Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw - By the Man Who Did It: Shimomura, Tsutomo, Markoff, John: 9780786889136: Amazon.com: Books

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Tsutomu Shimomura

Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw - By the Man Who Did It Mass Market Paperback – December 1, 1996

by Tsutomo Shimomura (Author), John Markoff (Author)

64 ratings

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The dramatic true story of the capture of the world's most wanted cyberthief by brilliant computer expert Tsutomu Shimomura, describes Kevin Mitnick's long computer crime spree, which involved millions of dollars in credit card numbers and corporate trade secrets. Reprint. NYT.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Voice
Publication date

December 1, 1996
Dimensions

4.25 x 1.13 x 6.75 inches
ISBN-10

0786889136
ISBN-13

978-0786889136
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Customer reviews

5 star		61%
4 star		10%
3 star		15%
2 star		2%
1 star		12%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Finding a malicious computer hacker

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2021

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This book is interesting although it has some flaws. Generally a book that has co-authors means that the second author wrote the book but the story is about the first authors experience. So I don’t know who is more responsible for the flaws. Basically Shimomura has computer networks that he uses for research as a senior fellow at the San Diego Supercomputer center. An unknown hacker invades his network and Shimomura has to track down the culprit by using his knowledge of programming and network functionality, and finally cell phone tracking to find and arrest Kevin Mitnick. Along the twisting evolution of the chase he inserts seemingly unnecessary details like what he and his erstwhile girlfriend Julia ate at such and such a restaurant. Also what model of car she owns, and that a Ford Probe will do 130 k/h with chains on. Some of the story seems to be written like they intended it to be a good vehicle for Hollywood to make into a movie. The author is no doubt very talented and a genius at computers but Shimomura comes off as conceited with an overbearing ego. He is disparaging of all the other organizations he must enlist to track down Mitnick, like he is only one doing the job, everyone else is either a screwup or a bureaucratic hack. He doesn’t know much about getting search warrants or arrest warrants, but is quite willing to criticize the FBI for their actions. The technical details of finding the hacker are interesting although a lot of it is beyond what a ordinary user would understand. The whole story is interesting but I think it could be told in a book about half as long as this one.

One person found this helpful

Maintenance Man

Lot of disappointments

Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2021

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After reading Fugitive Game, I decided to hear Shimomura's side of the tale. That was not a good move. He seems to want to write about some girl he is having an affair with. Has hardly anything to do with the main story. He also is an unlikeable fellow. A lot of the stories in here also feel like they lack credibility. Would not recommend this book.

Had this book before and lost it. I am a bit of a tomboy, techie, nerdie female.

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2013

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Fascinating story. Have read before. Great almost free price on Amazon! Of Course! Really enjoyed all the personal details Shimomura included - the romance, his work life, his academic qualifications, studies. Totally interesting and entertaining. LOVE TRUE LIFE STORIES - especially High Tech. Very entertaining comparing todays technology with his & Mitnicks at the time. Those differences AREN'T boring - only amusing and amazing realizing how far Tech has come and how FAST!

6 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2011

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i heard about this from ny times, so exciting and all...will it may be when it came out 15 years ago but now quaint, like watching jar head, the movie about the first iraq war.

Lives Among Savages

Agree with the other one-star reviews

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2015

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The author is completely full of himself and makes you sick after you read the book for a while. He should have employed a ghost writer to tone down the name-dropping and self-praise that runs throughout the book. What was funny is that a lot of the gear and software he talks about is a joke compared with modern gear and software, so throwing these big technical words around is embarrassing in hindsight.

5 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2018

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Very cheep and good condition

C. V. Karayiannis

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2011

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I am sorry that I almost missed this out of print book (I finally managed to buy it from Amazon marketplace) because I took in regard the opinion of some reviewers.

Christos Karayiannis

3 people found this helpful

Recommended, but with reservations

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2001

It's a breezy read, which is pretty amazing, given the number of obscure details that Shimomura feels compelled to share, such as his lunch menu. Still, when you team up an experienced author with a brilliant subject matter expert, it shouldn't be a surprise that the result is something which demands attention.
The definitive story of Kevin Mitnick has still not been told--this is an interesting story, but it is hardly conclusive. Furthermore, given the author's attitude--he's got an ego a mile wide--it's difficult to accept everything in this book at face value. Certainly, Shimomura and Markoff had every incentive during their journey to work towards creating an exciting story. A critical reader must consider the possibility that they manipulated events in order to increase sales of their expected book. It is certainly possible that this did not happen, but how can you know?
A greater understanding of what Mitnick represents is important in developing an ability to think in useful information security ways. He's become such a cultural icon--a criminal genious in the eyes of one side, and a victimized innocent on the other. Neither of these simplistic views is accurate. I believe that Mitnick probably is a genius, but not in technical terms. He's truly one America's great con-men, and his story teaches us a great deal about how gullible normal people can be, and how easy it is for a smooth-talker with selfish motivations to manipulate normal people. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from a study of Mitnick, although the writers of this text provide minimal assistance in helping the reader draw useful conclusions about the story. They are much more concerned with showing how incredibly clever Shimomura is, purportedly tracking Mitnick from ISP to ISP across the Internet, and eventually right to his doorstep with a junior G-man RDF unit.
A Mitnick story that I believe is much more balanced is Jonathan Littman's book, "The Fugitive Game : Online With Kevin Mitnick," which is unfortunately out of print. While Littman's personal relationship with Mitnick--Mitnick apparently just likes him--also should be a datapoint in your evaluation of what actually happened, I think he takes care to make any potential bias clear, and to avoid it.
Littman raises some interesting questions about Shimomura. I summarize my feelings about the purported Mitnick attack on Shimomura like this: 1) Shimomura makes it widely known that he has software on his Internet server that is of interest to hackers. 2) He leaves an incredibly obvious security hole open on his Unix server that any Unix newbie would have known to plug. 3) He sends the syslog (system logging) data to another host, which just so happens to be REALLY TIGHT. If he's capable of capturing syslog records in such a secure and non-compromisable way, why did he leave r-services running on the server with the source code? We will probably never know if he actually created a honeypot with the intention of entrapping Mitnick and writing a book about it, but what he did was fully consistent with such a plan. Fascinating, huh? I guess you'll need to read the book to make up your own mind, but if that is what really happened, how do you feel about subsidizing it through reading the book?
We'll also never know if Mitnick was really the one who hacked into Shimomura's Sun box using a technique that was previously considered theoretical. Somebody did, and Mitnick certainly was aware of it, but I personally don't believe that Mitnick is technically capable of writing such hack code himself, and I'm not sure that he was the one to perform the exploit. The best description I know of this exploit is found in Stephen Northcutt's book, "Network Intrusion Detection."
So it is an important story that can help you develop a better understanding of Internet security, and both security experts and non-specialists could benefit from having a realistic view of the significance of Mitnick. For the time being, this is the most detailed book available, and as an autobiographical account of one the participants in Mitnick's takedown, the book will always have a certain historical significance. But be an especially critical reader with this one. Think through the motivations of the authors, and consider the possibility that Mitnick is a genius at social engineering, but only an average technician. If that's the case, then what really did happen? Read Shimomura's account, and make up your own mind.

51 people found this helpful

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Fidel

An entertaining read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2013

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I read this book after reading Ghost in the Wires. Two sides to a very interesting story. Since the book was written around 1996 it captures a unique point in the internet's life - when it was starting to get traction; when the big players were still small and the communities around the silicon valley. Great read.

One person found this helpful

Cliente Amazon

Interessante

Reviewed in Italy on October 18, 2015

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Bel libro, storia chiara (anche se - forse - racconta gli accadimenti da un punto di vista parziale), lettura chiara, semplice, piacevole.
Piacevole anche perche' riporta - ovviamente non in profondita' - una parte di dettagli tecnici dell'epoca che rievocano, almeno per me, dei bei ricordi di quegli anni.
Consigliata la lettura agli appassionati di hacking degli anni 80/90 e ai curiosi di quell'epoca.

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Desmo72

Libro molto bello e venditore eccezionale

Reviewed in Italy on June 16, 2013

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Il libro si legge molto bene, indipendentemente dal background informatico. L'ho comprato usato ma tramite un venditore che è una garanzia.

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