Stealing the Network: How to Own a Continent (Cyber-Fiction) by Russell, Ryan, Grand, Joe, Craig, Tom published by Syngress Media,U.S.

Stealing the Network

by Ryan Russell

This is a book that will create enormous debate within the technical and the counter-terrorism communities. While there will be the inevitable criticism that the material contained in the book could be used maliciously, the fact is that this knowledge is already in the hands of our enemies. This book is truly designed to inform while entertaining (and scaring) the reader, and it will instantly be in demand by readers of "Stealing the How to Own the Box"
* A meticulously detailed and technically accurate work of fiction that exposes the very real possibilities of such an event occurring
* An informative and scary insight into the boundries of hacking and cyber-terrorism
* Written by a team of the most accomplished cyber-security specialists in the world

Genres: Technology, Fiction, Computers, Hackers, Technical, Computer Science, Espionage

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Amar Pai · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be the best security book I've read. It reads like a suspense novel, but at the same time gives a fairly deep technical overview of how massive 'cyber-crimes' are accomplished. The book's suspense novel conceit is really useful as a way of communicating the concepts. I almost feel like this should be required reading for all developers. It's better than teaching security via endless boring Powerpoint slides. ("The elements of security are STRIDE. [next slide] S - Something. [next slide] T -TakeSecuritySeriously. [next slide] I - InfoSec. [next slide] D - DontGiveOutPassword [next slid] E - EvilHackers...")

The prose in this book is workman-like at best, but that's cos each chapter was written by a domain expert (i.e. a l33t or semi-l33t hacker). You can tell from the level of technical detail that this is the real deal. Surprisingly, though the writing isn't gonna win any awards, it's actually not that bad. Certainly no worse than what you'd see in a Tom Clancy book. This is basically a Tom Clancy novel, but with PHP exploits, nmap console logs, IDA debugger sessions, and other info-sec-porn in place of the usual war-nerdy stats about submarines, missile launchers, Apache gunships, etc.

Only real complaint w/ the book is that it's somewhat outdated. (god infosec moves so fast, I mean this is pre Snowden, pre Stuxnet, pre all the Russian bank robberies / ATM exploits / SWATTING attacks...) But really, most of it is still very applicable today. It's all chillingly plausible, and if anything, history has shown that this book was only scratching the surface of what's possible.

[Phil (Theophilus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot express in words how refreshing it is to *finally* read the blow by blow details of "what if" hi tech fiction written by authors who *know* the specifics of the technology that they're describing! Outstanding is simply not enough. Dan Brown fans take note, if you think Mr Brown's excursions into what he imagines passes for "hi tech" story lines then you will be sorely disappointed with the STN series simply because you will not understand *any* of the technology. Keep up the good work, Syngress! I look forward to the next book in the STN series.

[Jeremy Needle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This title is perfect for most tech-savvy people who want to see overhead of a large-scale plan. Even those who aren't familiar w/ NMAP commands or the nature of telco will still benefit from seeing the phased planning of a global hack; and believe me ladies & gentlemen, this is as big as it gets. Medical records, third world service providers, international identity fraud...oh yeah. This is probably THE most realistic text out there.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good example of heavy tech geek factor meets prose. These guys are great, and this has actually inspired me for some corporate security awareness work.

[Elie De Brauwer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, you take all the weak points of 'Swordfish' (complete absence of any link whatsoever with the technical reality) and fix those. And you take all the strong points of Swordfish (the soundtrack, Hale Berry, the witty dialogues, the fact that there is a story, did I mention the soundtrack and Hale Berry already ) and get rid of those and you more or less get this book. A work of fiction, with some accurate technical detail, a worthless story and complete absence of a soundtrack (and Hale Berry).

Unfortunately the technical correct details have aged in the mean-time so there aren't that much interesting points remaining today.

[Istvan Kis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Csak azoknak élvezhető, akik ITsec-ben dolgoznak, vagy érdekli őket ez a világ, mert sok helyen kifejezetten belemegy módszerekbe, eljárásokba, kódokba, néhol még ASM (!) is előkerül. Egészen furcsa egyvelege ez a regénynek és a szakkönyvnek, természetesen jócskán a regény felé billenve. Defconos srácok írták, egészen jópofa, de szigorú vagyok, ezért a 3 csillag.

[Günther Leenaert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read! Edutainment fiction.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.0) Great, not seamlessly connected nor well written but cool

I really liked the concept: a series of short stories linked together by a mastermind criminal who coerces hackers to do his bidding (without really knowing they're part of his "retirement plan"). Real vulnerabilities, real thought processes that an attacker would go through to win the prize.

Writing is pretty raw/bad, but could definitely see past that to the gold that's here. Especially the chapter that's an homage to Real Genius. Genius.

If you read the appendix (their yahoo! newsgroup in which they planned this out), you'll see that it really was separate chapters inspired by the hacking that they loosely wove together retrospectively. This does detract a bit (doesn't fit together quite like, say, Daemon). But still this was good stuff.

Thanks for the rec, Amar!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good read - especially the last chapter, a real thriller. It's about hacking and so contains lots of computer/network technobabble. This will turn off a lot of casual readers but I found it interesting to learn a little bit about how people break into and take over computer systems (including telephone switch gear), how to social engineer (ie not directly use computers to break into other computers but how to get people to help do this and how to launder money.
Gave some insights into the highly technically skilled people who do this sort of thing (the challenge) and how they can get themselves into real trouble (killed) doing so.

[Gaurav Chaturvedi · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of this book is written by geeks and not story tellers, so the sound and feel of this book lacks a lot.
But it more then makes it up in its technical details.

The chapters are written by different hackers, so the story lacks depth and its poorly tied together. I would suggest reading the book as different short stories rather then reading it as single piece of fiction.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

By now the technology is starting to get a little dated, but this book was a great read for the technical details behind what can go into a hack. It was very enjoyable from that perspective. The writing left a lot to be desired, especially a few select chapters. So if you can look beyond the pedantic, chauvinistic, and overly verbose text, then it's a fine book. :)

[Martijn · Rating 1 out of 5]

The idea was interesting, a book about hacking written by hackers. Unfortunately they all have different writing styles and the overal story didn't really come together.