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Takedown
The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick

This marks the return of the Audiobook review. With the new jobs added drivetime, I should be able to churn through books a bit faster now.

Tsutomo Shimomura one of the nations leading computer security experts had his machine compromised Christmas of 1994. Little did he know, the perpetrator was the infamous Kevin Mitnick, who was at the time, on the run from the FBI and the NSA. Takedown is the story of Tsutomo's detailed steakout and final capture of the nations top computer criminal.

This book is almost 10 years old. But I think that is one of the main reasons I enjoyed it. It's always fun to read accounts of the beginnings of the "popular" internet. This books is peppered statements like "we will never have use for hard drives over 4gb" etc, etc. Tsutomos detail used in this book will likely be a huge turnoff for the casual non technical reader, but to those interested in computer security will no doubt find it fascinating. There was a reference to a IRC chat that was one of the main pieces of evidence against Mitnick. Cool to see a technology 10 years old, still being used.

Like most security gurus, Tsutomu's ego is almost as large as his knowledge of the field. But hey, if you can back it up, might as well brag about it. Overall this was a very enjoyable read, the culmination of the Takedown was a bit disappointing, I was left wanting a bit more of "where are they now" type closure. Alot of people that follow the Mitnick story say that this account is a bit one sided, so I'll keep my eyes open for one of the other publicized accounts. Nonetheless, another Bacon recommended Listen.

Next up on the iPod: Just One Look, by Harlan Coben.

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