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Cuckoo's Egg Mass Market Paperback – November 1, 1990

by Clifford Stoll (Author)

2,576 ratings

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Cliff Stoll was an astronomer turned systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab when a 75-cent accounting error alerted him to the presence of an unauthorized users on his system. The hacker's code name was "Hunter"-- a mystery invader hiding inside a twisting electronic labyrinth, breaking into U.S. computer systems and stealing sensitive military and security information. Stoll began a one-man hunt of his own, spying on the spy-- and plunging into an incredible international probe that finally gained the attention of top U.S. counter-intelligence agents. The Cuckoo's Egg is his wild and suspenseful true story-- a year of deception, broken codes, satellites, missile bases and the ultimate sting operation-- and how one ingenious American trapped a spy ring paid in cash and cocaine, and reporting to the KGB.

Print length

356 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Pocket
Publication date

November 1, 1990
Dimensions

4.25 x 1.25 x 7 inches
ISBN-10

9780671726881
ISBN-13

978-0671726881
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Andy Greenberg
2,275
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A sentimental favorite, The Cuckoo's Egg seems to have inspired a whole category of books exploring the quest to capture computer criminals. Still, even several years after its initial publication and after much imitation, the book remains a good read with an engaging story line and a critical outlook, as Clifford Stoll becomes, almost unwillingly, a one-man security force trying to track down faceless criminals who've invaded the university computer lab he stewards. What first appears as a 75-cent accounting error in a computer log is eventually revealed to be a ring of industrial espionage, primarily thanks to Stoll's persistence and intellectual tenacity.

From Publishers Weekly

Astrophysicist Stoll's pursuit of a hacker trying to access American computer networks led to the discovery of a West German spy ring. "A quest that reads with the tension and excitement of a fictional thriller," asserted PW . "Although best appreciated by the computer literate, even illiterates should be able to follow the technical complexities with little difficulty."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0671726889
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pocket; Reprint edition (November 1, 1990)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 356 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780671726881
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0671726881
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.25 x 1.25 x 7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #961,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,335 in Computer Security & Encryption (Books)
- #4,022 in Business Technology
- #4,758 in Literary Movements & Periods

Customer Reviews:
2,576 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

2,576 global ratings

5 star		74%
4 star		20%
3 star		5%
2 star		1%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Mark A. Zoellers

Hacking started a long time ago

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 2, 2023

Verified Purchase

Back in the days before PCs and when most computers were IBM Mainframes, a series of new companies started creating evolutionary machines that were able to challenge the mainframe and today their great great grandchildren sit on your desk or are in your pocket. The internet was very new and mostly was used by the government and universities. The second largest computer company after IBM was Digital Equipment Corporation and their VAX machine made profound changes to our industry. It also became one of the first examples of criminals using the primitive interned to break into these VAX machines which contained a lot of government secret data

The book is an engrossing detective story about how these criminals were tracked down and stopped. Anyone who enjoys a “techno thriller” will enjoy the book. Those in the business will find that hacking is nothing new. This should be required reading for all cybersecurity students and practitioners.

3 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 17, 2023

Verified Purchase

Simply written, easy to follow and remember every part of the story and technical terms are explained in a way that is understandable for anyone. A great great great true story by Cliff

One person found this helpful

Mr. Joseph Alexander

Facsinating story. Great read.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 1, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book was well written telling an intriguing story.
The seller is outstanding. The book was in exactly the condition described, and arrived in approximately half of the time expected. Thank you.

Chares G. Muhle

How to get lucky.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 12, 2022

Verified Purchase

When a computer "bug" shows up on our home computer, we are never quite sure if it's a HW, SW or pilot-error problem so we try different things to isolate the cause.

Like is the computer plugged in.

If we are smart and/or lucky we find the cause soon...but often it's not soon.

In 1955, I worked at MIT’s Whirlwind computer when the WEB was being conceived. We kept a daily log of every bug, maintenance task, new cable run, air conditioning, power interrupts and as well as users.

When computer is networked to thousands of computers worldwide whose passwords are easily compromised, how lucky do we need to be to find a bug…especially if it is designed to avoid our attempts.

Finding an intentional (smart) network bug requires hundreds of different isolation setups to narrow its possible cause and source…so you better keep a log of your every move if you want to get “lucky.”

Such was the problem faced by author Stoll to find what each bug appearance had in common, or not…same time? same targets? same on-line duration?

Only a log could keep track these many attempts…and later become The Cuckoo’s Egg an exciting computer detective story that, indeed, tracks a complex search…to get lucky.

Charles Muhle

3 people found this helpful

Must read for anyone in cybersecurity

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 26, 2022

Verified Purchase

Great book, well written, really puts you in the history of cybersecurity and cyber defense. Great to understand where it all started.

One person found this helpful

The Friendly Ranger

Blast From The Past!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

I read this book when it was first published but lost my copy somewhere along the way. I recently picked up another copy to see if it would stand the test of time. I wondered if the technological developments of the past couple decades would turn this book into a dull history lesson or if it would still capture my attention. I found it every bit as fascinating and probably more so now that I'm older and have a different perspective.

At the time the events depicted in this book were taking place, I was starting my career as an IT professional. My first assignment involved supporting a Bellcore (Bell Labs) developed application running on AT&T Unix (sorry Cliff, I'm a "heathen" though I appreciate BSD too!). I got to experience working with DEC PDP-11/70s, 11/34s, VAX 8650s, Decwriters, and RP06/RP8x DASD. Some of that stuff was considered dated at the time and by today's standards they are prehistoric. So, I can relate to Cliff's experience, except for the part of having to track down an international spy, LOL. I missed out on that, thank goodness!

I look at this book differently now than I did in 1989. Even if the reader doesn't care about the origins of the Internet or the finer points of Unix system administration and telecommunications, the depiction of the government's response to the situation is interesting and informative. Of note is the revelation that a particular agency was aware of existing security vulnerabilities but did nothing to address them because they were likely exploiting the vulnerabilities themselves.

This time around, I had more interest in the personal drama surrounding the incident. I could more easily identify with, and laugh at, some of the crazy personalities involved. And, I could empathize with Cliff over the disruption it was causing in his personal life. I also appreciate Cliff's commentary on the philosophy and ethics of computing and how a few bad apples can spoil it for everyone. These concepts are still relevant today despite advancements in technology. After all, the weakest link in the system is the same today as it was back then.

I would recommend this book to anyone getting started in Information Technology and to old school Unix guys and gals who have ever fixed a paper jam on a Decwriter.

13 people found this helpful

Fascinating Story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 28, 2022

Verified Purchase

This was recommended to me by a professor for a Net security class. He described it as a non-fiction book that read like fiction. That was absolutely true. From the first chapter I was hooked into the book and couldn’t put it down. This book is eye opening to learn about dangers of the internet as well as fascinating to read about how secure (or not) old computers were back in the day.

One person found this helpful

Jeffrey J. Mclellan

Written in the later 80's but remarkably not dated.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 13, 2022

Verified Purchase

Thoroughly readable and often amusing account of the hunt for a hacker at the dawn of the internet by a free spirited astronomer forced to become a computer security expert after noticing a 75 cent discrepancy in his network's accounting system.

3 people found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Purple People Eater

Excellent read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 16, 2022

Verified Purchase

If you've never heard of Cliff Stoll then you should check him out, he's an incredibly interesting bloke.

Aside from that, this book is his account of discovering and tracking down a hacker who'd gotten into a university mainframe, it's properly old school with terminals, modems and dot matrix printers but it's a heck of a story and worth the investment of your time.

Bonus, the 2nd hand copy I got came with a folded up newspaper article from the original reports of the case!

2 people found this helpful

Mostly Harmless

A great read, from 1986 but even more relevant today.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 8, 2021

Verified Purchase

It's the account of a mid eighties astronomer who gets a junior job in the IT department of Berkley. Just to give him something to do they ask him to look into a 75 cent discrepancy in the billing for computer time. He gets obsessed with this and it ends up a year long mission involving every three letter agency you've ever heard of, and a bunch you haven't, and capturing a German hacker selling secrets to the KGB.

From the very early days of the internet, long before the world wide web, when nobody took IT security seriously, all those TLA were fighting each other and passing the buck and hackers were learning to exploit weaknesses and lax security. A fascinating read. Enough technical detail to let you know what is happening but simple enough for any layman to understand.
And a warning about lax security procedures that are even more relevant today now that everything is online.

One person found this helpful

Ed.F

Brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

I read this not long after it came out, and it's as vibrant and compelling now as it was nearly 30 years ago. Slightly mellowed by time from an urgent tale of cyber security and social engineering to a more historical mystery, the charm, authenticity and poise of the prose shines just as brightly. Following an near unbelievable true story from "revolve this accounting error" to "KGB assassination in East Berlin", Stoll waves a compelling narrative through a formative period in the evolution of the internet. Highly recommended. Just buy it.

5 people found this helpful

jubalgunn

Essential read for anyone interested in Cyber Security.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book should be an essential read for anyone interested in Cyber security. Its a great read and I just could not put the book down. Whether your a student, hacker, black hat, white hat, computer security professional or law enforcement its a must read. The story remains extremely relevant to present day. The general modus operandi of today hackers remains the same. To me this book is up there with 1984 and Animal Farm...but this is not satirical its a true story.
If i was a teacher, lecturer or mentor in Cyber security/Network Security this would be a compulsory read!

3 people found this helpful

Lee Coppack

A real thriller. The true story of the hunt for perhaps the first systematic computer break in.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 9, 2015

Verified Purchase

Stoll, a surplus astronomer transformed into reluctant IT systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, starts with his hunt for the source of a tiny discrepancy in the accounts for computer usage at the laboratory. It leads him down little protected pathways into many theoretically high security US government and military organisations and contractors' computer systems, beginning in 1986, and consuming his life over months. He encountered disbelief and obstruction by organisations such as the FBI, CIA and NSA, before the story reached its climax. There is systems information for the enthusiast, especially of GMU-Emacs, but without distracting the non-IT reader from the exciting narrative and the background of life in Berkeley in the 1980s.

3 people found this helpful

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