Ghost in the Wires

This thing read almost like a cheesey crime tv drama. The amount of different and creative ways that Mitnick found to get information out of computer systems, and actually more often, the people using them, is fascinating.

He talks about little things like telling people incorrect information and having them correct you, rather than suspiciously asking directly for it. There's another story where he talks to a developer and asks to be sent something confidential, but the developer informs him that for security reasons it can only be delivered in person, so instead he tells the developer he won't be in the office anytime soon and convinces him to leave the package with the secretary instead. He is then able to convince the secretary to send it to him.

There are a ton of little things like this and the book actually moves along at a pretty brisk pace. Mitnick is almost insufferably egotistical while kind of writing as if he is being humble throughout the story, but it actually kind of humanizes him a bit.

I think I'll try reading another one of his books later on.

“Ghost In The Wires” is the long-awaited autobiography of Kevin Mitnick, the world's most infamous computer hacker and the first true anti-hero of the digital age. Reading much like a magician's explanation of his most puzzling tricks, “Ghost” is a fascinating story filled with ingenuity, daring, and a healthy dose of wit. Mitnick's obsession with beating the system is incredibly contagious, and despite the illegality of his actions you'll find yourself hoping he never gets caught. Highly recommended.

After reading a book I like to compare my impression to the impressions other people have. For “Ghost in the Wires” there are certainly a lot of negative reviews. I was a bit surprised. Although they are not wrong. I personally wouldn't weight the flaws so strongly.

It is true, in my opinion, and throughout the book occurring, that Mitnick is a bit whiny and some what narcissistic. He constantly praises himself for having met this or that girl. Which does absolutely nothing for the plot and is almost every time a one- or two-liner sentence. And oh god, the step master workout routine. A few chapters in he wines about how his wife could leave him. Although he does nothing to change his way of living and keep out of jail and then rattles on about how he feels betrayed. He constantly wines about his poor mom and gram having to suffer because of his exploits and their consequences but does again nothing to change himself. Somewhere in the book, I think, he mentions his hacking being pathologic. Maybe that could be an explanation, but read for yourself.

That being said. I still think it's an interesting book about social engineering other people and how a justice system could not keep up with the development of computers and the internet. Is the book about hacking? Not so much. There are some random parts thrown in, where he explains a few things. But most of the time it's very vague. To gain access to information and source code he uses not hacking but social engineering people (some reviews say it's con artistry). Then he looks for exploits in the code and uses them. Later on he uses exploits to gain information about exploits other people have found. So it's not so much him hacking to find and use exploits and more of him using exploits from a tool box to gain access to new/more exploits to keep his toolbox up to date. What I'm trying to say is, that is not so much hacking in my opinion. But maybe it's just not the main focus of the book and therefore not explained that well.

My review sounds now a lot more negative than how I felt about the book. It's a good read with it's downs and if you are not that much bothered by some of Mitnick's personality quirks and/or interested into phone phreaking you should read it.