Ghost In The Wires: My Adventures As The World's Most Wanted Hacker Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world's biggest companies-and however fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. He spent years skipping through cyberspace, always three steps ahead and labeled unstoppable. But for Kevin, hacking wasn't just about technological feats-it was an old fashioned confidence game that required guile and deception to trick the unwitting out of valuable information.Driven by a powerful urge to accomplish the impossible, Mitnick bypassed security systems and blazed into major organizations including Motorola, Sun Microsystems, and Pacific Bell. But as the FBI's net began to tighten, Kevin went on the run, engaging in an increasingly sophisticated cat-and-mouse game that led through false identities, a host of cities, plenty of close shaves, and to an ultimate showdown with the feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down.Ghost in the Wires is a thrilling true story of intrigue, suspense, and unbelievable escape and a portrait of a visionary whose creativity, skills, and persistence forced the authorities to rethink the way they pursued him, inspiring ripples that brought permanent changes in the way people and companies protect their most sensitive information.
Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 13 hours and 59 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Audible.com Release Date: August 15, 2011
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English
ASIN: B005HBO3BY
Best Sellers Rank: #11 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Computers & Technology #12 in Books > Computers & Technology > Networking & Cloud Computing > Network Security #18 in Books > Computers & Technology > Internet & Social Media > Hacking
When it comes to true crime, I'm pretty squeamish. Nothing violent, please. Clever and devious are what I'm looking for. Frank Abagnale's Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake is one of the best, and it's hard not to compare any subsequent caper story with it.Ghost in the Wires doesn't reach the level of audacity of Catch Me if You Can - impersonating technicians over the phone doesn't rise to the sheer nerve of a teenager impersonating an airline pilot or a doctor, as Abagnale did, and getting away with it. But Ghost in the Wires goes well beyond the adolescent bragfest of phone hacks that it could have been.I think this is largely due to the co-writer, William L. Simon. Kevin Mitnick describes in his acknowledgments, how he and Simon argued over how detailed and technical the book should be, and apparently Simon prevailed. There's enough detail to explain how the scams were possible, but not so specific as to send the non-programmer into a hexadecimal stupor.Another big plus is that many of the hacks depended as much on what Mitnick calls "social engineering" as on specialist knowledge. Unlike the stereotypical computer nerd, Mitnick was as comfortable and proficient at schmoozing people as he was writing code - he could talk his way into places that were restricted and convince people he was entitled to classified information. These were scams anyone can understand.Mitnick also succeeds at not crossing the line from confident to insufferable, which is another pitfall of true crime tell-alls. Perhaps we can once again thank William Simon for this achievement.
I know that many people love Ghost in the Wires, but this book really bothers me. It's very difficult to be sympathetic towards Kevin Mitnick, who continually prevails upon his readers to let him have it both ways.I will leave whatever social sickness the brilliant Kevin Mitnick has to the mental health professionals, but suffice it to say that his writing in Ghost in the Wires is a terrific nonfiction example of an "unreliable narrator." Throughout the book, Mitnick does the same things over and over again and is surprised when he repeatedly gets caught. He hurts his mother, grandmother, wife, and friends over and over again with his illegal hacking activities, says he regrets doing it each time, but then turns around and does it to them again. Mitnick is upset when he is blamed for things he "didn't do" and when he is "double crossed," but he freely admits to dozens of other computer break ins and instances where he compromises the trust of others using "social engineering" techniques, ridicules them for trusting him, and then betrays that trust. Mitnick says he never took money from hacking, but now of course he's making money from writing this and other books as well as from promoting his computer security company based on his (illegally obtained) skills. Mitnick is all over the place.In one scene Mitnick is severely critical of prosecutors who use "dirty tactics" to put him behind bars, but then he continues to use his own dirty tactics while behind those bars.
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