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Meet the Mad Scientist Who Wrote the Book on How to Hunt Hackers
Thirty years ago, Cliff Stoll published The Cuckoo’s Egg, a book about his cat-and-mouse game with a KGB-sponsored hacker. Today, the internet is a far darker place—and Stoll has become a cybersecurity icon.
“I look for the best in people. I want to live in a world where computing and technology are used for the good of humanity,” Stoll says. “And it breaks my heart.”
“Once I had our tools turned on, we saw people every day trying to hack our network and sometimes succeeding. An entire crime wave was happening and no one was aware of it.”
“There are still incident responders who sleep under desks and are awoken at weird times. You’re at the mercy of the intruder,” Bejtlich says. “Anyone who has done this can relate to being away from the family and working crazy hours. it’s completely familiar even 30 years later.”
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“Breaking and Entering: The Extraordinary Story of a Hacker Called ‘Alien,’” Sherri Davidoff, an MIT hacker turned cybersecurity CEO of LMG (Lake Missoula Group)
“We break into companies and write reports about it.”
