Ya, I’m intrigued by hacking and cybersecurity. Probably because I’m such an expert. You know how great I am with technology and electronics. Cult of the Dead Cow, the title of the original hacking supergroup, was written by Joseph Menn who is a writer for Reuters, a fact that makes me as happy as the book itself. When I think of Reuters I don’t think of books. I think news stories. (I once was a stringer for Reuters.)
This book is a lineage of key players, key origins followed by subsequent actions and interactions. Like a road map of early online gathering places and affiliations. What I love about this is it made me think about where I was during these times and places. cDc originated in Lubbock, Texas. Geez. Startling. If you know Lubbock you know how odd this is. Not known as a bastion for cutting edge anything outside of cow-tipping. (Sorry Lubbock. Hey, you know what .0000000001 is? The top grade point average at Texas Tech. Ohhhhhh a bit offsides on that one.)
Back to the book. A good takeaway. The playing field is changing rapidly. Security is playing catch up. And there isn’t a fine line between good and evil there is an enormous gray line. Working private, working government, working contractor. Ethics in hacking is a book in itself. This book does not answer all the questions. But it paints a good history for anyone interested.