derived from the book. Excellent.
|
|
|
|
|
That's very cool. I am so amazed that Stoll did this work back in 1986.
I would love to know more about his traps that would alert him when the hacker logged in.
I guess it was some type of shell script or something.
I would love to see that code.
Also, it was very cool that he had the system send alerts to his pager. That is freaking amazing tech for 1986!!! So cool!
|
|
|
|
|
I read it too.
The book is amazing.
Unfortunately, we didn't learn any lessons from it.
|
|
|
|
|
> Unfortunately, we didn't learn any lessons from it.
That's the on thing we could learn 
|
|
|
|
|
One thing that history has taught us is that we don't learn from history.
|
|
|
|
|
True. It's great oxymoron.
|
|
|
|
|
JohaViss61 wrote: Unfortunately, we didn't learn any lessons from it.
Cracked me up! So true.
I also forgot to list the fact that Stoll created a Honey-pot also.
Very cool, he created all those fake docs to lure the hacker in. 
|
|
|
|
|
I remember reading it, but not much of the details. I do remember however thinking how naive "they were back then", and yet how little we've progressed since.
|
|
|
|
|
They were so naive back then. So true.
Nothing's changed. 
|
|
|
|
|
One of my favorite books. I read it for the first time back in 1994 I think, in college. I got my copy of the book from a friend and since lost it. I re-purchased it sometime in the 20-teens and after re-reading it, it still proudly sits on my shelf to this day. I recommend it to everyone going into cybersec. The book is amazing though. It covers account control issues, brute force, exploits introduced by uncontrolled software, honeypotting, and the somewhat hilarious examples of dealing with "the agencies" who in that day and age wanted nothing to do with things at first.
It shows how a hacker will go out of his way to investigate leads and connect dots and spend hours upon countless hours exploiting every angle to accomplish their goals. A+++, can't recommend it enough.
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, I forgot to mention the honeypotting Stoll did. It was really cool & fantastic way to lure the hacker in. Very cool. He basically invented all the tools (that we don't use today).
|
|
|
|
|
I read it in the early '90s and, while I don't remember many details, I remember how fascinating it was. Definitely worth reading, imo.
Cheers,
Mike Fidler
"I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright
"I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright
"I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.
|
|
|
|
|
It really is a great read. It is almost a text book. Although it does have a lot of sidebars into Stoll's basic life. A very good read though.
|
|
|
|
|
rant - well it would be nice to read, except amazon in its amazement, decided to hijack the clear url that you placed, but saying nah, redirect you to UK amazon, and instead of showing the search results for that book, will just go to first match: One Flew into the Cuckoo's Egg by Bill Oddie
does not help, that Cliff Stoll's audio book is available on the UK amazon, but nah, why have a good product search.
well another thing to be mindful of with amazon and why some results been skewing up lately
|
|
|
|
|
Sorry about that. very annoying. If you get a chance, check out the book.
It would be a good audio book if you like listening to books. I listen to books a lot.
|
|
|
|
|
to be fair, the original link (as it appears to me) was:
CUCKOOS-EGG-Clifford-Stoll-ebook/dp/B0083DJXCM?keywords=the+cuckoo%27s+egg+by+clifford+stoll&qid=1664891518&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjgxIiwicXNhIjoiMS42OSIsInFzcCI6IjEuNTcifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=the+cuckoo%27s+egg%2Caps%2C241&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=radink-20&linkId=0bad07be838f6e2cda5f0984ff490aa3&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
which is not a direct link to the book, but a keyword search (?). To display the above, I had to remove the leading http stuff, as this editor automatically changed it to a link, which was not what i wanted. But the UK page I got did have the keywords in the search box, and clicking on them did get me to the book:
the-cuckoos-egg: Amazon.co.uk: clifford-stoll: 9780743411462: Books[^]
A bit pricey! But also recommended was this:
The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage: Amazon.co.uk: Stoll, Cliff: 8601200542172: Books[^]
for a more reasonable price. These links with ludicrously long 'referencing' data are a pain.
|
|
|
|
|
This is hands down one of my favorite books. I happen to run across it at a used book store, and thought I'd give it a try, aka no way this will be any good. It blew my mind.
I need to dust it off and re-read it.
Are there any other books out there as good as this? Please share!
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, read it years ago and just the other day was talking to someone about it. Time to read it again.
|
|
|
|
|
Age Discrimination is rampant in the industry.
I have spent 3 months looking for a job, and that is my experience.
Usual reply from HR people is "While your qualifications are impressive, we have decided to go with another candidate."
I am looking for a steady job for the next 10 years. The average programmer/developer switches jobs every 4 years.
|
|
|
|
|
Edward Aymami wrote: The average programmer/developer switches jobs every 4 years.
My max is five.
How is any of what you said age discrimination?
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
|
|
|
|
|
I am 73. If it were 1 or tw0 or even 5 I could say they picked someone else better suited.
But 20 to 25（I've lost count) cannot be anything but age discrimination
|
|
|
|
|
We can't rule out recruiter or your incompetency yet.
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks for that. My competence is pretty damn good!
|
|
|
|
|
I can't really judge. I can also claim I am a great swimmer but in reality I could be not. I am not saying you are lying or are responsible either. I am just saying there is very little information to conclude anything.
Of course it is stressing to look for jobs and it can certainly take a while. You could ask why they went with someone else so you can ask that upfront at the next application. Also, you would rarely know exactly what they are looking for so never assume you are the one.
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
