136 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
136 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
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= F.U.C.K. - Fucked Up College Kids - Born Jan. 24th, 1993 - F.U.C.K. =
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Review of _Takedown_ by Tsutomu Shimomura w/
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John Markoff
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"The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's
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Most Wanted Computer Outlaw"
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I must admit that I approached this novel with a certain amount
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of what can only be construed as bias against the co-authors of this book.
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Even the inside cover caused me to wrinkle my nose with distaste. One
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thing I always have despised about "respected authors" is when they are
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innacurate for the sake of dramatic effect. On the inside cover, Markoff
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says that Mitnick made a "fatal mistake" by breaking into the "brilliant"
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Shimomura's computer system. Well, as far as I know, Mitnick is still alive,
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so the mistake could hardly have been fatal. As far as Shimomura's
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brilliance is concerned, well, I would have to reserve judgement on that
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since I do not know him personally. Also according to John Markoff, this
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battle was fought for "the soul of the Internet." It seems more like the
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battle was fought for Shimomura's soul, since it was his personal files
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that he was concerned about. Later Shimomura states that he was probed
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from the Colorado SuperNet on various occasions. Now, had he been
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fighting for "the soul of the Internet", he should have notified the
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Colorado SuperNet of the suspicious activities emanating from their site
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long before Mitnick used that site as a vehicle. On the back cover, where
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the credits are listed for the authors, Markoff is credited with being
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"respected" for his "lucid coverage of technology." I would have to
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contest this statement. I have read several accounts by journalists and
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security experts who question Markoff's methods and his motives. After
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reading this book, I can say that I question them as well.
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Overall, I found the entire book to be rather difficult to get into.
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The little details about Shimomura's personal life did nothing but weigh
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the book down with unnecessary details. If the book professes to be about
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the capture of Kevin Mitnick, it should be about the capture of Kevin
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Mitnick, not Shimomura's excercise habits or a catalogue of the scope of
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his various Sun Workstations. Furthermore, I must confess that I was never
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interested in the details of Shimomura's romantic status, or the
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"office gossip" that permeates the book.
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Early in the book, one of Shimomura's friends reports having
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received a phone call from Mitnick himself. They discussed the fact that
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Shimomura had written a disassembler for Oki cell phones. He then calls
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John Markoff and plays a tape recording of the conversation for him.
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Markoff, who admits to never being formally introduced to Mitnick, tells
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Shimomura's buddy that it sounds like Mitnick on the phone. I question two
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things here: 1) Why *did* Shimomura write a disassembler for an Oki
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cell phone? Did Oki hire him to do it? 2) Since Markoff had never formally
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met Mitnick, what makes him an authority in identifying his voice? Does
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writing a book about someone qualify you as an expert? Only when Littman,
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a journalist familiar with Mitnick's voice, confirms Markoff's suspicions,
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does this become remotely swallowable.
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Throughout this tale, there are repeated references and citations
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of Shimomura's brilliance and Markoff's technical savoire-faire. There
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is a long, drawn-out section devoted to how Shimomura frequently got into
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trouble with his computer related activities and his relations with well-
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known hackers-turned-security-experts. Reprints of Markoff's "zero-day"
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security articles pepper the book, complete with descriptions of how
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they were "prominently displayed" in various national newspapers. Frankly,
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this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. How can anyone trust an account of
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events so riddled with self-serving biases? Personally, I could not be
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involved in a project like this where I was constantly patting myself and
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my co-author on the back for our collective efforts against this "outlaw"
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Kevin Mitnick. The derogatory terms used to describe Mitnick are highly
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inflammatory, the end result being an all-too-trite account of a man
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neither person has ever met. I am certainly no Mitnick apologist. I do not
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agree with what he has done. I *do* disagree with subjective journalism
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and self-serving treatments of events.
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After several chapters of tedious technical documentation of the
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search for Mitnick, I, the reader, became rather bored with reading about
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Shimomura's short Unix programs, meetings with Netcom, the WELL staff, and
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Markoff. There are a few bright points in the midst of all of this text,
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however. There are several exact transcripts of various sessions that
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Mitnick initiated. Although they seem to have been chosen for their
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ability to put Mitnick in a bad light, they are still the only point in the
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book where we get to see exactly what Mitnick was doing. The verification
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that Netcom did indeed keep their credit info online was also rather
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refreshing, since Netcom has denied this since the file was stolen.
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Throughout the book, Shimomura repeatedly says that Mitnick is not
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a good hacker, that he makes mistakes, and that he is just another geek
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that can read a technical manual. I disagree here also. Obviously, if
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Mitnick is good enough to keep Shimomura, the "brilliant" security expert,
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chasing after him for so long (7 weeks total), then Mitnick can't be all
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that stupid. The fact that Shimomura did not disable well-known security
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holes on his personal machines is slightly disconcerting. The fact that
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Shimomura did not tell the FBI who Markoff was and why he was present
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during the chase smacks of outright deception. I agree that Shimomura
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used excellent techniques to find Mitnick, if a little unconventional.
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From what this book portrays, Mitnick's downfall was his arrogance.
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Shimomura clamped down on that and was able to use this to his advantage.
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From all that I have read, I can conclude that this book is
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interesting, even if it is poorly written and slightly "bent" to one
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side. I recommend that anyone interested in this topic should read it,
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keeping in mind the various ethical considerations involved when a
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reporter gets involved in chasing down a hacker. Even John Littman
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asks questions about this in his book about Kevin Poulson, _The Fugitive
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Game_. Even the FBI was uncomfortable with Markoff's presence during the
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investigation. I think this is a valid concern, and that Markoff should
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reconsider his motives when writing about the computer undergorund. One
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more fiasco like this one and I don't think anyone would shrink from
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calling his kind of journalism "yellow".
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Anonymous
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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= Questions, Comments, Bitches, Ideas, Rants, Death Threats, etc etc... =
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= Internet : jericho@netcom.com (Mail is welcome) =
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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= gote land +27.31.441115 =
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= Arrested Development +31.77.3547477 =
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= Chemical Persuasion 203.324.0894 Celestial Woodlands 214.252.6455 =
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= that stupid place 215.985.0462 Hacker's Haven 303.343.4053 =
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= E.L.F. (NUP) 314.272.3426 Misery 318.625.4532 =
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= Dungeon Sys. Inc. 410.263.2258 Psykodelik Images 407.834.4576 =
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= Paradise Lost 414.476.3181 Black SunShine 513.891.3465 =
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= underworld_1995.com 514.683.1894 Digital Fallout 516.378.6640 =
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= PSYCHOSiS 613.836.7211 Bad Trip 615.870.8805 =
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= Plan 9 716.881.3663 suicidal chaos 718.592.1083 =
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= Phallic Paradise 801.944.7353 Purple Hell 806.791.0747 =
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= Atrocity Exhibition 905.796.3385 Phoenix Modernz 908.830.8265 =
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= The Keg 914.234.9674 =
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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= Files through Anonymous FTP: FTP.NETCOM.COM - /pub/je/jericho/FUCK =
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= FTP.WINTERNET.COM - /users/craigb/fuck =
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= FTP.GIGA.OR.AT - /pub/hackers/zines/FUCK =
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= ETEXT.ARCHIVE.UMICH.EDU - /pub/Zines/FUCK =
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= Files through WWW: ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/je/jericho/jericho.html =
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