This super exciting book about the “most wanted hacker in the world” was really interesting for me, from beginning to end! Most of the time, I couldn’t put it down and I would bring it with me anywhere, even at work for my little breaks. It’s around 500 pages long (was a bit heavy for my purse, but I managed to bring it with me anywhere anyway). The book reads like a fast-paced mystery thriller cop chase novel. 

Kevin Mitnick is a legend in the tech and Internet fields and there’s very few people that have never heard his name. During the 90s he was one of the most wanted people in the world, also – one of the first famous hackers in human history. Also, he was very good at social engineering, the thing that helped him the most during the era when phones and computers were connected.

Mitnick’s story of how he learned how to hack various phone systems and social engineer his way into the databases of multiple companies is a fascinating one, mostly because he was completely self-taught. Everything begins in his early teenage years when he was just a kid that wanted to do pranks, like hacking the drive-through intercom of a McDonald’s drive-through and playing pranks on friends by screwing with their telephone numbers. Later on, he started targeting phone companies and their employees, and at the end of the story – big companies like Motorola.

He repeatedly says that he wasn’t interested in committing any kind of criminal act, he just enjoyed the thrill of seeing if he could do something and how it could be done. Hacking back then was committed to show off to other hacker friends, to show how smart you are, and not to steal stuff or to cause serious harm. At least I believe so, after reading the book.

At times, the book is a page-turner as we see inside Mitnick’s world of how his life of hacking consumed him at times. We get a glimpse of the mind of a truly obsessed person. He started hacking as a teenager and never stopped. He was addicted to it. Despite being arrested and thrown in solitary confinement, the man could not stop hacking. Even when he crossed the line and his crimes delved into federal territory, he kept doing it. Despite being double-crossed by nearly all his friends, losing his wife and breaking his Mother’s and Grandmother’s hearts over and over again, he still could not stop. 

I loved the social engineering side of this book, it was almost like a manual. Mitnick was brilliant at this and really showed how you can pretty much get anything you want out of people by being friendly, confident and clued up on the specific lingo.

The story behind the FBI was interesting, as they struggled to keep up with this new white collar crime they knew nothing about. The way he was surveilling the FBI the entire time they were trying to surveil him was hilarious! And the story where he left donuts for the police in his absolutely emptied apartment because he found out about the raid much before it happened – so much fun! This is the electronic equivalent of Frank Abagnale’s story in “Catch Me If You Can” (another one I love), and every bit as outrageous and entertaining.

I couldn’t put this book down from beginning to end, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a thrilling non-fictional ride or looking to know the details of the world’s most wanted hacker’s life. Amazing!