The Cuckoo's Egg

Cliff Stoll made the top page of The New York Times after nailing his spy, much to the delight of the befuddled FBI, CIA, and NSA. The incident, which broke in 1989, soon gained national attention, and Stoll became a genuine, if somewhat improbable, American hero.

Before the Internet became widely known as a global weapon for terrorists, one astute American individual saw its sinister potential. Armed with clear evidence of electronic espionage, he embarked on a deeply personal mission to uncover a covert network of spies threatening national security. But would the authorities support him? Cliff Stoll's dramatic firsthand experience is "an instantly engaging [and] incredibly captivating computer-age detective narrative" (Smithsonian).

In The Cuckoo's Egg, Cliff Stoll, an astrophysicist turned systems manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, discovered an unauthorized user on his system after a 75-cent accounting blunder. The hacker's secret name was "Hunter," and he was a mysterious intruder who broke into US computer networks and stole critical military and security information. Stoll embarked on his own one-man quest, spying on the spy. It was a perilous game of deception, broken codes, satellites, and missile bases — a one-man sting operation that eventually drew the CIA's attention...and eventually caught a worldwide spy ring fueled by cash, cocaine, and the KGB.

Author: Cliff Stoll

Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1416507787/

Ratings: 4.7 out of 5 stars (from 1464 reviews)

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