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  • Ghost in the Wires

  • My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker
  • By: Kevin Mitnick, William L. Simon
  • Narrated by: Ray Porter
  • Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,977 ratings)
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Ghost in the Wires cover art

Ghost in the Wires

By: Kevin Mitnick,William L. Simon
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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Summary

Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world’s biggest companies—and however fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. He spent years skipping through cyberspace, always three steps ahead and labeled unstoppable. But for Kevin, hacking wasn’t just about technological feats—it was an old fashioned confidence game that required guile and deception to trick the unwitting out of valuable information.

Driven by a powerful urge to accomplish the impossible, Mitnick bypassed security systems and blazed into major organizations including Motorola, Sun Microsystems, and Pacific Bell. But as the FBI’s net began to tighten, Kevin went on the run, engaging in an increasingly sophisticated cat-and-mouse game that led through false identities, a host of cities, plenty of close shaves, and to an ultimate showdown with the feds, who would stop at nothing to bring him down.

Ghost in the Wires is a thrilling true story of intrigue, suspense, and unbelievable escape and a portrait of a visionary whose creativity, skills, and persistence forced the authorities to rethink the way they pursued him, inspiring ripples that brought permanent changes in the way people and companies protect their most sensitive information.

©2011 Kevin Mitnick. Foreword 2011 by Steve Wozniak (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Intriguing, insightful, and extremely educational into the mind of one who truly mastered the art of social engineering with the use of a computer and modern-day technologies. I strongly believe that one can learn a great deal about protecting themselves once they understand how another one perpetrates the crime.” (Frank W. Abagnale, author of Catch Me If You Can)

What listeners say about Ghost in the Wires

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

An OK book but you'll be glad when its finished

Would you try another book written by Kevin Mitnick and William L. Simon or narrated by Ray Porter?

No is the simple answer. If this is an indication of what Kevin Mitnick writes, and indeed thinks about himself then I will spend my money elsewhere.

Has Ghost in the Wires put you off other books in this genre?

No, but it has put me off reading anymore Kevin Mitnick books.

How could the performance have been better?

I guess Ray Porter narrated the book as he had been instructed but it became tiresome to listen to the arrogant "in your face" style of narration for hour after hour.

Any additional comments?

The biggest issue I have with this book is that it allows the author, Kevin Mitnick, to portray himself as some kind of "legend" and hacker extraordinaire whereas in fact the book actually shows he was just a petty conman - no different to the con men who ring up people everyday in an attempt to get control of your computer or to get your bank details.
In the book he happily describes how he would ring up workers, lie to them to get access to a particular system or to get information. He called it "social engineering". It isn't, he "conned" them into giving them information that, when the truth came out, could get them into serious trouble or even sacked. Mr Mitnick showed no contrition for doing this.
He happily described how he worked out how to assign his mobile phone to someone elses bill, so they would have to pick up the bill for all his calls - again, no contrition for this behavior, no thought of the many many thousands of $$$ he cost them.
He put his mother, grandmother and other family members through years and years of hell and again, no mention in the book of his regret about this.
I would have thought much more of the book and author had he apologized to these people for the actions described in this book. He makes great store of never using his "skills" to profit but the book clearly shows he did a lot of damage to ordinary people and cost them a lot of money.
If you are to read this book, don't think for one moment that it is about hacking. It isn't.
It is a self gratifying story of a man who happily carried identity theft (including that of dead children), who happily conned and compromised good decent people trying to do their jobs, who happily stole mobile air time (paid for by other users who's numbers he stole) and who happily put his family through hell.
Oh and spoiler alert - the last chapter details how having done all this, his life worked out really well.......
In summary. I felt a bit conned too. The title of the book does not reflect what you will listen to. You have been warned.

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42 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Text and Excellent Reader

This book was fascinating in that it showed that at least 50% of the "hacking" prowesses of Kevin Mitnick were what he calls "social engineering" and what most of us would call using psychology to trick people. No major technical prowess; just understanding how people think. Very enlightening for anyone concerned about IT security.

In addition the reader of this book is excellent. One feels that it is Kevin Mitnick who is telling us his story directly. The only other time I kept on feeling that it was the author telling me his story rather than someone reading a book was for the Churchill WW2 Memoirs.

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • MR
  • 15-06-12

Gripping

I wasn't sure i would like this, But after the first hour i was hooked. I actually listened to it in about 2-3 days as i could not STOP listening, its such an interesting story and very exciting, I could also tell there is an effort to explain it to people who are not tech smart, which is nice (not that i needed it). Its actually one of the best books i've had the pleasure of listening to.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Next time you credit card company phones...

Listen to it. Learn about social engineering. Understand why you should be sceptical with phone calls claiming to be from your bank, your credit card company and/or your mobile phone company. All they want is your date of birth, the first line of your address and your post code. Hello Kevin! This book is cool.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Close but no cigar

Would you listen to Ghost in the Wires again? Why?

Sadly no, even though this book was well written and amazingly actually based on real life events that kept me listening to just one more chapter finished leaving me with no real closure.
Obviously very clever Kevin Mitnicks crimes eventually come to grow a pointless and as a reader I ended up hoping for him to get caught just for some variety. A very clever man with one hell of a story to tell but I personally only want to hear it once.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ghost in the Wires?

Without giving too much away the most memorable moment in Ghost in the wire, was the fugitive tacking the FBI, the way he went around it was genius.

Which character – as performed by Ray Porter – was your favourite?

Kevin Mitnick, this is the only choice really as it is only Mitnicks side of the story that is retold.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Firstly sheer disbelief, with what he had the guts to do. As most of the crimes are repetitive a ended the book in frustration.

Any additional comments?

Kevin Mitnick gets information from people by basically lying to them. It is called social engineering in the book, social engineering to get information out of people to use to your own advantage. I just wonder if you replaced every reference of social engineering with the word lying if Kevin Mitnick would come across as such a likable person? A good listen but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone without a technical background.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Staggering

The life of Kevi Mitnik unfolds like a Jason Bourne story but without people getting killed. Whether or not you approve of hacking you cannot help holding this man in awe in terms of his high intelligence and his incredible audacity. Also, the narration by Ray Porter is superb. Highly recommended.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Interesting story

But all I got from it was how selfish this man is . The detrimental effect he had on his family . Impossible to like him

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Not just for Geeks and Nerds!

Ghost in the wires is a fast paced story of how Kevin Mintnick evades and escapes the police and FBI after being a caught numerous time hacking into various different organisations computer networks.



I really enjoyed listening to this book. You genuinely feel an attached towards Kevin, and you don't want him to et caught. He is honest with the reader and doesn't embellish being on the run, he tells it how it was, make helps you appreciate the loneliness and isolation that he felt.



Ghost in the wires is not a book that I would normally choose to read, but I enjoyed every page. For this reason I gave it 5 stars.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

unremorseful criminal...

Any additional comments?

I started off enjoying this story, - Kevin's cleverness and undoubted skills make for interesting reading. However he has made a fortune out of lying to people and taking great delight in tricking other people- who trust him. He really enjoys making people look stupid. it is very telling that some of his closest friends also betray him...He never sees this as a personal character flaw - in fact every time his behaviour is challenged he reverts to 'poor old me'. The two most salient factors that absolutely turned me OFF were when he stole the identities of dead babies, without a thought to how this would impact any families involved in those tragic events. Secondly, several time he mentions the tole his life choices have taken on his Mother & Grandmother- he calls on them every time he gets into trouble, but he never thinks to alter his behaviour, change his choices, in fact every time he gets a steady job, he 'just can't help' & 'just to see if I can' and ends up getting fired again. I couldn't wait to see him locked up, but he seems to fall on his feet right to the end. This book made my blood boil, I ended up intensely disliking the author.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A treat to read and better then a James Bond novel

I read Kevin Mitnick's first book about hacking and I was hooked. its a great read, as is this book and it tells you so much about social engineering and how hackers do it. I naively though that they sat at the computer guessing passwords. If you think that then read this book. Its far easier to hack and break into a company's server then you could realise and though I assume that if this guy wasn't guilty he would not have been sent to jail, he tells a really goos storey about manipulating people to get people to give you access to company secrets.

This is a tale about breaking in, and having to be on the run. There was a film of his encounters which was a flop but to be rank you need to read this to get to the real adventure. Its all here, secrets, FBI, mistrust, betrayal and finding new identities. Great.

Loved it and hope there are other similar books out there for me to delve into.

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8 people found this helpful