Being a fan of Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie's pace and climax, Shimomura's account is smoothly read, which is pretty amazing, given the number of technical and banal details that Shimomura feels compelled to share, such as his athletic inclinations. Still, when you team up an experienced author (Markoff) with a brilliant subject matter expert (Shimomura), it shouldn't be a surprise that the result is something which demands attention and rapidly absorbs you into the Digital Con-Artistry world.
An interesting story that can help you develop a better understanding of Internet security and how we rely on 0s and 1s to live our daily routines. Both security experts and non-specialists could benefit from having a realistic view of the significance of Mitnick's interventions and other crackers' access to everyday data.
The definitive story of Kevin Mitnick has still not been told--for this intricate tale is hardly conclusive. Furthermore, given the author's attitude (and All-Knowing-Stance) some might find it difficult to accept everything in this book at face value. Certainly, Shimomura and Markoff had every incentive during their journey to work towards creating an exciting story, which was amazingly accomplished. A critical reader must we aware of the possibility that they manipulated events in order to increase tension and drama.
A greater understanding of what Mitnick represents is important in developing an ability to think in useful information security ways. He's become such a cultural icon--a criminal genious in the eyes of one side, and a victimized innocent on the other. Neither of these simplistic views is accurate. Depicting Mitnick as a genius, but not in technical terms. He's truly one America's great con-men, and his story teaches us a great deal about how gullible normal people can be, and how easy it is for a smooth-talker with selfish motivations to manipulate normal people and how he might handle information to reach a self-motivated goal.
A Mitnick story that has been believed much more balanced is Jonathan Littman's book, "The Fugitive Game: Online With Kevin Mitnick," which is unfortunately out of print.
Unfortunately, the narrative leaves certain informative gaps as if Mitnick was really the one who hacked into Shimomura's Sun box using a technique that was previously considered theoretical. But rather than being a News or Technical Report, the narrative takes us to the enlightened zone where Somebody did trespass privacy and confidentiality agreements, and Mitnick certainly was aware of it, although some don't believe that Mitnick is technically capable of writing such hack code himself, the book sure makes a stand on delivering the reader in that particular twighlit enthusiasm. The best description known of this sort of exploit is found in Stephen Northcutt's book, "Network Intrusion Detection."
For the time being, this is the most detailed book available, and as an autobiographical account of one the participants in Mitnick's takedown, the book will always have a certain historical and social significance.
As with everything you read, be an especially critical reader. Think through the motivations of the authors, and consider the possibility that Mitnick is a genius at social engineering, but only an average technician. If that's the case, then what really did happen? Read Shimomura's account, dwell in the vastness of cyberspace and everything doable in that realm, make up your own mind while being at the edge of your keyboard of one of the best Sleuth stories to hit Real Life (while learning a thing or two about Software and how it rules our lives)!
