Know Your [roots]#
After recently wrapping up Forshaw's awesome Attacking Network Protocols, it felt like a good time to take a break from the purely technical reading I often find myself doing. When a new book hits my doorstep, it's only a matter of time before the battle begins - reading, experimenting, re-reading, more tinkering, rinse and repeat until I feel comfortable with the theory and putting the content into practice.
After Attacking, I decided it was time to get a history lesson. Something that I could just read and enjoy at its face value. Sure, like most in the industry, I had previously worked my way through Mitnick's books, but I wanted more. After talking with a co-worker, whose bookshelf is just ridiculous and is a hacking historian in their own right, we settled on the following series, to be read in the order listed.
After Attacking, I decided it was time to get a history lesson. Something that I could just read and enjoy at its face value. Sure, like most in the industry, I had previously worked my way through Mitnick's books, but I wanted more. After talking with a co-worker, whose bookshelf is just ridiculous and is a hacking historian in their own right, we settled on the following series, to be read in the order listed.
- Underground: Hacking, madness and obsessions on the electronic frontier
- Masters of Deception
- The Cuckoos Egg
- @Large
While I'm just cracking @Large open now, this has been one of the more rewarding reading binges I've been on. The Aussies you'll meet in Undergound, the MOD and LOD war in Masters, and the ties back to Cliff Stoll and his investigation in Cuckoos Egg are just amazing to read about.
While most of us probably spend our time sharpening our technical skills, I found it immensely rewarding to take a few weeks off to learn about our 80s/90s hacking forefathers. Learning about novel techniques to exploit some new bug class is exciting, but don't sleep on reading about a literal gang member, turned hacker, who can pop any telco in the US. Too. Much. Fun.
