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The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security Paperback – October 17, 2003

by
Kevin D. Mitnick (Author)
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William L. Simon (Author)
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William L. Simon (Author), Steve Wozniak (Foreword)
4.2 out of 5 stars 201 customer reviews
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  • The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 17, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 076454280X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0764542800
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (201 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsInteresting cons, but repetitive and ego-trippy
By Luke Meyers on March 24, 2006
Format: Hardcover
Mitnick has his own reputation to live up to with this book, which sets a pretty high bar for the audience who knows him as the "World's Most Notorious Hacker." Unfortunately, while he knows the material cold, his skills as an author are less stellar.

The vignettes describing various cons are, in the large, very entertaining. They're fictionalized, and sometimes the dialogue feels artificial. This book is supposed to convince us how easily people are victimized by social engineers. When the victim's dialogue plays too obviously into the con man's hands (for the purpose of illustrating the point relevant to the enclosing chapter/section), this goal is to some extent defeated. It's too easy to read unnatural dialogue and use that as an excuse to tell oneself, "I don't have to worry about that sort of attack -- I'm not that dumb!" More effort could have been expended in fictionalizing these scenarios without making them so difficult to relate to. Seeing how a con is performed is kind of like learning how a magic trick works -- it holds a similar fascination. Imagine seeing an amazing magic trick performed on television, wondering how it was possibly accomplished, and then learning that the trick was all in the video editing. That really sucks the fun out of the magic -- analogously, when the "trick" in one of these cons is just that the victim does something obviously stupid at just the right moment, the believability and enjoyment are damaged.

Despite what I've said, the cons are definitely enjoyable to read and do offer some genuine insights. Not all suffer from believability problems. However, the supporting material discussing these scenarios is pretty weak. There's a rigid format ("Analyzing the con," "Preventing the con," etc.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsInteresting & timely about the dangers of social engineering
By Ben Rothke on October 14, 2002
Format: Hardcover
Kevin Mitnick says "the term 'social engineering' is widely used within the computer security community to describe the techniques hackers use to deceive a trusted computer user within a company into revealing sensitive information, or trick an unsuspecting mark into performing actions that create a security hole for them to slip through." It's suitable that Mitnick, once vilified for his cracking exploits, has written a book about the human element of social engineering - that most subtle of information security threats.
Some readers may find a book on computer security penned by a convicted computer criminal blasphemous. Rather than focusing on the writer's past, it is clear that Mitnick wishes the book to be viewed as an attempt at redemption.
The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security states that even if an organization has the best information systems security policies and procedures; most tightly controlled firewall, encrypted traffic, DMZ's, hardened operating systems patched servers and more; all of these security controls can be obviated via social engineering.
Social engineering is a method of gaining someone's trust by lying to them and then abusing that trust for malicious purposes - primarily gaining access to systems. Every user in an organization, be it a receptionist or a systems administrator, needs to know that when someone requesting information has some knowledge about company procedures or uses the corporate vernacular, that alone should not be authorization to provide controlled information.
The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security spends most of its time discussing many different social engineering scenarios.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsGreat book that shows what is possible!
By Dr Anton Chuvakin on October 30, 2002
Format: Hardcover
I waited for the book of the famous hacker Kevin Mitnick for a long
time, checking my mailbox every day after my pre-order was
completed. The book was almost worth the wait!
Its a fun book with lots of entertaining and education stories on what
is possible by means of social engineering attacks. The characters
clearly push the limits of this "human technology".
One of the articles I have read on the book called it "Kevin Mitnick's
Latest Deception" due to his downplaying of technology security
controls and emphasizing people skills and weaknesses. However, the
human weaknesses do nullify the strengths of technology defenses and
humans are much harder to "harden" than UNIX machines.
The attack side is stronger in the book than the defense side,
naturally following from the author's background. However, there are
some great defense resource on policy design, awareness and needed
vigilance. However, there is this "minor" issues with defense against
social engineering: one of the definitions called it a "hacker's
clever manipulation of the natural human tendency to trust". The word
"natural" is key; if we are to believe the definition, all defenses
against social engineering will be going against _nature_ and, as a
result, will be ineffective for most environments. Author also
advocates social engineering penetration testing, which appears to be
the best way to prepare for such attacks. Security awareness, while
needed, will get you so far.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA must read for every CEO who thinks their company has a great...

Kevin Mitnick is a very interesting person and once again he shows just how to use the Art of Social Engineering! Read more

Published 1 month ago by Jim Hill
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

A couple of pages were ripped. That's all.

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

good book

Published 4 months ago by ang
4.0 out of 5 starsGood information, not particularly engaging

I liked it overall. I think that while the information and the Mitnick messages were good, the basic pattern (verify your caller) gets repetitive after a bit. Read more

Published 4 months ago by James Gifford
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

This gave me a overview of social engineering. I'm sure will help many other security experts.

Published 5 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

over all nice for all security people to read, but the ending - the policy read was boring.

Published 6 months ago by Ahsan M.
3.0 out of 5 starsI enjoyed the book but I think I was looking for ...

I enjoyed the book but I think I was looking for more that he can't legally provide. It was recommended to me my an instructor I took so compTIA classes with. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Matt A.
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A must have for anyone in IT

Published 8 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsKevin did an amazing job explaining the techniques of social...

Kevin did an amazing job explaining the techniques of social engineering. I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in IT Security.

Published 8 months ago by Randy Weed
3.0 out of 5 starsbut to me they didn't look like real situation only exceptions

Kevin Mitnick is a well known hacker and people new to the topic will often first stumble upon Kevin Mitnick. This guy deserved his tracks and has proven to be very skilled. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Rickey

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