Carrie
03-29-2005, 07:33 AM
The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/29/mitnick_sequel_review/)
By Charles Arthur
Published Tuesday 29th March 2005
Book review Sequels are hard. Just ask John Travolta, currently being panned by the critics for his efforts in Be Cool, the would-be follow-up to the tremendously successful film Get Shorty. In books, as in films and music, following instant success is often harder than achieving it, because the former may be the labour of years but the latter has to be built from what's immediately available. Thus one can imagine the challenge Kevin Mitnick, and his co-author (and already published author) William D. Simon, faced after the plaudits showered on their first product, the 2002 book The Art Of Deception.
We need not go over the merits of that book (though you can read them up). Suffice to say they were many, principally because it focussed on social engineering - the technique of getting your victims to help you to break in, rather than sitting whey-faced in a darkened room staring at a screen running Netstat. Social engineering is really, really hard to defend against, because you can't just plug in something and feel safe. It's about people, and people can be persuaded to do and say almost anything.
Full story (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/29/mitnick_sequel_review/)
By Charles Arthur
Published Tuesday 29th March 2005
Book review Sequels are hard. Just ask John Travolta, currently being panned by the critics for his efforts in Be Cool, the would-be follow-up to the tremendously successful film Get Shorty. In books, as in films and music, following instant success is often harder than achieving it, because the former may be the labour of years but the latter has to be built from what's immediately available. Thus one can imagine the challenge Kevin Mitnick, and his co-author (and already published author) William D. Simon, faced after the plaudits showered on their first product, the 2002 book The Art Of Deception.
We need not go over the merits of that book (though you can read them up). Suffice to say they were many, principally because it focussed on social engineering - the technique of getting your victims to help you to break in, rather than sitting whey-faced in a darkened room staring at a screen running Netstat. Social engineering is really, really hard to defend against, because you can't just plug in something and feel safe. It's about people, and people can be persuaded to do and say almost anything.
Full story (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/29/mitnick_sequel_review/)