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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 (2,001 ratings)

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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.
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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

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great Read

I did enjoy this book as a casual driving along sort of thing, mostly listening in my car, I wasn't gripped but that being said was a great story of cat and mouse ! It's well worth a listen if you are interested in the IT sector

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Colossally nerdy and comic. Fascinatingly tragic.

Loved it, couldn't stop listening. I set the speed to 1.25x to absorb it as fast as possible!
Being a software engineer with telco background it was straightforward for me to understand what Kevin was talking about, so I cannot attest to how understandable the material would be for a general audience. I think it should still be digestible.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Geek Fest

What an awesome story. Great technical detail of a world from my childhood. Great geek insight and fun along they way. A must for anyone into learning about social engineering and hacking in the 80s and 90s.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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amazing

what a great life this guy has had minus the UPS and downs and close calls but dam he's so clever at what he does great book and great listen

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great story and excellent narration

Great story and excellent narration. Thoroughly enjoyable and sad it came to an end. Key take away is the importance of social engineering!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible story

A little slow at the beginning but gets very good. Super interesting, especially for anyone who is interested in tech.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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amazing

a must for any security specialist working in IT or for the Police. Free Kevin

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Awesome

Very well written and read. An educating and interesting experience that had me gripped from the get go

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Awesome

A real unexpected find. Well written and a fascinating read that had me hooked from the start, my techie side embraced the story from start to finish and left me wanting more.

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Fascinating

Where does Ghost in the Wires rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best true-story / biography type books I have listened to. It's was eye opening to hear of the exploits that were - and still are - possible and made me realize just how vulnerable organizations and individuals are to some of the simplest techniques.

What did you like best about this story?

Learning about the power, and risk, of social engineering. Kevin's own story is slightly delusional because he does not appreciate the pain and financial loss incurred by corporations and individuals alike - he must have made a very, very big impact and he's kidding himself if he does not recognise that. But of all the people to exploit their skills it is true he was not as sinister as many others must have been.

What about Ray Porter’s performance did you like?

Ray Porter handled the narration well and was enjoyable. Some sections were clearly computer print out type paragraphs or tables and the narrator handled them well - some I wish were summarized without reading every character but then those situations were few and far between - no problem.

He attempted various accents to add colour to the book which were generally successful - the english accent was especially amusing! Good stuff.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The curious geek, his gran, and federal law enforcement at its best and worst.

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