The Cuckoo's Egg - Clifford Stoll
 

Title: The Cuckoo's
Author: Cliff Stoll
Publisher: Pocket
ISBN: 0-370-31433-6

Review:
If you have any interest in computer security, or digital forensics this book is a fantastic read. It is a nonfiction book, but is not a piece reference material.

Although I would suggest that it would be primarily aimed at younger generations who did not witness first hand the revolution of personal computers, the book, which tells the story of an astronomer thrown into the deep end administering a Unix network and eventually ends with him tracking a hacker through a maze of military networks, sheds a lot of light on how networks are run, how various methods can be employed to detect intrusions, and gives insights into poorly written software which can be exploited.

Throughout the book, there are parts which are so brilliantly written that the reader is drawn into the story and feels the frustrations and jubilations of the administrator as the hacker stumbles blindly over his tripwires.

It is best summed up by a short sentence from "A Brief History of Unix" at Virginia Tech: "A painless way to absorb a bit about unix, networks, security!" The book is well worth a read during some of those downtimes when you need to get away from the monitor.

There is a technical article to accompany the book which I am just trying to get hold of, more details to follow...

Rating: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: Only four because the story has a tendency to be a bit slow in a few places!