Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick, Steve Wozniak, and William L. Simon


Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: Non-fiction, Biography

Book Review

Kevin Mitnick was a notorious hacker. He was very good at what he did. He was able to get into a lot of secured placed without getting caught for several years. But then, in the end, like most hackers, he got caught, served his term, and came out clean. Now, he is one of the most skillful security professional.

This book is based on his story. It starts since he was young. So, I kindda understand why he becomes a hackers. In a way, he’s like Steve Jobs. Mitnick and Jobs are geniuses. They are not happy with what traditional education can give them. So, they need to find a way out to express themselves. Jobs went on founding Apple, while Kevin turned out to be a hacker.

This book is not only fun, but also informative. Before reading this book, I know quite a bit about security. But still, I learned a lot more from this book. But don’t be scared by the term “security”. The content of this book is not very technical. This book is meant for general public. For example, to get confidential information, you just need to use “social engineering”. You just have to pretend to be one of employees who are allowed to have the information. How? Well, you just need to know how the inside people talk to each other. Then, you search for the right telephone numbers. You call them. You pretend to be one of them. And, people will give you the information you want. Most people are just too trusting. The question is do you have the guts to pull this off. Well, Mitnick does.