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The Art of Deception:
Controlling the Human Element of Security |
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by Kevin Mitnick and William Simon Wiley US$27.50, Cdn$39.95 hardcover |
review by Gordon Graham
If you only read one book on computer security ever, read this one. Read it and weep. In chilling detail, it presents more than 50 plausible scenarios of how ridiculously easy it is to penetrate just about any company. Says who? The biggest name in hackerdom, Kevin Mitnick. He's the notorious computer break-in artist who, charged with stealing millions of dollars of software and company information, led the FBI on a coast-to-coast manhunt in the early 1990s. |
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Mitnick reveals how today's hackers often don't need high-tech gizmoes or advanced expertise.
It's easier just to make a few phone calls and trick some helpful employees into revealing confidential information.
Even computer support people can be suckered into giving away a password by a faked call
from a key software vendor.
Want to get your hands on an internal directory clearly marked "Company Confidential"? Have a helpful employee leave it outside the door for pickup by your "recycling crew." Want a peek at the innermost workings of a competitor? Call up their off-site back-up service impersonating an employee, then simply send a courier to pick up all their tapes for the past month. Want to get inside a small business and download everything on a PC? Hold up an employee's business card at the front door and get the cleaners to let you in. While Mitnick clearly revels in these pranks, he does provide a final section on how to tighten up the human link in the security chain. Your company—and everyone else's—should heed his warnings. |
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This review appeared in the Report on Business magazine of the Globe and Mail in November, 2002.
How to Contact Us
September 23, 2003
Review © 2002 by
Gordon Graham
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