Status
Available
Call number
Library's review
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.
???
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.
???
Publication
London : Pan Books, 1991.
Description
Before the Internet became widely known as a global tool for terrorists, one perceptive US citizen recognized its ominous potential. Armed with clear evidence of computer espionage, he began a highly personal quest to expose a hidden network of spies that threatened national security. But would the authorities back him up? Cliff Stoll was an astronomer turned systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab when a seventy-five cent accounting error alerted him to the presence of an unauthorized user on his system. The hacker's code name was "Hunter"-a mysterious invader who managed to break into US computer systems and steal sensitive military and security information. Stoll began a one-man hunt of his own: spying on the spy. It was a dangerous game of deception, broken codes, satellites, and missile bases-a one-man sting operation that finally gained the attention of the CIA . . . and ultimately trapped an international spy ring fueled by cash, cocaine, and the KGB.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member ABVR
When you get right down to it, this is a 400-page book about a year-long, painstaking search for an elusive hacker--a "ghost in the network"--two decades ago during the prehistory of the internet. The hero is a man detail-obsessed enough to notice a 75-cent accounting discrepancy and track it back
Four hundred pages of this should be as dull as a thud. Except that it's not . . . it's brilliant, engrossing, and frequently even charming.
The credit for this goes entirely to Stoll's easygoing literary voice and his ability to explain just enough of the hardware and software behind his story to make it crystal clear to the non-geek reader. He's an interesting enough character, and he talks about himself so naturally and unassumingly, that even seemingly mundane events become interesting. Stoll is also an astute observer of the world around him, and of his own quirks as well as those of his fellow humans. The book is filled with sharply drawn vignettes of his home life in Berkeley, the computer work he was paid to do, the astronomical research that fed his soul, and the bureaucratic absurdities he encountered while trying to get some law-enforcement agency interested in the hacker he was chasing.
In the end, The Cuckoo's Egg works because it's as much a story about people as a story about computers. It has that in common with Tracy Kidder's Soul of a New Machine and Stephen Levy's Hackers, and--like them--it's a classic of the early computer age.
Show More
to its source. The story is full of computer technology so old that only aging IT gurus and historians will recognize it. Its tempo reveals what professional investigators (spies, detectives, scientists, historians) have always known and novelists have always glossed over: real-life investigations are full of tedious repetition, dead ends, and false starts. Stoll tells it straight, resisting the urge to inject the artificial drama we've been trained to expect.Four hundred pages of this should be as dull as a thud. Except that it's not . . . it's brilliant, engrossing, and frequently even charming.
The credit for this goes entirely to Stoll's easygoing literary voice and his ability to explain just enough of the hardware and software behind his story to make it crystal clear to the non-geek reader. He's an interesting enough character, and he talks about himself so naturally and unassumingly, that even seemingly mundane events become interesting. Stoll is also an astute observer of the world around him, and of his own quirks as well as those of his fellow humans. The book is filled with sharply drawn vignettes of his home life in Berkeley, the computer work he was paid to do, the astronomical research that fed his soul, and the bureaucratic absurdities he encountered while trying to get some law-enforcement agency interested in the hacker he was chasing.
In the end, The Cuckoo's Egg works because it's as much a story about people as a story about computers. It has that in common with Tracy Kidder's Soul of a New Machine and Stephen Levy's Hackers, and--like them--it's a classic of the early computer age.
Show Less
LibraryThing member drardavis
Excellent true story of the first anti-hacking efforts. A Berkeley liberal realizes that anarchy is not the best policy and drags the government agencies, FBI, CIA, NSA, et. al. kicking and screaming on a chase through cyberspace. Boy am I old! I actually understand and remember all of the computer
Show More
jargon in this. Show Less
LibraryThing member fgjohnson
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's getting pretty old now but interesting to read as a kind of a history lesson about the basis of network security. The Berkeley hippie discovering he was more concerned about privacy, protecting research and the value of freedom was a hoot!
LibraryThing member schteve
Clifford Stoll had just one great book in him.
This is it.
This is it.
LibraryThing member emf1123
Reading this book as a kid is why I ended up in Information Security. Imagine my disappointment.
LibraryThing member Meggo
A fascinating look at the world of hackers and those who track them. This book was extremely well written and kept my attention from start to finish. It should appeal to code monkeys and normal people, as well.
LibraryThing member iayork
Great book!: The Cuckoo's egg was really a great book to read. It was thrilling and it gave you an insider's look of how computers work, operated and...broke, 40 years ago. Must read for any CS or computer ethusiast :)
LibraryThing member Reysbro
Fun. Those were the days.
LibraryThing member jhatton1980
Fun and easy read for computer nerds.
LibraryThing member The-Social-Hermit
A documentary and dramatized book about a hackers group that appeared to sell data to the KGB.
LibraryThing member Clueless
The parallels between this and the last book I read 'Against all Enemies' were chilling.
Absolutely fabulous writing...you'd expect - from the subject matter - that this would be as dry as a bone. But it's not. NOT AT ALL!
Sometimes I have trouble following a whodunit. But not here -- it's all laid
Absolutely fabulous writing...you'd expect - from the subject matter - that this would be as dry as a bone. But it's not. NOT AT ALL!
Sometimes I have trouble following a whodunit. But not here -- it's all laid
Show More
our it clear, concise lucid writing that Stoll also manages to make engaging through his characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member TimBazzett
I was ready to give THE CUCKOO'S EGG a mere four stars, because this is just not really the kind of book I normally read. But then I decided that wouldn't be fair, or an accurate reflection of how I ended up reading it. Which was nearly nonstop from beginning to end. The book is almost 400 pages
Cliff Stoll seems an unlikely hero for an international spy thriller. The guy's an astronomer by training, but also a largely self-taught computer geek, a Berkley hippie sort who doesn't own a car and bikes everywhere. He enjoys cooking, sewing, and Quilting! But the thing is, the guy is cool, very cool. And he's funny too. In the course of the book you learn a little about his relationship with his partner, Martha, which is pretty laid back, unofficial and, well, cool. You also learn quite a lot about the early days of computers and the pre-internet age, when PC's were still something of a novelty and giant mainframe computers ruled. Well, they probably still do. And he also introduces you to the dangers of non-secure computers, how hackers can infiltrate and steal stuff, pretty important stuff in fact. You see how Cliff gradually eases himself from the hippy fringe into the heart of the military industrial complex, accidentally, as it were, just doing his job. Other players are folks from the FBI, CIA, NSA, and lots of DoD contractors too - the whole Beltway bunch and others scattered all over the USA.
And, most important of all, Cliff Stoll is a great storyteller, a natural writer. Or, if he's not, he's got me fooled. I know I've 'discovered' this book almost twenty-five years late, but man, is it ever a terrific read! Five-PLUS stars. Highly recommended. Yeah, VERY highly!
Show More
long and I read it in less than two days. A jacket blurb says it "reads like a le Carre novel," and it does, no lie. It's that gripping and compelling a read. Except this is a spy thriller that involves no real physical danger to its hero-author, Cliff Stoll. But whodathunk that a narrative that plays out mostly behind a desk, plunking computer keys, could be this exciting? Well, it is; it keeps you turning and turning the pages, 'cause you just can't wait to find out what happens next. Cliff Stoll seems an unlikely hero for an international spy thriller. The guy's an astronomer by training, but also a largely self-taught computer geek, a Berkley hippie sort who doesn't own a car and bikes everywhere. He enjoys cooking, sewing, and Quilting! But the thing is, the guy is cool, very cool. And he's funny too. In the course of the book you learn a little about his relationship with his partner, Martha, which is pretty laid back, unofficial and, well, cool. You also learn quite a lot about the early days of computers and the pre-internet age, when PC's were still something of a novelty and giant mainframe computers ruled. Well, they probably still do. And he also introduces you to the dangers of non-secure computers, how hackers can infiltrate and steal stuff, pretty important stuff in fact. You see how Cliff gradually eases himself from the hippy fringe into the heart of the military industrial complex, accidentally, as it were, just doing his job. Other players are folks from the FBI, CIA, NSA, and lots of DoD contractors too - the whole Beltway bunch and others scattered all over the USA.
And, most important of all, Cliff Stoll is a great storyteller, a natural writer. Or, if he's not, he's got me fooled. I know I've 'discovered' this book almost twenty-five years late, but man, is it ever a terrific read! Five-PLUS stars. Highly recommended. Yeah, VERY highly!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Daniel.Estes
Cliff Stoll's real-life account in The Cuckoo's Egg belongs in a special category of "Obviously dated books that are still relevant." Computer technology has progressed an unimaginable amount in the past 25 years, and yet the human element here remains timeless. One can follow along easy enough
My only critique is that I feel the book runs too long by at least 100 pages. This story has a natural urgency that isn't helped by the unnecessary length.
Show More
even though the terminology is anachronistic. Some nice moments are the descriptions of what the infant internet looked like before it becomes the global behemoth we recognize today.My only critique is that I feel the book runs too long by at least 100 pages. This story has a natural urgency that isn't helped by the unnecessary length.
Show Less
LibraryThing member meekohi
Interesting first-person view of tracking a hacker back to the source back in the early Unix days. Pretty interesting from a historical perspective, although there is a lot of waiting around for something interesting to happen (as the 3-letter agencies sit around doing nothing useful for months).
LibraryThing member Lorune
Entertaining overall story, i just got bit tired of the Stoll's silly whining about different sort of things at the end of the book.
LibraryThing member Kaethe
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?
I wonder how dated it seems now?
LibraryThing member adam.currey
A fun read and a great history lesson for computer nerds like me.
LibraryThing member SharronA
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.
LibraryThing member rachel8973
I loved this. Great fun if your are one of those people who remembers sleeping under your desk to be there when your program finished compiling/linking.
LibraryThing member heidilove
cool geeky espinoge at the dawn of the information age, and it's all true. a fun ride and a nice snapshot of information at the time. important in understanding How we Got Here.
LibraryThing member podocyte
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.
Subjects
Awards
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1991)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1989
Physical description
393 p.; 19.6 cm
ISBN
0330317423 / 9780330317429
Local notes
Omslag: Otello Damonte
Omslaget viser en computerskærm med et stort øje
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Omslaget viser en computerskærm med et stort øje
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Similar in this library
Pages
393
DDC/MDS
| 364.1680973 |