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.

Executive Summary: I enjoyed this book, but it may only appeal to computer/phone geeks, or True Crime junkies.

Full Review
I ended up rereading this book with a few friends after attempting to pick something they would hopefully enjoy that they wouldn't have read otherwise. The jury is still out, but it looks like I might have done a poor job. I enjoyed the reread, but this book won't be for everyone.

I've always been fascinated by the early days of computers and the internet, especially where computer cracking is involved. The late 70s and the 80s were basically the wild west. The idea of networked computers was so new that government was slow to react to those who took advantage.

When they did finally react, it was often to an extreme, which I think is evident in some of the treatment Mr. Mitnick receives from law enforcement. Some of the rumors that developed around him over the years were pretty ludicrous. Not all of them however, and he could be a scary person to cross.

I've read many books on the subject over the years. It's one of the few non-fiction subjects I'm interested in enough to read on my own away from school assigned reading. I even wrote a term paper on it in High School. How I managed to convince my teacher to let me read a bunch of books on computer crime, I don't really remember at this point.

It's hard to read about computer crime and not come across Kevin Mitnick. He's arguably the most famous, or at least the most notorious computer “hacker” of his time.

I find it interesting that Mr. Mitnick has embraced the new definition of Hacker. In fact he doesn't even bother to explain the difference. Back when he was active he would have been considered more of a Phone Phreak (which he does cover a bit) or a Cracker.

Hacker used to be a nickname for obsessive computer types that would dig into depths of systems and code looking for the nooks and crannies.

Maybe he chooses to call himself a Hacker because he's trying to appeal to a wider audience that wouldn't know the difference. Or maybe it's because he doesn't seem to feel like what he did was all that wrong, and might self identify with the original definition.

While Mr. Mitnick's computer skills are no doubt impressive, I think most of his success can be attributed more to his Social Engineering skills rather than his technical ability. That and his ability to exploit the things he learns.

Social Engineering for those unfamiliar, can be defined as the art of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information.

It essentially a different way of saying to con someone, or the term used where computers and/or technology is involved. It relies heavily on knowledge of your targets security procedures and vulnerabilities. Often time people are the weakest link in computer security.

Most of what Mr. Mitnick does is built on the work of others, exploiting bugs found by other people and the trusting and/or lazy nature of people rather than discovering new flaws on his own.

He manages to obtain the source code for numerous operating systems over the years, but often time doesn't bother to spend any time looking at the code, he simply obtains it like a trophy.

I can only theorize that he's incredibly charismatic. Reading this book he doesn't come off as a very likable person to me, yet people seem to jump to help him, even as he abuses their trust and love. That's probably part of why he's so successful at Social Engineering.

One of my friends describe the book as repetitive. For someone not interested in the technology aspect, I can see how this is true. At a high level he used a lot of the same techniques to break into more and more complex systems, especially as the level of computer knowledge and security practices continued to evolve over the years.

He tries to explain the various technical terms as he goes, and I had no trouble following what he wrote, but I was already familiar with a lot of the stuff ahead of time.

It might get tedious or frustrating to those without any background. Similarly it might get tedious to those with more technical knowledge as he explains what may seem like basic concepts.

The book seems to toggle between him trying to elicit sympathy from the reader for his exploits, and apologizing to the people he wronged over the years, especially his mother and grandmother.

To be fair, a lot of incorrect and overly negative things were published about Mr. Mitnick over the years, while he was legally prevented from telling his side of things.

Like I said in my original review, I'm sure the truth is somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.

Despite the negatives, his story is an incredibly unique, and to me at least an interesting one. Parts of it read like it's straight from a spy novel. He uses his abilities not only to hide from his pursuers, but to spy on them to see how close they are getting.

In the end his ego, and his inability to stop breaking into computer systems proves to be his downfall. He may not think so, but considering the fear he elicited in those pursuing and prosecuting him, he was incredibly lucky to come away like he did, and now to have a successful business where people pay him to do the kinds of things he went to jail for.


——————Original Review——————
Forgot to add this book. I noticed after putting another book on my shelves.

I recall really enjoying this. After reading several books biased against Mitnick, it was nice to contrast that with something biased for him instead.

It's hard to know what really happened. I'm sure it lies somewhere in the middle.

Either way, it is a pretty interesting read and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in computers, or social engineering. It really is scary the kinds of things he can do.

A true story, with every bit of excitement and intrigue of a spy thriller. I knew some of the stories of Kevin but getting the record set straight from Kevin, himself was very interesting. I had no idea how unfair his treatment was during his trial, I remember “free Kevin” but really didn't know the extent of the story when I was in high school. I loved the part where he knew the FBI was coming to his house so he left donuts out for them. Relating the story of how the judge didn't understand technology to a magician getting blamed for crops failing was so accurate.

Did not like it that much... I think he goes to much into rants on why what he did seemed ok in his eyes. I was expecting a more interesting description of the technical side and the upside of taking his exploits and using them as cautionary tales for security hardening. It's funny to see though that most exploits started with social engineering and most of the times gullible people were key to the success of the hacks.

A very entertaining man-on-the-run story even if like me, you've got limited technological knowledge. Intriguing escapades but much of the time I was wondering why this guy, who was always so sorry for hurting his loved ones by doing this, kept on doing it. Especially because there seemed to be no real reason for him continuing to hack beyond bragging rights.

Mitnick isn't particularly likable, constantly talking about other hacker's egos and arrogance, whilst saying lines like (paraphrased) “Who else but me would have the balls to hack the FBI whilst being investigated by them?” Actually, much of the excitement of the book was wondering when and how they were going to catch him.