Customer Reviews

Masters of Deception: The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I read this book a while ago, but I was still so impressed by it that as I'm showing a friend of mine the web page here I couldn't help but add a review. My aunt bought me this book for Christmas, and I put it down only once over the course of two days. Masters of Deception brought to me, a teenager in the computer age, a wonderfully vivid description of what it was like to be a pioneer in the world of the Internet. With 100,000,000 people on the net or however many there are now, companies have become so security aware that adventures like the ones in the book require an amazing amount of expertise. Not to mention how much damage we can do now that the computing sector makes so much money. But the point is that through this book we're able to relive the experience, with all of the wonder and naive excitement that comes with exploring new territory, and we don't have to damage anything. The book was technically vivid, emotionally engaging, and just plain fascinating.

I read this after reading Clifford Stoll's Cuckoo's Egg which is a much better book on the same subject matter. Stoll is just a smart and observant graduate student who simply tries to tell his story accurately. The 2 authors of Masters of Deception are apparently professional writers and they spend too much time trying to liven up what is essentially an account of high school and college kids playing on computers. You get the feeling they writing this with a screenplay in mind. The book is filled with cliches, bad metaphors, contrived rhetorical questions: "Destroy people's lives? Make them look like saints? Is this what hackers do?" There is very little interesting technical info and much of what there is is dumbed down and often wrong. The discussion of tymnet in chapter 13 is completely off. They obviously don't understand it. Cuckoo's Egg is much better and even the Littman books are better books on the same topic.

This book is essentially a slightly jumbled, chronologically organized log of all the events and occurences that lead to the hacking scandal of the early 1990's and the war between MOD and LOD, two rival hacker groups.

The book begins with an introduction to all these hacker kids, and continues on through all their hacking exploits, life occurences, and various important events leading up to the cyberspace war, and computer law scandal.

The book is cliched in some ways, and attempts to answer the question of what a hacker really is, and what a hacker really does. In the end the book ends up being a bit of a cautionary tale.

None of the boys' deepest feelings or psyches are really explored, and it really seems that if they ever get below the surface to show what they're really thinking, it's very brief. In the end it seems a bit like reading a log of events.

All in all the book is informative, and there are few, if any, technical mistakes (not that there is much technical dialogue to begin with).

I urge you to buy this book, simply to be informed, and if you're up for some light reading on the subject, it's likely you'll enjoy it.

I'm sorry. I don't know where that title came from. This is one of those books that really sheds some insight into the mind of the phone phreakers and the 'hacker' subculture. Kids, bored, learn everything there is to know about the phone system, social engineering, and various other things.

Because they are young, they do cool sutff with their knowledge, and because the world doesn't have much of a sense of humor, they get into trouble.

A very interesting read about the people who would be Internet Consultants and web designers today, but didn't have the material to work with at the time. Proto-web as it were. If you ever wondered about what the online world looked like before it was the web, read this book. It's great fun.

What could have been a very boring and dry account of the daily affairs of teenager hackers was turned into an insightful and entertaining book with serious social value. The way the story was presented kept every character vital and kept the reader informed on what the overall picture was. The way in which it switched perspective every chapter or so also kept the plot line fresh. It stayed true to the ideals of all involved, although at times it slanted a bias towards the young pranksters, and "Masters of Deception" also succeeded in conveying what hacking is really all about. The summary at the end also provided one hell of a thought to chew on. Actually it gave you several, and that is quite possibly the most redeeming thing about this book. Not only is it a fun read, but it provokes you to think about the social questions surrounding what has become a major issue in the 90s.

If you have ever walked into a computer store and you see a bunch of kids hanging around talking it's likely you have no idea what they are saying because they are using terminology that many don't know. This book teaches you some of that terminology and has a great story along with it. It also teaches you a lot more stuff about computers, but you have to read closely to pick up on it.

If you have a passing interest in computers this book will solidify it. If you have no interest in computers this book will spur some one. Well written, and informative. It gives you what you need to know about computers without overburdening the reader with details. Fast paced, yet wonderfully crafted. An excellent story in and of itself and only more excellent because its true.

Review by C. Douglas Baker

MASTERS OF DECEPTION: THE GANG THAT RULED CYBERSPACE
By Michelle Slatalla and Joshua Quittner
HarperCollins Publishers, Incorporated
New York, New York
Copyright 1995
225 pages

"They believe in the hacker ethic: Thou shalt not destroy." With this oft repeated refrain, Slatalla and Quittner unfold the exploits of a hacker gang, the self styled Masters of Deception (MOD). Briefly, a group of intelligent kids in the early 1990's, with cheap computers and a lot of time on their hands break into sensitive computer systems all over the country. While most people were asleep, these teens were accessing and learning how a variety of high tech computers controlling telecommunications operate. MOD's most notable intrusions were the telephone company and TRW, the company that keeps data on everyone's credit. Of course, they were not supposed to be there and were technically committing a crime. Their motive was primarily a desire to learn and the bragging rights associated with "hacking" some company's computer system, then sharing its secrets with friends. They were only limited by their imaginations and their ability to find a receptive computer accessible via a modem. The morals of "cyberspace" is: if a computer is vulnerable to penetration, then it is fair game for the hacker. The hacker is actually doing the victim a favor by exposing their weakness (assuming he victim even realizes they have been penetrated). Once the phone company realized it was being "hacked" it did not take the intrusion lightly. After a lengthy investigation that included the phone company, the Secret Service, and the New York City District Attorney's office, among others, the ring leaders were caught. They eventually all pled guilty to their intrusions and even spent time in federal penitentiaries.

Slatalla and Quittner tell a good story, focusing on the lives, thoughts, and motives of the kids in MOD. The authors frequently repeat the hacker ethic juxtaposed to some of MOD's deeds: a crashed computer system, phone and computer harassment of enemies, free long distance phone service, and finally a plan to sell confidential credit information gleaned illegally from TRW. Unfortunately, the authors fail to examine the significance of these actions. It is not the damage these kids did, which some have argued did not warrant the penalties they received, but the questions implicitly raised about the future of electronic crimes. Where do we as a society draw the line between harmless pranks by overzealous teenagers fascinated by sophisticated computer systems and serious computer crimes that do real financial damage or seriously breech the privacy of citizens? In an era where computer systems control more and more of our daily lives, this question becomes paramount. It is naive, at best, to believe that all hackers are out only to learn and to play harmless games of one-upmanship with large companies and other hackers. While the authors frequently allude to this important question they never even attempt to answer it.

This is a fun read, but as with the Hafner and Markoff book, reader beware. Erik Bloodaxe, one of the major characters in the book and my friend as well as a trusted security engineer, inscribed this book as follows: "Robert, Hope you enjoy this classic example of 3rd rate speculative fiction. So much for journalistic integrity, eh? /s/. I also know Phiber Optic, and tried to keep him out of jail, even offered to house him and hire him on parole, but to no avail. This is a good story that crosses over frequently into speculative reporting, but it may be better for that, capturing some of the spirit of competition that exists between very talented hackers who by and large do no harm.

Actually this is a great book about the hacker sub-culture, indeed one of the bests I have ever read. This book describes very well the whole story and social aspects of New York City hackers but fails when dealing with technical aspects or lacks it. I can afirm it's a good book for people who are intersted to know how poor guys in Queens, NY, rised from nothing to create one of the most notorious hacker gang ever and to improve knowledge about the late 80's and early 90's american hacker scene.