Overview of Book and Author: The subculture of computer crime is the topic of this book. The authors chronicle three separate incidents in which data security computer and/or telecommunications have been br eached in the last decade, complete with technical information and biographical sketches. Both authors are established journalists with specialties in technology and computers.

Summary of Major Points in Work: This book details the three dangerous breaches in communications security. It does not offer commentary or try to make points, but allows the stories themselves to speak toward the need for better security.

As a teenager and young adult, Kevin Mitnick spent the greater part of the 1980s pursuing a reckless interest in communications fraud. His first ambitions involved tapping into phone lines. By breaking into the core of various phone systems Mitnick and others --"phreaks," they called themselves-- could tap any phone line on that system, divert charges, or create non-existent long-distance calling accounts. Because encryption devices for phones and such were unheard of ten years ago, Mitnick could easily listen in on any conversation, invading people's privacy and stealing any private information that was spoken over the phone lines, such as credit card numbers. This art of phreaking would cost a major telephone system such as AT&T $30 million a year.

The two other cases documented in this book do not deal with telecommunications, but with major break-ins in the world's computer networks. The participants in each situation used similar means to different ends.

One case involves a German youth, Hans Hubner, who broke into local computer systems in Germany and proceeded to hack his way into global systems, including military sites in the United States. Hubner's goal, however, was to gain classified information to sell to the KGB.

The final individual chronicled is Robert Morr is, an American college student at Harvard and then Cornell, who used his knowledge of computers to break into local and then global networks, just like Hubner. Morris, however, did it merely for the entertainment and to prove to others how insecure systems were. Morris was eventually done in when he accidentally unleashed a virus that stranded millions of computers around the world. It is important to note, however, that Morris was partly protected from indictment because of the encryption devices he used on his computer.

Both of these computer hackers could conceivable get into any computer system's account and read any unencrypted documents in those systems. While they are only two of the most renowned individuals, there are hundreds, if not thousands of others with similar capabilities.

Value of Work to My Project: The focus of the book is not encryption, either for computers or for telecommunications. However, it will be an important part of demonstr ating the need for solid security and whether or not the government can provide this security. Although it is not a current source (it is possible to consider three years "obsolete" with this topic), this book reveals important aspects of the history of electronic crime. Understanding this history is important in order to adequately design an appropriate public policy for today's systems.

Relation to other materials: This will be one of the few sources to extensively demonstrate examples of security breaches. Most of the other sources will debate the aspects of what is currently being done to prevent such fraud, but this source will lead toward establishing a need for new technology, be it the Clipper Chip of the Government or independent encryption devices. Other experts will debate the legitimacy of current public policy, but these authors document what has led up to the current situation.