LulzSec by Kyle Schurman

LulzSec: How a Handful of Hackers Brought The US Government To Its Knees: 50 Days of Lulz, Kyle Schurman. San Francisco: Hyperink, 2012. e-book, 47 pps.

     First of all, I do not know why Michael Esseny's name appears on the cover. Did he draw the LulzSec cartoon? I don't know. Tis a great mystery.

     Hyperink is a unique sort of company that provides mini-works. LulzSec the e-book coming in at 47 pages can certainly be labeled as such. The real meat of the matter are the urls connected to various articles which have been written about LulzSec.

     I was there [in the digital sense] during the first fifty days of LulzSec in the sidelines so to speak. I was an insignificant dot in the audience cheering LulzSec on. 

sapphoq reviews says: This particular book which is more of a mini-work left out the story of the snitch who managed to avoid prison time and now fashions himself on fakebook as some sort of artista. The story of the snitch was a critical piece and LulzSec [the book] should be "updated" by Kyle Schurman and the Hyperink folks before I can recommend it. Actually, I don't recommend this e-book, even if it was to be updated. Boring and dumbed down to the point of utter boredom. The real LulzSec hackers-- minus the snitch who shall not be named in this particular review-- are worthy of awe. They certainly were not then and are not now boring. 
     I recommend following members of Anonymous on Twitter if that is your fancy, or following the nimjeh [identified usually as "my ______ ninja" with various words inserted in the blank] if you don't care for Anonymous. I don't recommend the book. The book LulzSec is kind of like what prison kitchens do to good food. Pass on it. Get involved in changing the system instead.
     P.S.: To be clear, I love my Anonymous family and I utterly adore the nimjeh on Twitter. The Anonymous accounts are varied and usually provide information about hacktivism and social revolution happenings world-wide. The nimjeh are all [except for the one snitch account] very wise and quite frankly are the only accounts on Twitter that consistently tweet like they actually are having fun.

Operation Desolation by Mark Russinovich

Operation Desolation, Mark Russinovich. New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2010 and 2012. e-book, 29 pps. plus a lengthy preview of a novel.


     Jeff Aiken is a security geek with way too much work and not enough fun. He is attending CyberCon in San Diego but things are not well. He is juggling work for one his clients along with attendance at the con.

     Jeff Aiken does not care for the hacktivist meme Anonymous at all. This is made abundantly clear in the story. There is talk of an op named OpDesolation and some dude in a Guy Fawkes mask beats on Jeff in an alleyway.

sapphoq reviews says: Mark Russinovich is a Micro$oftie staffer, a fact which shows very much in his writing. And as expected, his short story is rather harsh on Anonymous. The book reads like propaganda. In addition, the dialogue is poor or utterly absent. I hated the book. Skip it. Not recommended at all.

Zero Day by Robert O' Harrow Jr.

Zero Day: The Threat in Cyberspace, Robert O'Harrow, Jr.  New York: Diversion Books, 2013.  [Washington Post e-book, 69 pps.].


Robert O' Harrow is an investigative journalist for The Washington Post who has written extensively about the erosion of privacy and has won various awards and honors.  In a Washington Post e-book, it is easy to understand why.  His writing is sharp and crisp.  He knows his material.  He cites numerous references to back up his thesis.

The "Zero Day" in the title refers to zero day exploits, a term that should be familiar to hackers.  But Zero Day also takes on the recent Stuxnet and Flame worms and other examples of malicious code.  Besides the stuff of 'cyberwars,' Zero Day introduces some personalities.  Some are folks who have regular sorts of jobs involving tech by day but hack at night.  Others have to do with the targets.

There are bits of history in Zero Day written from the perspective of an investigative journalist who is explaining things to a non-techie non-nerd audience.  This history is shaped a bit differently than the stuff that I myself witnessed in the days of ARPA-net and B.B.S. because of the intended audience.  Although I miss the feel of hacker culture, the history that was related was good enough for as far as it went.

sapphoq reviews says:  Unfortunately, to the uninitiated, Zero Day may come off as somewhat blaming the hackers.  While I do not know if this is intentional, I must state that if it were not for the hackers there would be no Internet today as we know it.  And of course Big Hollywood and various government officials threaten the Internet today as we know it.  

I've often thought that the 'first mistake' of companies was to not appreciate the hackers.  It used to be that a hacker could contact a company about the exploit that was found during exploration.  The hacker would be thanked and the hole would be patched.  [N.B.: The phone company did not extend the same appreciation to phreaks.  Phreaks who were found out were arrested.  Ma Bell was known to offer college scholarships to the best of the phreaks in return for a commitment to work for x amount of years for the monopoly.  I don't know that any of the phreaks ever said "yes"].  I remember those days with a certain fondness.  Nowadays there is panic at the thought that someone would "intrude" upon the insecure network of any given company.  The hacker, who must hack in much the same way that a writer must write, is carted off to prison or made to pay in other ways.  

There is barely a greater thrill than finding something that needs fixing.  When I recently found such a hole in my own system and was able to correct it, I was elated.  The thing is, hackers who are adept at pen testing do it for the same high that I experienced at the moment of my discovery and again at the moment that I patched it.  There are some paid pen testers out there who I am quite sure are happy at their profession and experience a love of the machine--  because I've met them.  And I am also sure that there are others who make a big deal out of what color hats they wear.  They don't want to be brave and be mistaken for one of us.

Zero Day is worth a read for the proper audience-- intelligent people who are not hackers by nature.  Those who willingly and joyfully endure a lack of privacy in the name of security would do well to stick with other sources for their information.  And any hackers probably won't need to read the material.   


some Robert O'Harrow articles dealing with privacy can be found here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/business/specials/privacy/robertoharrow/