Clifford StollReseñas

Worth reading!

Very good. Even years later this book is thought provoking. In addition, it gives a historical view of computing at beginning of the widespread use of the Internet.

An interesting story but about 150 pages too long for this non-computer guy. I am a proud owner of one of Stoll's Klein bottles.½

NF. Good indictment of hype given to computers & Internet. Excellent book.

USA, Californien, 1986
Clifford Stoll er astronom, men hans bevilling er tørret ud og han får i stedet arbejde som systemadministrator på Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. En dag i 1986 bemærker han at nogen laver numre med afdelingens VAX installation.

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I found this to be an enjoyable true story of tracking a hacker in the early days if the Internet, setting up alarms, putting in traps, and working with numerous agencies and telcos. It was a bit drawn out at times but I still enjoyed it. Good storytelling from a first person perspective of the hunt.

Maybe a little too concerned with narrating every single step in the process, even the many, many failed attempts that lead nowhere. This comes at the expense of excitement in the middle sections of the book.

But that's a minor complaint, overall this was a really cracking story. I'm really impressed by how well Stoll explained topics in computer science, networking, and security to readers who may very well have never been on a network before, and who may be hearing about hacking for the first time. He did a good job choosing what to simplify, and how, to let readers understand what was going on, while not overwhelming them or talking down to them. Even more impressive given that these intrusion detection techniques were things he invented, so he had no examples to draw from, and not many people around to give him advice.

This book was all the rage in the BBS scene in the 90s, and I didn't read it then. I'm glad I finally got around to it. Maybe the longest time between putting a book on my "to read" pile and then actually reading it: about 30 years.

Obviously dated, but in a delightful and informative way. Some parts were a bit cringe worthy just because the ideas and stereotypes around computer activity have changed significantly in 30 years. Overall, an incredible snapshot of early personal computing and internet life.

Written in 1989, a bit of history from a time when breaking into computers, even military computers wasn't a crime the authorities were concerned about.

OK book about how computers are NOT revolutionizing education.

I read this back in the 1990s, I believe. I remember enjoying it a lot more than I expected, but I was a computer programmer and there weren't many books like this back then.

The author is a true Berkeleyite, smart and a little crazy. He was an astronomer doing something like making lenses for the well known Lawrence Labs, a high-tech haven. Now, he makes bottles that don't hold anything and are of interest mainly to mathematical nerds, etc. He pretty much lived in his own world, but for a while, he was pulled out into a stint of international intrigue involving all the 3-letter agencies around then - the FBI, CIA, NSA, etc.

Michael Perkins posted a link to an article about the author that was interesting and tells a bit about the book and his life: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/899323627

I'm a bit mixed on this book. The first time I read it, I thought that Clifford had some good points. The second time I read it I just felt that he might be a little jaded.

I love this book. Published in 1990, this book first introduced me to hacking and cybercrimes and I have been hooked ever since. One of my early jobs when I first left school was to track down the spending against the costs for my employer. They had to match. If the final balance was out by less than $1 it took forever to find those few cents.

Cliff Stoll from California was given a similar job back in the 1980s. 75 cents were missing from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory accounts, and he was given the task of finding those missing pennies. It took him several years but eventually he was able to bring down one of the first cyberterrorist cells that was stealing military secrets and selling them to the Russians.

While this is an old story, and computers and technology have now far surpassed what Cliff Stoll had to deal with, I still enjoy reading this for the history of the early hackers.

Excellent old timey story about hackers before there was even an internet. All the same lessons still apply.

Reading again after 30 years. This true story reads like the best spy thriller fiction. A recent headline (March 2021) warned that some of the important “holes” in the security systems of computers worldwide have still not been plugged.

It's a fun little foray into tracking spies. The Cuckoo's Egg is enough to satisfy your inner Tom Clancy, without delving into dumb action schlock. It's not a book that's going to stick with you, but it's an enjoyable read.

Accessible to the layman and engaging as hell, Stoll's journey in tracing a hacker - maybe some script kiddie? - all the way into Europe and beyond is a wonderful read. The ex-hippie shtick wears a bit thin in some places, but his personal transformation is made clearer by the epilogue. And in some ways he is just as much a novice to computer security as an average person reading this. A trip through unix and VAX systems, GNU-emacs holes and root/admin passwords, this is a great introduction to what "hacking" - and classification by aggregation - have always been about.

A fascinating account of his persistence in tracking down a $0.75 accounting error despite indifference from all his superiors and associates. Then when it turned out to be a hacker also hacking into government computer, he encountered that same indifference at all levels.

A fun read and a great history lesson for computer nerds like me.

Charmingly outdated. Still worth considering.

It's been years since I read this. A friend posted a chocolate chip cookie recipe, which, naturally, brought this book straight to mind. Why you might ask? It has a truly excellent chocolate chip cookie recipe in it, which I've had the pleasure to make.

Without giving the plot away, this is an excellent romp through some early hacking and counter hacking ideas and techniques. A must read if you ever use a computer.

As well as a gripping techno-thriller, it's also a sweet romance, and includes a great chocolate-chip cookie recipe. Stoll never sets out to be a hero, he's just a problem-solving grad student, who becomes really dedicated to solving one particular problem.

I wonder how dated it seems now?

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2690761.html

The 1980s were more innocent times than ours. This is the first-person account of how Stoll, an astrophysics graduate turned sysadmin at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, spotted unauthorised access to the departmental VAX one day in 1986 and set off on a detective trail that eventually led to Cold War hacking and espionage. One has to admire his forensic attention to detail, in the face of apathy from the USA's own intelligence and security services and the constant threat of being told to get on with his day job by his bosses; but it's also extraordinary to reflect on how things have changed, in that there would be no difficulty now in getting a government agency to pay attention to hacking on this scale; there would be no legal difficulty in bringing a prosecution; the technical tools to track down hackers are much better developed; and the big international threat to cybersecurity is not in Russia but further east. Still, it's a great book.½

Cliff's usual relaxed and entertaining banter. Much is out-dated and some of the problems he describes have been addressed by technological advancements. But, many of his points are still valid so i think he gives us a lot to think about before quaffing the computer Kool-Aid.

Probably the book that got me first interested in computers.

Highly, but unfortunately unintentionally, amusing book. Part of it is that it was written in 1995 and I read it in 2014, but most of it is that Clifford Stoll - who can really write, witness Cuckoo's Egg - is curmudgeoning all over this newfangled network Internet stuff. The funniest parts are when he's pointing out (in 1995) that people are talking about watching movies over the Internet but the networks aren't anywhere near fast enough so the whole idea is ridiculous...and similar. A _lot_ of his complaints are that the network, or the systems, or the standards are not up to what the visionaries want it for...to the point that my response to most of his grumbles was "Not yet, you mean..." - which was interesting when the things he was grumbling about don't work yet in 2014. Hmmm. He complains about how complicated it is to send emails because everyone has their own system, and grumbles about how expensive it is to get anything worthwhile over the Net. And then goes off on how the Internet makes research way too easy and cheap and everyone's using these shortcuts rather than going to a Real! Library! with paper books and encyclopedias...contradicting himself, just a tad, but keeping to his curmudgeonly style (and echoing a lot of contemporary complaints about Wikipedia and the like). I was rather annoyed at the beginning of the book - wincing about Stoll missing the point a lot - but finally decided to be amused instead and finished it in a quick sweep. I'm glad I read it, it was quite amusing, I doubt very much I'll ever reread.½