"Ghost in the Wires"

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker (Kevin "Free Kevin Mitnick" Mitnick)

If you grew up at a certain time, you may have witnessed the at-times ubiquitous Free Kevin movement of the late 90's and early 2000s. Mitnick had - has? - a reputation as a famous evil computer mastermind wizard, but reading his book, I was struck at how more times than not, he got the information that he needed by practicing social engineering instead of any computer skills. In fact, by the second half of the book, you'll be reading "I social engineered" easily double the amount of times he's actually hacking in anywhere.
That's not to say the book is any less interesting - Mitnick's titular adventures, which include time on the lamb after the FBI gets wise to him, is gripping stuff. Since this is Mitnick's own book, he of course comes off as the hero, but I have a lot of sympathy for him regardless, since his hacking is presented as a form of curiosity (he's not using stolen credit card numbers or anything). My only caveat is that the book is a little bit technical - Kevin and his co-author usually stop to explain the more in-depth concepts, but if you don't know what a BBS or a phone phreaker is, you may find yourself a little lost. With that said, I really enjoyed this book, and I'm confident it's a great read for fellow nerds, if maybe not this author's mom.

Grade: A