Tag: Books

I just started reading this book during lunch today – when possible, I like to get out of the office for an hour to do something that is not at the desk.

There’s been a lot of movies, TV shows, and books about hacking.  I imagine that it isn’t a world full of bikini-clad babes clicking on a mysterious Pi symbol on The Net, or people with multi-coloured pencils in their hair typing out >Go Hack Now with instantaneous results.  The description of this book, Kingpin, got me interested.  It’s a story with the insider’s perspective:

In a previous life, Poulsen served five years in prison for hacking. So the Wired senior editor and "Threat Level" blogger knows intimately the terrain he explores in this page-turning tale of the criminal exploits of a hacker of breathtaking ambition, Max Butler, who stole access to 1.8 million credit card accounts. Poulsen understands both the hows of hacking, which he explains clearly, as well as the whys, which include, but also can transcend, mere profit. Accordingly, his understanding of the hacking culture, and his extensive interviews with Butler, translates into a fascinating depiction of a cybercriminal underworld frightening in its complexity and its potential for harm, and a society shockingly vulnerable to cybercrime. The personalities, feuds, double dealing, and scams of the hackers are just one half of this lively story. The other half, told with equal verve, is law enforcement’s efforts to find and convict Butler and his accomplices. (Butler is now serving a 13-year sentence and owes .5 million in restitution.) Poulsen renders the hacker world with such virtual reality that readers will have difficulty logging off until the very end.

But the question remains – does the president get saved in 24 hours?  I’ll post a review when I’ve finished reading it.

The story of Daemon  is that a games development genius dies, but that doesn’t stop him from wreaking havoc on the world.  Before he dies, he uses the AI from his games to create a distributed network to enact his will.

This book has what Zero Day didn’t: a hook, something to keep you turning the pages.  In fact, I found it quite addictive.  I was reading it before work, at lunch, and going to bed early to read more.  I finished it this morning and immediately ordered/downloaded the sequel, Freedom.

Whereas Zero Day featured an extremely believable scenario, Daemon goes a little bit more into the sci-fi end of things to add an element of danger.  However, it is still rooted in the believable.  I can’t watch a movie or read a book that features “go hack now” scenarios.  But this book was based on things like trojans, in-game AI, RSS feeds, GPS, and so on.  It just stretched what we know about a little to enable the plot, but kept this acceptable an acceptable limit for me.

Over and over, in this book, you’ll see how hacks take advantage of poor patch control.  Spotting a trend?

I reckon that if you work in IT, or find computers interesting, then there’s a really good chance that you’ll like Daemon.  This book can be ordered on Amazon.com.

One of the nice things about not having constant deadlines is that I can “chillax”.  I’ve been getting a lot of reading done on my Kindle/iPad combination.  And the latest book I’ve read is Zero Day, the debut novel by famous Windows insider guru Mark Russinovich.

The book centres around an independent IT security consultant who stumbles on a worldwide IT security threat, and then goes on from there.  I normally cannot stand any form of entertainment that features IT.  There are usually so many holes in the technology that is the centre of the plot that I focus on those rather than on the story.  Not so here, as you would expect.  The IT stuff appears accurate to me, and technical terms like a rootkit are dealt with at a high enough level that your granny will know all about them when she finishes the book.

The story is OK.  I think it was missing a little something, a hook, … I dunno, I’m no novelist!  It’s just that I finished it and was left wanting something more from it.  But that’s just my opinion; lots of others have loved it and Mark Russinovich broke the news yesterday that a publisher has agreed to publish a follow up.

Where the book scores points is that it gets across that businesses are failing to get the most basic IT security practices right.  Things like patching and antivirus still are not being done.  And that probably goes back to an old soapbox rant of mine: many decision makers don’t value IT, and therefore don’t understand how it can benefit a business if dealt with strategically or put it at the risk of complete destruction if the right staff aren’t hired and best practices aren’t implemented. So if you are in IT and want a Secret Santa gift for the CIO/CEO, give them a copy of Zero Day

I’m now reading Daemon by Daniel Suarez.  I’m just a short way into it but it’s started out well.  Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson both recommended it on the TWiT security podcast a few weeks ago.  I’ll blame them if it sucks