Cuckoo's Egg

Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: A well-written and thoroughly engaging account. Although this book will be most interesting to computer geeks, it is written to be accessible to all readers - technical jargon is kept to a minimum, or clearly explained when necessary. Because the events occurred in the eighties, many of the specifics seem rather dated now, but the basic principles are still relevant.

But the essence of this book is not the technical aspect - it's the very human story of an individual determined to solve a mystery at all costs. Stoll wrestles with adversaries (not only the spy himself, but also unhelpful government agents, his bosses, and even awkward computer systems), finds solutions to his problems (sometimes through cleverness and ingenuity, sometimes through tedious, determined effort), celebrates his victories and comes to terms with his failures, and shows how he has grown from the experience and come to new understandings.

Though Stoll downplays his computer expertise ("I'm an astronomer, not a programmer"), he's clearly a hacker in the truest sense of the word - ingenious, determined, iconoclastic, and a bit of a mystic. Frankly, he seems like a helluva guy, possessed of intellect, integrity, and a clever sense of humor. Perhaps one of the most valuable aspects of the book is the insight it gives into the hacker mindset.

The book occasionally gets repetitive - usually to reinforce the technical concepts for the benefit of general readers - but overall, it's competently written and easy to read. Stoll isn't here to craft award-winning literature; he's here to tell a story, and he does that quite well.

I've read this book several times, and will certainly read it several more times. If you fancy yourself a hacker, or just like a good real-life adventure story, this book is essential reading.

Rating:
Summary: What is a seventy-five cents worth?
Review: Cliff Stoll was an astronomer, but he became the systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. When he took the position, he discovered a 75-cent accounting error that indicated there was either (1) a bug within the code of the accounting program, or (2) unauthorized users on his system.

Science is precise, and therefore Stoll began an investigation that ended up changing the intelligence community. His extensive testing and experiments revealed not only unauthorized access, but also the flaws of computer security. He studied the methods, the data path, and the signals (both false and true) through an electronic maze that eventually led him to "Hunter."

Early in his exploration, he discovered a six-second-time delay between transmission and receipt. It took three seconds for the data link from New York to reach Berkeley. What happened to the extra three seconds? Stoll reevaluated his findings, and eventually found the three missing seconds. It was the transmission time from Europe to New York.

The Cuckoo's Egg is Stoll's incredible story that eventually led to Hunter, a group of computer hackers and spies who were connected with the KGB and operating out of Germany. They had used our own services to piggyback onto valid signals. They jumped from system to system randomly to meet their goal. They obtained entrance to highly classified government sites.

This is the suspenseful, true story of one scientist's ingenious methods that brought down a spy ring. I read this book when it was first released and treasure my copy. Clifford Stoll had included his e-mail address, and graciously responded to my questions.

This book is not out-of-date. It opened the door to the world of computer investigations. The story is fascinating, and the writing is excellent. Five stars.

Victoria Tarrani

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Cliff Stoll wrote a wonderful mistery book which happens to be real and a great motivation to learn the tools of his (ours?) trade: operating systems, protocols, editors ... There is the exact mixture of people, thrill and science, each one enhancing the others. This is a very uncommon talent. I wonder what would be a technical book written by Stoll, provided he didn't change style! I tell you this: whenever I get saturated of computer stuff (argh! new languages every semester...) I turn back to Stoll. All my sense of wonder is recovered. This is perhaps the perfect book for one who just started to use a computer, and takes it for just a fancy typewriter: she will respect and love her "third half" of the brain. I read Cuckoo's Egg about ten times!

Rating:
Summary: "Cuckoo's Egg: crime story for bookworms & cybertechs alike"
Review: OK, I admit it. This is one of those books that I simply could not put down until finished from cover to cover. I first read this book in '93, when I was taking a UNIX Admin class (sorry to say I did not evolve into a guru or wizard ;-D); found it absolutely fascinating and have been recommending it to folks ever since. Cliff Stoll gives a factual yet immensely enjoyable account of his investigation into the evil doings of some net hackers. For anyone who has ever wondered about the workings of our networks, this is a must-read. And even non-techies won't be disappointed with this book because of Stoll's personable style. I'm buying a new copy today because the last time I loaned out my old paperback, I didn't get it back. Lost in cyberspace, maybe? Anyway, I can't wait to read Silicon Snake Oil next.

Rating:
Summary: The Case of the Hannover Hacker
Review: This tells of Cliff Stoll's involvement in reconciling a 75 cent bookkeeping discrepancy that led to an intruder who broke into the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in order to break into classified military systems. Cliff writes with a 'stream of consciousness' style that used over 350 pages where maybe 86 pages would be used in a more concise style. [Is using many pages a mark of bureaucratic style?] Cliff describes his lifestyle as a university serf: eating a lot of pizza, bicycling around, living with friends, sewing quilts. His big event of the year is dressing up for a Halloween parade in San Francisco. This book lacks a Table of Contents and an Index (not intended for reference?). I don't expect a sequel.

This is worth reading as a slow-paced detective or mystery story. But it is unlike a Hammett or Chandler or other detective authors. One lesson is the care needed when talking over a phone line (the "F" entity). Cliff's comments on an uncaring Federal bureaucracy were echoed in the aftermath of 9/11/2001. The personal activities of Cliff and his friends show them to be dedicated followers of fashion who imagine themselves to be radically original. American telephones are computer controlled so they are easy to trace.

Cliff is asked about the "adiabatic lapse rate on Jupiter". This wasn't "by chance", but a test of his bona fides (Chapter 45). Chapter 47 explains how to decrypt Unix passwords from words. Plodding through this book is like running on a dry sandy beach. He could have been more specific. Cliff claims the problem with viruses is they destroy trust (naive?). My advice is: trust no one.