Ghost in the Wires

April 18, 2011
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 programsâotherwise he apparently lived a threadbare existence on the lamâand 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"âhis preternatural ability to schmooze and manipulate. By learning their procedures and mimicking their lingo, he gets cops, technicians, DMV functionaries, and other mandarinsâhis control over telephone companies is almost godlikeâto 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.

July 1, 2011

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 (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 15, 2011

Once the most wanted computer hacker in the world, Mitnick is now a good guy with two best sellers on Internet security. Here he finally offers a memoir of his hacking period and the three years he spent on the run from the FBI. (The agency had barred him from discussing his experiences for seven years.) Not just for tech nerds, this is bound to be entertaining in the style of Frank Abagnale's Catch Me If You Can. And informative, too.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2011
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 for social engineering (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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)