Video: Book Review by Suki Zheng
Kevin Mitnick, in The Art of Intrusion, tells the intriguing and slightly frightening accounts of numerous exploits of our security, or more specifically our lack thereof, by hackers.
From Mike and his three friends who hacked into slot machines at a casino, to two inmates of a Texas prison who make valuable use of their time expanding their hacking abilities, Mitnick covers numerous occasions where people’s security have been breached, although not all of them for evil. He doesn’t share these tales to make fun of how lousy security usually is, but to motivate people to take it more seriously and also to provide valuable insight as to how to improve it.
Each chapter covers an exploit followed up by reasonable counter measures that can help anybody combat the weaknesses the hackers have found. Mitnick emphasizes that it is impossible to inhibit all hackers but each individual should still do what they can to protect themselves technologically.
While the hacking accounts themselves were riveting, some descriptions as to how the hackers achieved their goals were daunting to read and difficult to understand. Perhaps it’s because I have no experience in the field but if that is also you, don’t worry too much since Mitnick does summarize nearing the end of each chapter so that you won’t be completely lost. Since it is his countermeasures that he wants the reader to get out of his novel, don’t disregard this book completely because of the complex lexicon.
Another nifty aspect of the Art of Intrusion is that you get the hacker’s own words and how they viewed their experiences incorporated throughout the novel. It adds a sense of reality to somewhat surreal tales. Overall, this book was very informative, although at some points a tad too informative for those who don’t have much expertise on the topic.
Watch the review here.
Source: YouTube
