Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground
I've been reading hacker literature since the late 80's, books, 2600, and online. My favorite has always been the book, Hackers, by Stephen Levy. It's been interesting, seeing the way hackers have really pushed the bounds of computer security. Those who really love poking around and searching into what makes things work and what makes things bonk, can appreciate the desire to push limits and go where they aren't supposed to be.
In the beginning, it was college students at MIT, who simply wanted more access to the mainframe systems, and to figure things out. Then it moved to California, where the first personal computers were coming out, and no one had a clue what to do with them. Eventually equipped with modems, phone phreakers and hackers were united in their desire to get access to foreign systems.
Then came the division between white and black hat hackers, the good and bad of the hacker elite. There were a lot of people who were prosecuted and jailed for simply pushing boundaries, getting into systems where they shouldn't be. It's only since Internet shopping has evolved that hacking has become a very lucrative career.
The author of this book, Kevin Poulsen, is a name well known in the hacker community. Known as "The Hannibal Lecter of computer crime", he eventually spent 5 years in jail for poking around in systems, after going on the run, breaking into more systems, fixing radio contests and needling the FBI by revealing details of wiretaps on foreign consulates.
Now a senior editor for Wired, he's written this sympathetic character study of the conflicted gray hat, Max Vision, a highly talented hacker who becomes a top modern US cyber criminal and an engaging tale of cops against robbers against other robbers.
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