Approaching Zero: The Extraordinary Underworld of Hackers, Phreakers, Virus Writers, and Keyboard Criminals [Hardcover]

Paul Mungo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 16, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0679409386 | ISBN-13: 978-0679409380

A thought-provoking study of the war against computer viruses reveals the world of hackers and other computer criminals, their potentially catastrophic impact, and the efforts of international police agencies to stop computer crime. 15,000 first printing. $15,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Entertaining but hardly comprehensive, this study offers a somewhat European angle on the "technological counterculture." The authors draw on interviews and technical literature to examine the techniques of American and British phreakers (who tap into phone systems), profile "Captain Zap"--Pennsylvanian Ian Murphy, the first American computer hacker to be prosecuted--and describe the biggest international gathering of hackers, which took place in Amsterdam in 1989. Particularly interesting is an account of how Bulgaria, a would-be high-tech power, spawned hackers and a flood of computer viruses--approximately 200 since 1988. But Clough, an English accountant who has specialized in international computer security, and Mungo, an American freelance journalist, rarely offer in-depth portraits of their subjects, nor is their treatment sufficiently thorough to lend credence to their warning that we "may no longer be able to trust technology."
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Mungo, a newspaper and magazine feature writer, and Clough, an English accountant specializing in computer security, have put together another portrait of the world of computer hackers from the early days of the phone "phreaks" to the Eastern European efforts to commission targeted hacking and virus development. While the treatment of worms and viruses is more complete than in Katie Hafner and John Markoff's Cyberpunk ( LJ 6/1/91) or Bruce Sterling's Hacker Crackdown ( LJ 9/1/92) by virtue of later publication, this work does not add substantially to the available literature. Written more informally, with less technical detail, it will probably appeal to younger and/or more recent computer enthusiasts.
- Hilary D. Burton, Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Livermore, Cal.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 247 pages
• Publisher: Random House (March 16, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679409386
• ISBN-13: 978-0679409380
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,108,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quaint and Historical, August 17, 2007

By 

J. Yasmineh (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Approaching Zero: The Extraordinary Underworld of Hackers, Phreakers, Virus Writers, and Keyboard Criminals (Hardcover)

This books is well-written, interesting and fairly well-researched for anyone who likes this sort of thing. With the pace that technology advances at, particularly with regards to computers, this 15 year old book has become entirely historical. Absolutely none of the events or technologies are relevant to the present day except in the context of history.

Nevertheless, if you're looking for background info on hacking, phreaking, viruses and other computer security related matters, it's well worth a read. Most of the information could be found in other books written about the same time as this one, however it's still very readable and does provide a comprehensive, though not particularly detailed, gathering of most of the relevant events over the past 30 years. In that regard it's also a good reference if you want to know how hacking and phreaking started, right from the very beginning.

Also, it's a good introduction for the lay person interested in finding out what what hacking and phreaking is, and describes things like basic virus writing, boot sector viruses, executable file-based viruses, basic hacker exploits, the original tone-based phreaking methods, etc... However anyone really interested in this stuff would need to continue on learning through to updated information.

It's an old book now; the terminology is quaint both because it's targeted at the lay person and it almost predates the Internet. But does form an important part of the limited literature available which covers that time period. Also, although it suggests that the doom and gloom scenario touted at the time with regards to technology destroying us all is over-hyped (as we can see in hindsight) the book still indulges in jumping on the hype bandwagon itself to some degree.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating, but disjointed, December 23, 1997

By 

S. Whitlock (Denver, Ski Country USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Approaching Zero: The Extraordinary Underworld of Hackers, Phreakers, Virus Writers, and Keyboard Criminals (Hardcover)

This book is a bit scattered, and if you're looking for a novel on computer crime this is not it. However, these real life accounts of hacking are fascinating. The authors did a great job researching these accounts and the result is an intreging book that keeps your interest throughout. It's a nine.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting book, April 25, 2000

By 

Peggy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Approaching Zero: The Extraordinary Underworld of Hackers, Phreakers, Virus Writers, and Keyboard Criminals (Hardcover)

The book is amazingly interesting. I believe for a beginner who wants to know some history and have some basic idea of what hacking and virus is, this is the book! The writer also has done a good job on collecting all kinds of examples.