Summary of Clifford Stoll's CUCKOO'S EGG

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Sample Book Insights:

#1 I was transferred from the Keck Observatory at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab to the computer center in the basement of the same building. I was to fake enough computing to impress astronomers, and maybe pick it up fast enough that my co-workers wouldn’t catch on.

#2 I was given the task to find a bug in our accounting system. I found that the system recorded each time someone connected to the computer, logging the user’s name and terminal. It timestamped each connection, recording which tasks the user executed, how many seconds of processor time he used, and when he disconnected.

#3 I began to have confidence in the local accounting programs. They didn’t balance, but they weren’t dropping pennies. I’d learned the system and practiced two obsolete languages. Next day, I sent an electronic mail message to Dave, preening my feathers by pointing out the problem to him.

#4 The Unix computer's accounting system showed that Sventek had logged in at 8:25 on Saturday, done nothing for half an hour, and then disconnected. The home-brew software also recorded Sventek's activity, but it showed him using the networks from 8:31 until 9:01 A. M.