Hacking a Terror Network: The Silent Threat of Covert Channels [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Russ Rogers (Author), Matthew G Devost (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2004

Written by a certified Arabic linguist from the Defense Language Institute with extensive background in decoding encrypted communications, this cyber-thriller uses a fictional narrative to provide a fascinating and realistic "insider's look" into technically sophisticated covert terrorist communications over the Internet. The accompanying CD-ROM allows readers to "hack along" with the story line, by viewing the same Web sites described in the book containing encrypted, covert communications.

Hacking a Terror NETWORK addresses the technical possibilities of Covert Channels in combination with a very real concern: Terrorism. The fictional story follows the planning of a terrorist plot against the United States where the terrorists use various means of Covert Channels to communicate and hide their trail. Loyal US agents must locate and decode these terrorist plots before innocent American citizens are harmed. The technology covered in the book is both real and thought provoking. Readers can realize the threat posed by these technologies by using the information included in the CD-ROM. The fictional websites, transfer logs, and other technical information are given exactly as they would be found in the real world, leaving the reader to test their own ability to decode the terrorist plot.

Cyber-Thriller focusing on increasing threat of terrorism throughout the world.
Provides a fascinating look at covert forms of communications used by terrorists over the Internet.
Accompanying CD-ROM allows users to "hack along" with the fictional narrative within the book to decrypyt.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Russ Rogers (CISSP, CISM, IAM, IEM, Hon. Sc.D.), author of the popular "Hacking a Terror Network: The Silent Threat of Covert Channels" (Syngress, ISBN: 978-1-928994-98-5), co-author of multiple books, including the best-selling "Stealing the Network: How to Own a Continent" (Syngress, ISBN: 978-1-931836-05-0) and "Network Security Evaluation Using the NSA IEM" (Syngress, ISBN: 978-1-59749-035-1), and former editor-in-chief of The Security Journal, is currently a penetration tester for a federal agency and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Peak Security, Inc., a veteran-owned small business based in Colorado Springs, CO. Russ has been involved in information technology since 1980 and has spent the past 20 years working as both an IT and InfoSec consultant. Russ has worked with the U.S. Air Force (USAF), National Security Agency (NSA), Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), and other federal agencies. He is a globally renowned security expert, speaker, and author who has presented at conferences around the world in Amsterdam, Tokyo, Singapore, São Paulo, Abu Dhabi, and cities all over the United States. Russ has an honorary doctorate of science in information technology from the University of Advancing Technology, a master's degree in computer systems management from the University of Maryland, a bachelor of science degree in computer information systems from the University of Maryland, and an associate's degree in applied communications technology from the Community College of the Air Force. He is a member of ISSA and (ISC)2® (CISSP). Russ also teaches at and fills the role of professor of network security for the University of Advancing Technology (www.uat.edu).

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Syngress; 1 edition (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1928994989
• ISBN-13: 978-1928994985
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,886,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Provocative Story, February 16, 2006

By 

John Coale (Annapolis, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hacking a Terror Network: The Silent Threat of Covert Channels (Paperback)

"Hacking a Terror Network" tells a convincing tale of Cyber Terrorism. This fictional story uses communication technology readily available today to spin a fascinating tale a potential scenarios for any criminal element and easy enough for the novice computer user. By combining emotional motivation and computer savvy, terrorist threats press US counterterrorism teams to keep ahead of electronic means of causing death and destruction.
The only thing missing are sidebars describing instructional exercises for the reader to try out these easily used technologies.
The reader might enjoy supplementing this book with another Syngress book, Zero-Day Exploit, to continue reading cyber terrorism scenarios.
The author talks about applications to use and you don't even have to google them on the internet. They're included on the accompanying CD. Additionally, Syngress gives you 4 free e-booklets online.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good intro to stenography and its uses., December 5, 2005

By 

G. Tairov - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hacking a Terror Network: The Silent Threat of Covert Channels (Paperback)

I found this book to be interesting both as a fiction and technical material. The plot develops around a very hot topic of these days - the war on terrorism. Unlike your "conventional" terrorists, the characters in this book use Internet and computer technology to secretly plan and launch an attack against the US.

The tools discussed in this book were new to me, although I've heard of something similar in the past. I found it difficult at times to adjust to this interesting combination of suspense fiction and the technical explanations of how certain tools work. However, overall information obtained is quite useful and encouraged me to further research the topic of "covert channels" and stenography. Besides a few grammar errors and typos that were missed by the editors, this is a good introduction to stenography, especially for computer enthusiasts and professionals. If you are looking for a page turner fiction novel you may want to look somewhere else.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars On The Internet They Won't Know You Are a Dog, July 16, 2005

By 

Christopher Byrne "The Business Controls Caddy" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hacking a Terror Network: The Silent Threat of Covert Channels (Paperback)

There are some important topics in cyber-security that are very important, but may not require an entire book to cover in detail. When it comes to online communication using "covert channels" and "stegenography", Syngress does what is excels at: they cover the topic in the context of a fictionalized narrative to give it a "real world" context. While not as excellent as some of their other efforts in this genre, Syngress still does a good, but not perfect, job with Hacking a Terror Network: The Silent Threat of Covert Channels (364 pages , SYNGRESS, 2005, ISBN 1-928994-98-9).

The context of this book is a revenge-motivated terrorist attack, borne out of the first Gulf War, against targets on the United States. Some might question how realistic the scenario is or is not, but the book weaves a story which may ring all too true today. The threat of terrorism is real, and it could/would be too easy for people with evil purposes to use covert channels to plan and coordinate an attack.

Without giving away a surprising plot twist, it is hard to envision how the scenario lain out in this book could be realistic, but then again no one on the streets envisioned 9-11 or the recent bombings in London either. What Rogers does in this book is effectively explain the different types of covert channels that can be used, tools that are readily available to use the channels, and tools that are available to detect their use. He also demonstrates that how, without a stroke of luck, it may be virtually impossible to detect the use of these channels.

The book is not written as tautly as it could be and at times you might want to say "Just get to the point!". And there are some items in the book, such as the presence of an Internet Cafe in Iraq in 1991, that require as they say in Hollywood, the "willful suspension of disbelief". Put these things aside and you will learn some new things and technologies you may not have known about before.

The bottom line is that without luck, nobody on the Internet will know you are a dog.

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