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Title: CYBERPUNK: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, Revised

Author: Katie Hafner, John Markoff

Narrator: CB Droege

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-13-15

Publisher: Katie Hafner

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 68 votes

Genres: Science & Technology, Technology

Publisher's Summary:

Using the exploits of three international hackers, Cyberpunk provides a fascinating tour of a bizarre subculture populated by outlaws who penetrate even the most sensitive computer networks and wreak havoc on the information they find - everything from bank accounts to military secrets. In a book filled with as much adventure as any Ludlum novel, the author shows what motivates these young hackers to access systems, how they learn to break in, and how little can be done to stop them.

Members Reviews:

Worth a credit, but it's 3 hours too long =\

I thought this book was a modern take on computer hacking I was expecting to hear stories like the Myspace sammy is my hero bug, or Wikileaks, the story of Kim Dot Com, or more modern counter culture computer hacking rebels.

I figured the neon art deco cover and tacky music in the audiobook were just stylistic choices.

However, I quickly found out that this was a story of hackers from the 1980s. Its actually a pretty interesting snapshot of a bygone era of hacking, computers and society in general. Its worth a listen in 2016+ if only to see how the system worked back in the 80s and 90s.

I would not recommend this for a general audience, you have to be interested in early technology. The book drags on in places, and its very journalistic in that it covers an absurd amount of information. I feel like it could have been shaved down by half (200 pages) and I would have gotten the same information out of it.

I would never have gotten through this if I was reading it listening, I was able to put the speed on 1.25X and hack away at it on drives and walks for about a month.

The first part is focused on a group of US phone hackers called phreaks who seemed to have more power than hackers today have. They could use the phone system to not just make free long distance calls or free calls from phone boots, but change credit reports, wire money, make fake identities, issue police warrants, etc. This first section had lots of intrigue and betrayal. This section focused on Kevin Mitnick

The second section was all about some young European computer hackers who started stealing software from university and government computers and selling it to the KGB. It went into detail about the friendship and betrayal between the 3-4 main kids in that hacker group, following one of them specifically Pengo through to his trial.

The third part was all about the brilliant son of a prestigious NSA computer engineer who wrote the first virus in the late 1980s that crippled the internet. An entertaining tale of his upbringing, his time in university and the events that unfolded as he inadvertently took down the internet, including his trial.

At the end theres an updated epilogue that takes place 5 years after the book was written (1995) and updates us on the 3 subjects of the book. Id love to hear where they all are now, 20 years later.

Overall its an interesting cultural and historical look at the snapshot of where we were in the 1980s and 1990s, for that Id say its worth a listen but its definitely too long for my liking.

same old stories

This book wasnt for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

this book is for the old school hackers. but old the old school hacker already know this old stories.

Any additional comments?

i'm tired of reading about hackers from the 80's is so lame already .