m then on, Shimomura devotes his considerable intellect and energy to identifying the cracker (Kevin Mitnick, as it turns out), tracking him down, and capturing him.
Shimomura is not a man to mess with. When he decides
that he's going to catch the cracker, he becomes single-minded. Anything that stands between him and the cracker is in trouble. In particular, when he sees what he views as incompetence and stupidity, he's the first person to call it to everyone's attention. Much of the book is about overcoming what Shimomura sees as slow-footed, ego-bound bureaucracies to make them realize that Mitnick is dangerous and must be stopped. Shimomura's vexation extends to everything from the FBI's internal politics to the Computer Emergency Response Team's refusal to acknowledge new security holes fast enough.
In fact, the technical details of how Shimomura and his team tracked Mitnick are drowned out by Shimomura's personality. Shimomura becomes obsessed with capturing the cracker. He cuts vacations short, seems to give short shrift to his new girlfriend, and deprives himself of sleep for days on end. Shimomura's fixation coupled with his powerful personality make the story fascinating reading. His character comes forth i
n his opinions on life, love, and technology. For example, here he dissects a close friend's personality: "It was as if there were two Julias. One was a strong, independent and adventurous woman who was trying to find what would make her happy and content. But there was another person as well, who was hamstrung by fear and feelings of inadequacy and security."
If you don't care about (or for) his opinions, you might prefer the technical details that pepper
Takedown
. For example, this description of some intercomputer spoofing: "All those aborted handshakes now made sense. The attacker had needed to be able to predict the sequence number that Osiris was sending out with each SYN. A sequence number in this case was simply an authenticator, much like the number they give you while you're waiting in line at the delicatessen, so that when it's your turn to talk to the man behind the counter he and everybody else recognize your right to proceed."
The best part of this book isn't the plot or t
he technical details about how Shimomura caught Mitnick, but the exposé.
Takedown
reads like a
Who's Who
of the computer industry -- especially the computer security industry. As you read, you find out whose computers Mitnick invaded, when he invaded them, who denied that it happened, and who acted responsibly.
The narrative style is perfectly suited to the subject and to Shimomura's personality: very straightforward. It's likely that the book's co-author, John Markoff of the
New York Times
(and formerly of BYTE), had something to do with creating this style.
Takedown
is so much like a Tom Clancy techno-thriller it's hard to believe it's not fiction. But sometimes truth is better. This is one of those times.
John Montgomery is BYTE's features editor. You can reach him by sending E-mail to
jmontgomery@bix.com
.
Take Home Takedown
