Stealing the Network: The Complete Series Collector's Edition, Final Chapter, and DVD: The Complete Series (Stealing the Network) by Johnny Long (15-Apr-2009) Hardcover

Stealing the Network

by Johnny Long

Stealing the How to Own the Box is a unique book in the fiction department. It combines stories that are fictional with technology that is real.--Jeff Moss, Founder and CEO of Black HatThe "Stealing the Network Series" has developed a passionate, cult following which includes more than 30,000 readers. Over 3,000 readers have registered their copies of Stealing on the Syngress Web site. The Stealing book signings at the Black Hat Briefings in Las Vegas have become an annual event, attracting hundreds of readers, who want to meet the authors who serve as the heroes and villains of the series. These are true fans. They want the inside scoop. They want their picture taken with the legend, Kevin Mitnick. They want to know if the elaborate hacks in the stories are actually based on real-life, close-encounters. They want to know it all?.Did Jay Beale base his character on the movie "Real Genius"?.....Does FX ever smile?...How tall is Thor?...Is ?Blah? really Roelof Temmingh? Did the guys from Sensepost really receive death threats in South Africa for ?revealing too much?. But maybe most importantly?..they want to How does the story end?Stealing the The Complete Series Collector's Edition, Final Chapter, and DVD answers all these questions and more. Not only will longtime fans of the series find out how the story ends in the much anticipated "Final Chapter" (The "Final Chapter" will also be available separately as an E-Only product six months after publication of the Collector's Edition). They will get much more than this. The collector's edition also contains author-annotated versions of the entire How to Own the Box, How to Own a Continent, How to Own and Identity, and How to Own a Shadow. For the first time, the authors will reveal which of the stories and characters are actually based on fact. The authors will share e-mails they exchanged during the writing of the books....and even a few flames directed at one another! Fans of the series have always been attracted to the "rock stars" of the hacking underground who have contributed to the series over the years Dan Kaminsky (Effugas), Fyodor, Tim Mullen (Thor), Johnny Long, Ryan Russell (Blue Boar), Jay Beale, Joe Grand (Kingpin), Jeff Moss, and Kevin Mitnick...just to name a few. Friends and foes alike of the authors scour the internet for information on the authors, and some some have even successfully hacked into their computers and e-mail to find out more about them. Now...they can find out everything they ever wanted to know without risking federal prosecution in Stealing the The Complete Series Collector's Edition, Final Chapter, and DVD .In addition to The Final Chapter and the Annotated Complete Series , the fanatics will also receive a DVD containing extended, personal interviews with the primary authors and editors of the series. The DVD also contains digital photographs from exclusive and secretive author dinners and meetings at Black Hat and Defcon.Long time fans of the series as well as a new generation of hackers will be drawn to this unique collector's edition either for themselves or as a gift for their favorite hacker.* Annotated by the original authors, readers find out for the first time which hacks and characters are real.* The DVD contains exclusive, personal interviews with the rock star authors shot at Black Hat and Defcon.* Readers will finally learn the fate of "Knuth" in the much anticipated Final Chapter.

Genres: Hackers, Technical, Technology, Nonfiction, Computer Science, Cyberpunk

Hardcover

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

Johnny Long is a Christian by grace, a professional hacker by trade, a pirate by blood, a ninja in training, a security researcher and author. He can be found lurking at his website (http://johnny.ihackstuff.com). He is the founder of Hackers For Charity(http://ihackcharities.org), an organization that provides hackers with job experience while leveraging their skills for charities that need those skills.

Reviews

[Takedown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally done with the whole series, can't say i particularly like it as much as i wanted to. Some parts was interesting some was boring. It is a book for hackers by hackers, no casual reading for you unless you work in infosec. I also didn't like verbose output from tools being posted, you could've just cut at least. Can't say i learned something that i already didn't know either. Dunno, overall i've got an impression that books too much stretched and you could easily cut in half. Anyway, the whole series kinda meh, but maybe worth to skim over.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each chapter was written by a different author, tells an overarching story. Some of the chapters were very well written, others not so much. This book is more about the individual stories and security principals than the overarching story, if you expect the main story thread to be fully tied up at the end you'll be disappointed. If you some fun hacking stories with some entertaining characters then you should enjoy this. If you are not familiar with security principals and programing already this book isn't going to turn you into a hacker overnight but it might give you an idea on where to get started.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and informational. I especially liked the combination of describing real attacks against a real-world setting. It's much more interesting to learn about security in the context of time and politics. Attacks are described as taking days or weeks to research and defense is described as post-cleanup reports by the good guys. On top of that, there's a decent background of how this sort of activity fits into the greater social and economic landscape so we get a glimpse of how governments and criminal organizations have taken root in the technology sector.

It's great reading all the way up to the last book.