The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security

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Summary: If You Own Or Advise A Business, Read This Book!
Review: If you advise businesses in any capacity (e.g. law, accounting, consulting) then read this book. It'll give you ideas for protecting your clients that will make you seem brilliant!

Some reviewers have complained because this book (1) doesn't detail technical hacks, (2) seems repetitive, or (3) was written by a man convicted of a crime.

Well d'uh!

(1) This is NOT a book for computer programmers; it's for non-programmers who don't want to get robbed.
(2) Each example has a slightly different angle. Some people learn through a multiplicity of examples. If you're not one of those, don't buy this book. Other people need multiple examples to "get it" and the author does a good job of covering the field.
(3) The criminal conviction is a badge of the author's bona fides. You don't learn this stuff by being a goody-two-shoes.

If you run a business, and don't want someone stealing from you in ways you never thought of, then read this book. Preventing a single theft is worth more than the cost.

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Summary: on The Art of Deception
Review: I would recommend this book as reading for everyone involved in any kind of social activity where anything or anyone is at risk in any way. If you read the book, pay attention with an open mind and use common sense, you will gain tremendous insight into effective ways of implementing security. Mr. Mitnick points out how most of us can be watching the door carefully while the intruder walks past us completely unnoticed. I would recommend reading through this book occasionally to keep the methods fresh in your mind, because the art of deception is exactly what it is about; computer knowledge and programming are only secondary skills.

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Summary: Simple Great
Review: Being a security analist, i am really found of this book... no time to write more... but book si great!

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Summary: Great Book for anyone intrrested ins ecurity or people
Review: This is a great book, ti is filled with great stories, preventitive mesures, and more. This is a very easy read, and will be well worth the price fro anyone intrested in security, computer security, corprit security, or how people think, and how socity is flawed. If you are not in a buisness, or a company where this is usefull, then you might get boared with the ammount of talk on hwo to implement security into a company, but even still, it is a great book

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Summary: So interesting
Review: Mitnick writes a very interesting book.

Sometimes a bit melodramatic, but an instant classic of a security title.


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Summary: Common sense
Review: I just finished Kevin Mitnick's Art of Deception. I started the book after I saw 3rd episode of The Broken and a friend told me he has just bought a copy while visiting London.
I expected an eye opening and high-tech hacker book, but I was very disappointed. In his book Mitnick lists plenty of social engineering stories, couple of which do represent a fresh way to look at things, but after reading couple of them, he just starts to repeat himself. Another disappointment was that there are absolutely no practical hacker hints or tricks and almost no computer related stuff in this book. After every story Mitnick gives advice, but that is typically just common sense and I have doubts how his methods of keeping a company safe of social engineers could be practical in a professional world.
So, if you don't have any other idea what to read on the beach this summer, you can grab a copy. But if you are into computers and over 14, you'll probably struggle to read the book to the end

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Summary: Too corporate self-help
Review: Kevin Mitnick was a gifted social engineer, so I was looking forward to reading about the tricks he'd used. Instead, I was disappointed to see the book is totally geared to the corporate director that has NO clue about computer security. The vast majority of the 'lessons' are embarrassingly common-sense:

- lock your computer
- don't write down passwords or codes
- don't give out confidential information
- check everyone's creditentials or ID

That's about it. Of course, you're missing out on the pages upon pages of rehashing the same lessons over and over, but if someone needs that kind of reinforcement to learn, maybe they need this book. :)