With “Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World,” Joe Menn adds to a growing library of works covering people that took the Internet from a fledgling experiment to a socio-economic driving force reshaping humanity. More importantly, it fills in the gaps, long unsatisfied, about the origins of many well-known personalities and companies in the security field. On the whole it is compelling, thrilling and important.
The story covers the group’s insider jokes and audacious antics with a flare indicative of the scene’s 80s/90s shenanigans. Rounding out these jovial undertones, however, is a deeper exploration of uncharted waters: how to transition from a life of hacking into the professional world, how to ethically work for a government, and how to use the pulpit to drive change.
The book both suffers from, and overcomes, the difficult challenge of covering a sprawling web of interconnected people that influenced, were influenced by, and became influencers for cDc.
This was never going to be an easy book to write. In the ever-complex Venn diagram that were social relationships, cDc was neither the first, nor the last, influential hacker collective from this time period. Menn has done a nice job connecting a few key people from L0pht, w00w00 and @stake; there are others. Inevitably there are important people and stories missing from the pages of this book. Time, distance, visibility (and anonymity) are the enemies of stories such as these.
In this way, Menn is part hagiographer, part historian. Readers expecting a complete archive of hacker history and all its players will be disappointed. Perhaps someday there may be a Gibbonesque attempt to catalog and narrate, in full, everything known about the early hacking scene(s). But Menn’s book is meant to be something else; it’s a chance for the reader to see the deeper impacts of early hacker culture as told by people that lived it.
Younger readers, especially those newly coming into the infosec/cybersecurity profession, can see herein the origins of the long-unsettled debate around the ethics of technology and what it means to be a technologist. What does it look like to ask the hard questions about the tech you’re building? What does it mean to make software that billions of people use and what responsibilities do you bear as the creator? What role does government (and censorship) play in a [virtual] world without borders? Can we approach society’s overall well-being with the hacker mindset? Where are things going from here?
Menn’s story of a colorful cast of characters (some who warrant a book of their own) makes the book a page-turner, but the real purpose (whether intended or not) lies in its discussion on technology and ethics: where it has incubated and where its going. It’s approachable for non-tech audiences and makes a great beach read. Highly recommend.
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Reviews with images
This book gave me flashbacks to my high school years.
I was never a member of a cult or hacker group, but reading the origins of the CDC gave me flashbacks of my isolated youth hacking C64 hardware along the lone prairie of the Chisum Trail. You did good, CDC.
Top reviews from other countries
n0b0dy
A Riveting Insight into Cybersecurity Heroes
Reviewed in Canada on July 12, 2024
Defalt404
Nice solid book
Reviewed in Mexico on October 21, 2021
Defalt404
Reviewed in Mexico on October 21, 2021
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Mr. G. Wilson
Informative historical account of an influential group of hackers
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 3, 2020
