Stealing the Network : How to Own a Continent

by Russell; Grand; Craig

• ISBN13: 9781931836050
• ISBN10: 1931836051
• Format: Board Book
• Copyright: 6/9/2004
• Publisher: Elsevier Science

Summary

This is a book that will create enormous debate within the technical and the counter-terrorism communities. While there will be the inevitable criticism that the material contained in the book could be used maliciously, the fact is that this knowledge is already in the hands of our enemies. This book is truly designed to inform while entertaining (and scaring) the reader, and it will instantly be in demand by readers of "Stealing the Network: How to Own the Box" * A meticulously detailed and technically accurate work of fiction that exposes the very real possibilities of such an event occurring * An informative and scary insight into the boundries of hacking and cyber-terrorism * Written by a team of the most accomplished cyber-security specialists in the world

Table of Contents

Foreword
by Jeff Moss	xxi
Chapter 1 Control Yourself	1	(20)
by Ryan Russell as "Bob Knuth"
How much money would you need for the rest of your life? How much would you need in a lump sum so that you never had to work again, never had to worry about bills or taxes or a house payment. How much to live like a king? Your mind immediately jumps to Bill Gates or Ingvar Kamprad with billions. You think that is what you would need...
Chapter 2 The Lagos Creeper Box	21	(18)
by 131ah as "Charlos"
Nigeria was a dump. Charlos now understood why nobody wanted to work there. It's Africa like you see it on CNN. And yet this was the country that had the largest oil reserve on the continent. Military rule for the past 30 years ensured that the money ended up mostly in some dictator's pocket and not on the streets where it belonged...
Chapter 3 Product of Fate: The Evolution of a Hacker	39	(36)
by Russ Rogers as "Saul"
Looking back on the entire event, no one could really say how everything ended up the way it did. Saul has always done well in school. And though his parents might not have been the greatest people on the planet, it's not like they didn't love him. So, what could have enticed a bright, seemingly normal kid like Saul into committing such a heinous crime? No one knows. But, then again, no one knows what really happened, do they?...
Chapter 4 A Real Gullible Genius	75	(60)
by Jay Beale as "Flir"
CIA agent Knuth had been very insistent when he recruited Flir. He needed personal student information, including social security numbers, and, as an agent for a non-domestically focused intelligence agency, didn't have the authority to get such from the US government. He did, on the other hand, have the authority to get Flir complete immunity for any computer crimes that did not kill or physically injure anyone. The letter the agent gave Flir was on genuine CIA letterhead and stated both the terms of the immunity and promised Flir significant jail time if he disclosed any details about this mission...
Chapter 5 For Whom Ma Bell Tolls	135	(36)
by Joe Grand as "The Don"
The sun had already sunk beyond the harbor as Don Crotcho woke up. He neither noticed nor cared. It had been a little more than a year since his flight from Boston after a successful theft of the United States' next-generation stealth landmine prototype, and he had been enjoying his self-prescribed seclusion in this land of fire and ice...
Chapter 6 Return on Investment	171	(38)
by Fyodor as "Sendai"
Like many professional penetration testers, Sendai was not always the wholesome "ethical hacker" described in his employer's marketing material. In his youth, he stepped well over the line between questionable (grey hat) and flat-out illegal (black hat) behavior. Yet he never felt that he was doing anything wrong...
Chapter 7 h3X and The Big Picture	209	(52)
by FX as "h3X"
h3X paints a picture. Actually, she doesn't really paint but rather just creates a plain white canvas of 256 by 512 pixels in Microsoft Paint, because you can hardly do more with that program than the equivalent of the childish drawings young parents hang on the walls of their cubicles to scare away art-interested managers. The reason h3X does create the picture is not for the artistic content but rather for the file format created when she clicks on Save as... in the menu. The white box becomes a data file with the extension .bmp, and that's what she is after...
Chapter 8 The Story of Dex	261	(52)
by Paul Craig as "Dex"
The dim lights fill the room with a dull, eerie glow, and in the midst of the paperwork-filled chaos sits one man. His eyes riveted to two computer screens simultaneously, a cold emotionless expression fills his tired caffeine-fueled face. Pizza boxes and bacterially active coffee cups litter his New York apartment...
Chapter 9 Automatic Terror Machine	313	(22)
by Tim Mullen as "Matthew"
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Matthew regarded Capri-she was absolutely beautiful. His eyes followed her movements through a haze of smoke. She danced with a natural grace and style that many of the dancers there envied, and delivered a body of such perfection and tone that all the men there wanted. And yet, by some remarkable grace of fate, she was with him, "his girl," as she would say. As he watched her on stage, he wondered what it was that she saw in him. He wasn't the world's best looking guy, and he hadn't always been the most honest person in the world, but these days he did have a solid job, and he was making some money. That was probably it, and though it kind of bothered him, he knew that was something a lot of people didn't have, particularly in the area of South Africa where he lived.. .
Chapter 10 Get Out Quick	335	(12)
by Ryan Russell as "Bob Knuth"
0-Day
Dawn, April 15th. It takes me an hour and a half to walk to the Greyhound bus station in town. I buy a ticket for Las Vegas; it's the next bus to leave that goes to one of my cities, which seems somehow appropriate. I have a 40 minute wait in the station until my bus boards. The ride to Las Vegas will take most of the day. I peruse the newsstand at the station and buy a paper and a Tom Clancy novel...
Appendix The Making of STC	347
The authors and editors of Stealing the Network: How to Own a Continent (known to the contributors as "STC") created a Yahoo! mailing list called Syngress_STC to develop the story, exchange ideas, and monitor the overall status of the project. This appendix contains excerpts from this mailing list dating back to its creation in December, 2003 up through the final efforts to complete the book in April, 2004. The threads to the list continue beyond this point, but can not be included because the appendix needs to be finalized to make the publication schedule. So, the book you now hold in your hands is the true culmination of all the threads. The Contributors list in the Front Matter to this book details the contributions of each author and technical editor on the Syngress_STC list. Additionally, you will see posts from Christine Klofiber (Acquisitions Editor), and Andrew Williams (Publisher).