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William L. Simon

Kevin D. Mitnick

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker Hardcover – August 15, 2011

by Kevin Mitnick (Author), William L. Simon Steve Wozniak (Foreword)

4.5 3,986 ratings

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In this "intriguing, insightful and extremely educational" novel, the world's most famous hacker teaches you easy cloaking and counter-measures for citizens and consumers in the age of Big Brother and Big Data (Frank W. Abagnale).

Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world's biggest companies -- and no matter how fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. As the FBI's net finally began to tighten, Mitnick went on the run, engaging in an increasingly sophisticated game of hide-and-seek that escalated through false identities, a host of cities, and plenty of close shaves, to an ultimate showdown with the Feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down.

Ghost in the Wires is a thrilling true story of intrigue, suspense, and unbelievable escapes -- and a portrait of a visionary who forced the authorities to rethink the way they pursued him, and forced companies to rethink the way they protect their most sensitive information.

"Mitnick manages to make breaking computer code sound as action-packed as robbing a bank." -- NPR

Print length

432 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Little, Brown and Company
Publication date

August 15, 2011
Dimensions

6.5 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

0316037702
ISBN-13

978-0316037709
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Editorial Reviews

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Praise for Ghost in the Wires

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Ghost in the Wires reads like a contemporary über-geeky thriller.... For those interested in computer history, Ghost in the Wires is a nostalgia trip to the quaint old days before hacking (and hackers) turned so malicious and financially motivated."―J.D. Biersdorfer, New York Times Book Review

"Mr. Mitnick portrays himself as worth rooting for, a savvy master rodent in a cat-and-mouse game, grinning past his whiskers as he stole the cheese from under the nose of the helpless fat cats."―Steven Levy, Wall Street Journal

"A gripping story.... Fascinating and filled with insights."―Jesse Singal, Boston Globe

"Intriguing, insightful and extremely educational into the mind of one who truly mastered the art of social engineering with the use of a computer and modern day technologies. I strongly believe that one can learn a great deal about protecting themselves once they understand how another one perpetrates the crime."―Frank W. Abagnale, author of Catch Me if You Can

"Years ago, I helped put Kevin Mitnick in jail. I now see this made about as much sense as arresting Dean Martin for public drunkenness. Neither of them could stop themselves. Neither was doing any real harm. And, in both cases, watching them struggle with their obsessions was hugely entertaining. Kevin's book is certainly that. Terse and snappy, it reads like Raymond Chandler and provides detailed insight into a time in computer history that already seems quaint. Kevin Mitnick was and is a true Internet pioneer."―John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation

"Reads like those of Frank Abagnale Jr. and Steven Jay Russell. But Mitnick's has a high-tech twist."―Booklist (starred review)

"It's the piquant human element that really animates this rollicking memoir of high-tech skullduggery....Mitnick's hacking narratives are lucid to neophytes and catnip to people who love code, but the book's heart is his 'social engineering' - his preternatural ability to schmooze and manipulate.....[a] nonstop caper."―Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Kevin Mitnick has been the subject of countless profiles published and broadcast throughout the world. Mitnick's leading penetration-testing team is highly respected and sought after for its security services by the world's top corporations and governments. The company he founded, Mitnick Security Consulting LLC, has clients that include dozens from the Fortune 500 and many nations across the globe. Mitnick is the bestselling author of The Art of Invisibility, Ghost in the Wires, The Art of Intrusion, and The Art of Deception. He lives in Las Vegas and travels the world as the top keynote speaker on cybersecurity.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition (August 15, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316037702
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316037709
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #11,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6 in Computer Network Security
- #13 in Computer Hacking
- #36 in Crime & Criminal Biographies

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4.5 3,986 ratings

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William L. Simon
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William L. Simon is the author or co-author of more than 30 books, including numerous New York Times, national, and international bestsellers. Born in Washington, DC, he holds two degrees from Cornell University, and has been a freelance writer ever since -- first as a writer of documentaries, corporate, and informational films, then as a book author. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West, and now lives in Los Angeles.
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Kevin D. Mitnick
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Donna Beech
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Donna Beech is a top tier New York Times bestselling collaborative writer, who specializes in making complex ideas accessible and engaging. Her work has been published by Little Brown, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan, St. Martins Press, Penguin, Hachette, Harcourt Brace, Oxford University Press, and dozens of other publishers. www.donnabeech.com
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Michael Olsen

Great Read!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 3, 2023

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I had heard Kevin's story on Coast to Coast AM w/ Art Bell a decade or so ago. The book provided much more detail of course versus the interview. Great book! Highly recommend. Especially to someone in IT security.

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David Kopec

Hacking Thrill Ride with Social Engineering Insight

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 30, 2021

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Surprisingly, for a memoir about a guy who spends most of his time sitting in front of a computer, Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker is a gripping thrill ride. And it’s a testament to Kevin Mitnick and his co-author, William Simon, that it works. In the wrong hands, the same material could easily be boring or overly technical. They found the right balance of action, technical detail, and non-hacking content to keep the story engaging. The book gives you a real sense of the hacking underworld, as well as how surprisingly easy it is to social engineer individuals, companies, and government agencies.

The most surprising part of the story is how little of Mitnick’s exploits were due to what we traditionally think of as computer hacking, and how much was due to social engineering. Mitnick learned to be a master manipulator, and in this book he explains to you how he convinced cops to turn over records, trusted employees to send files to people they just met, and just about anyone to do anything over the phone. If you want to better protect yourself from social engineering, this book is a great primer. It really makes you think about how quick we are to trust someone with a bit of confidence when they know a couple details we assume they would only know if the confidence were warranted.

Mitnick manages to make himself relatable. By including personal details, descriptions of family life, and imagery of his surroundings, he comes across as a regular guy. He compares his hacking activities to an addiction. I can almost buy that. He was getting notoriety, solving interesting puzzles, and probably feeling the same kind of rush that cleptomaniacs feel. It sounds like it could easily become a compulsion if you’re good at it and don’t have a certain moral wavelength turned on.

And I say that last sentence carefully. Because Mitnick (as far as I know and he claims in the book) never did anything especially damaging compared to some of the other well known hackers. He says he wasn’t in it for money or to do harm, but instead to satiate his curiosity. A significant portion of the book concentrates on this fact, and how the media played up his story to make him sound a lot more evil than he deserved. And that apparently affected his prosecution by the government. John Markoff, a well known New York Times reporter at the time, is singled out for particularly incredulous stories.

Yet, my biggest criticism with the book, would be Mitnick’s lack of sympathy for his victims. He spends a lot of time emphasizing how little damage he did, and almost no time apologizing for the damage that he did do. Sure, he may not have sold the source code he stole for a profit. And sure, the people he tricked mostly just had their time wasted. He didn’t actively try to ruin anybody’s life. Yet, mitigating his “work” inevitably cost companies and individual a lot of time. Employee time is money. It probably cost taxpayers millions of dollars investigating, trying him, and catching him. His exploits made people feel unsafe and caused them emotional distress. And he doesn’t seem very sorry. For that reason, I found him especially difficult to root for during the early chapters. Even his “pranks” as a teenager sometimes seemed mean spirited if I were to be on the receiving end of the frustration they caused.

In the end, though, Mitnick won me over. I found his relationship with his mother and grandmother endearing. I think the way he turned his life around after getting out of prison the last time is remarkable. It seems he’s done a lot of good the last twenty years. He’s an example of why people deserve a second chance, and his book is an interesting examination of social engineering and the media-legal system complex.

10 people found this helpful

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Cordelia Gray

Enjoyable, even for non-techies

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 18, 2011

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I first heard about Ghost in the Wires approximately three weeks prior to its release, while listening to a radio interview with author Kevin Mitnick, who phoned in from Spain. Intrigued by the amazing account of his life as America's most wanted hacker, I ventured away from my usual mystery-solving to explore a former hacker's adventure story.

Mitnick is fascinated by magic and shows his skills as an escape artist by pulling off a two-and-a-half-year disappearing act that kept the F.B.I., U.S. Marshalls and Secret Service hot on his trail. Like his idol Harry Houdini, whose real name (Eric Weizs) he uses as a false identity, Mitnick demonstrates escape artistry in the virtual realm as well.

The book displays a balanced distribution of tech talk and a healthy sense of humor as it tells Mitnick's almost unbelievable life story. The tale comes in second, in my mind, only to the story of plane crash survivor Juliane Köpcke, which was exquisitely documented in the Werner Herzog film Wings of Hope--and who could compete with that story? As we read the nail-biting narrative of Ghost in the Wires, we have to remind ourselves that this is a real-life story starring a real-life person.

Mitnick shows some emotion when he writes about the inequality of the justice system, betrayal by friends, and the pain and suffering caused to his most loyal supporters, especially the leading ladies of his life, his mother and grandmother. He was lucky to have had such a strong family giving unconditional love (something many of us never experience) and the support of the hacker community and the Free Kevin movement. In contrast, he shows an uncanny coolness during his social engineering stints and especially during the last hours before his arrest.

Despite the curveballs life throws him--provoked, of course, by his actions--Mitnick seems to get right back up, dust himself off, and continue his unstoppable search for knowledge and information. Some of his beautiful traits are his ability to forgive and move on, rather than letting anger and bitterness consume his being. We get a slight sense of a happy-go-lucky person, the eternal playful boy.

We seem to sit right next to him as he hacks into the servers of Motorola, Sun, and Pacific Bell, tasting the thrill he gets, as a self-described trophy hunter, when he obtains the most sensitive security details. We also witness a less attractive sight, the desperation and restlessness of a computer junkie looking for his next fix. We squirm in our seats in anticipation of the trouble that is to follow. Still, Mitnick manages to stay on a somewhat ethical path in that he never destroys information, preserves the anonymity of others involved, and never derives monetary gain, despite having plenty of opportunity.

As the situation escalates in the last five chapters, it seems as if we are being slightly hurried to the end. In my view, that last section could have received a little more love and kept us more on the edge of our seats as the trap snaps shut. Perhaps that is the sleuth in me talking.

In the end the "bad guy" gets caught. Many of us will remember the headlines in The New York Times or will rush to the computer to search for the news articles. While the book answers many questions that had gone unanswered due to Mitnick's plea agreement, it also raises many new questions.

Each of the 38 chapters begins with a cryptogram. Unless you are familiar with such riddles and have the proper tools to solve them, I suggest you save yourself some time and frustration and step away from the code. I managed to solve five, probably the easiest ones. Despite this dismal result, I was able to experience the fascination and challenge of solving a complicated puzzle. Is this what it must feel like when you are Kevin Mitnick hacking into someone's server?

Through a series of lucky circumstances, Mitnick has reinvented and rebranded himself and become a positive role model to many young and brilliant technology enthusiasts, all while maintaining his seat on the throne as America's most wanted hacker.

8 people found this helpful

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Daniel

Excelente libro para conocer más sobre Kevin.

Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on March 24, 2023

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Que se puede decir de un libro que cuenta la vida y anécdotas del más grande y carismático Kevin M. Ampliamente recomendado para todos aquellos interesados en el arte del h4ck1ng

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Fábio

Ancioso para iniciar a leitura

Reviewed in Brazil 🇧🇷 on March 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

Show de bola, gostei

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Mdm Lee

Scary world of hackers

Reviewed in Singapore 🇸🇬 on June 10, 2023

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Real inside stories about who are the hackers of mobile phones, and computers. Where they are located, and how they did what they do.

Adrian Bennett

Rollercoaster ride

Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on January 27, 2019

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This book reads like a Bourne or Bond movie - it is hardly believeable in some places. It is also a sober reminder of what bad people could have done with the data he had and how this is applicable in today's age.

Amazonaute

Livre en anglais

Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on June 9, 2014

Verified Purchase

Livre en anglais, mais je le savais en achetant. Plutot facile à lire mis à part quelques termes techniques.

L'histoire est plutot sympa même si l'auteur fait preuve d'un égocentrisme insupportable : "tout petit déjà, j'étais plus intelligent que la moyenne"...

Côté livraison / prix / état du livre, vous pouvez y aller les yeux fermés !

2 people found this helpful

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