Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier

Profiles computer hackers who overstep ethical boundaries and break the law to penetrate society's most sensitive computer networks

The spirit of cyberpunk only flickers in these three more-or-less able pieces of journalism about headline hacker cases that shook the computer industry. The authors' straightforward style serves the topic well, and portraits of the hackers' personalities are tantalizingly good. But the programming jargon invoked suggests little of the "outlaw" mentality that converts programming talent into hacking. The only case that really earns the title is "Pengo and the Project Equalizer," the story of a West Berlin punk turned hacker, which contains enough exotic characters to cast a miniseries. Hafner is a computer reporter for the New York Times ; Markoff is a former Business Week reporter.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In these three portraits of contemporary computer "outlaws," Hafner and Markoff have done an outstanding job of explaining the technology misused, as well as writing a true account that is as exciting to read as any Ludlum novel. From Kevin Mitnick, the former Southern California "phone phreak" who hacked his way into Digital Equipment's inner sanctum to the West German quartet who tapped into Lawrence Berkeley Lab and sold software to the KGB to Robert Mathis, the former Cornell graduate student who loosed a virus that brought the mighty Internet to its knees, the authors intelligently analyze the social and technical considerations involved in these episodes. This book can be read solely for entertainment--it's that engrossing. But there are also many very important issues and questions raised as well. Highly recommended.
- Hilary D. Burton, Lawrence Liver more National Lab., Livermore, Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.