Carolyn's Blog

Friday, December 30, 2005

Still in the pile

Today I finished The Cuckoo's Egg, Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage by Cliff Stoll I started it yesterday after I finished Mitnick's book. I could hardly stand to put it down. Not only that, but despite the title, there's actually a romance in it! The book is about a Berkeley astronomer who ends up tracking a hacker, just as the title suggests. It's his very readable account of what happened. First, the easy reaction - the events took place in 1986 and 87, when I was living in Berkeley, so as I read about the places he names, I'd think oh, yeah, sure, I had classes in that building or, sure, I only lived a few blocks from there. I was in LBL once. Did I ever see him riding his bike to or from the Lab? And that part about him sitting down and being joined by Louis Alvarez, well, wow! I wish I had a job where nobel laureates would just walk up and talk to you!

All this took place over 20 years ago. The technology he talks about is now old (1200 baud modems?) and many are no longer acceptable. Telnet? That's enough to make a Network Admin want to pass out from the gaping security hole. VPN baby. But what gets me is that all those years ago, the government couldn't get its act together to take over and put a stop to the guys who, by the way, were selling their info to the KGB. The problems were apparent to everyone and really, if not for Stoll's persistence, the guys would 1) probably never been caught and 2) eventually gotten someplace that would have been deadly. Nothing's changed.

Anyway, it was really fun reading and kept me turning pages. What will I read next? I think I'm ready for some fiction. Maybe the prologue trouble book...

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