The Cuckoo’s Egg
Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage
by Clifford Stoll · first published 1989
75% recommend25% neutral0% critical
Why HN recommends it
Gripping true-story account of an astrophysics grad student tracking a hacker-spy through early networked computers. Suits readers wanting hacker culture, Cold War-era computing history, and a thriller-style read.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In the days when the presence of a computer did NOT presume the presence of a network (they used to be freestanding units that could not easily communicate with another system), accounts to use the computer were expensive to maintain and heavily scrutinized by management. When the Accounting staff of Stoll's university employer discovered 75 cents' worth of time used with which no user was associated, they called him and demanded that he locate the "phantom" user. Stoll wasn't even a computing pro - he was an astronomer that used the computer to run programs that pointed telescopes properly.
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2008–2025Cyberpunk
Katie Hafner, John Markoff
Recommended by 6 · mentioned by 106 recommend · 10 mention6 recommend · 106 recommend
2008–2026Silicon snake oil
Clifford Stoll
Recommended by 13 · mentioned by 4013 recommend · 40 mention13 recommend · 4013 recommend
2007–2026Hackers
Steven Levy
Recommended by 130 · mentioned by 188130 recommend · 188 mention130 recommend · 188130 recommend
2007–2026The Soul of a New Machine
Tracy Kidder
Recommended by 260 · mentioned by 376260 recommend · 376 mention260 recommend · 376260 recommend
2011–2026Ghost in the wires
Kevin D. Mitnick
Recommended by 63 · mentioned by 8663 recommend · 86 mention63 recommend · 8663 recommend
Showstopper
G. Pascal Zachary
Recommended by 17 · mentioned by 2217 recommend · 22 mention17 recommend · 2217 recommend
2015–2021The fugitive game
Jonathan Littman
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 97 recommend · 9 mention7 recommend · 97 recommend
2008–2026Fire in the valley
Paul Freiberger, Michael Swaine
Recommended by 39 · mentioned by 5239 recommend · 52 mention39 recommend · 5239 recommend
The Cuckoo's Egg, by Cliff Stoll.
on “Ask HN: Recommendations of good cybercrime novels?” ↗Sometime in high school (middle maybe?), I had to pick a non-fiction book to read for school, and picked Cuckoo's Egg by Stoll. I was already in to computers, but had no idea what was possible or where that interest in computers would or could go, and this booked changed my view for the better. I distinctly remember…
on “Cliff Stoll, the mad scientist who invented the art of hunting hackers” ↗I don't have any friends who haven't read it who would appreciate it, but Clifford Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg is both a highly entertaining thriller, a fascinating look at how computer security was, and is, viewed, and a highly personal story about a man trying to figure it all out. It's very funny, entirely…
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗Is he really the same Cliff Stoll who wrote The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking A Spy Through The Maze Of Computer Espionage? It is one of my all time favorite books. I really recommend it if you haven't read it already. I didn't know Cliff Stoll also made other awesome…
on “Acme Klein Bottle” ↗…kind of thing: Robert Morris, who wrote the work, was one of the founders of YCombinator, and by extensions Hacker News. One of the classic books on the history of computers is Clifford Stoll's "The Cuckoo's Egg". It's a great book in general, and it mentions Robert Morris and Paul Graham, which I was surprised to find when I read it (it's not about the worm, but about a hacking incident). And lastly, Clifford…
on “The Internet Worm of 1988” ↗…says to Smiley "There is no reason to think that they tapped the phone" to which Smiley replies "There is Every reason". A must read, I tell my students in my Security Awareness training classes is The Cuckoo's Egg http://www.amazon.com/The-Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Espionage/dp/.... Examples like default service accounts on Dec Vax with username Field and password Service. Note when this is written and are our habits…
on “Recommended Security Reading” ↗…Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism / Fred Turner. Also an interesting read, but much less accessible than Markoff’s book. # The Cuckoo’s Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage / Clifford Stoll. Very good book, reads like a detective novel in a Berkeley setting. PS. More psychedelic shirt goodness this way: https://www.google.com/search?q=larry+wall&tbm=isch
on “Interview: Larry Wall” ↗In case you haven't read them yet. I very highly recommend those two books: — The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier, by Bruce Sterling. — The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking A Spy Through The Maze Of Computer Espionage, by Cliff Stoll. Both are excellent reads, and if you like old Usenet and BBS stories, you'll be served. EDIT: By the way, the first one is freely…
on “Olduse.net: a 30-year delayed Usenet feed (2013)” ↗To understand the hacker culture, you must understand its background and history. Here are some good books: "The Jargon File", Eric S. Raymond (ed.) http://www.catb.org/jargon/ "The Cuckoo's Egg", Cliff Stoll "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution", Steven Levy "Where Wizards Stay up Late", Katie Hafner
on “Ask HN: What are the books to learn the hacker culture?” ↗A little context on the author is in order. His name is Clifford Stoll and he was a physicist and early Internet user. He wrote the book "The Cuckoo's Egg" which should be required reading for all sys-admins. In the mid-90s, he saw the Internet as something akin to Fahrenheit 451 and began preaching how it would tear us apart as a society. To that end,…
on “Why the Web Won't Be Nirvana (1995)” ↗It's funny, I've read "The Cuckoo's Egg," Clifford Stoll's book, probably twenty times now. I had no idea there was a documentary about it (The KGB, The Computer, and Me - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308449/) until just now so thanks.
on “Get an Acme Klein Bottle” ↗The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage Does anyone have other hacking related books with story telling like in this book?
on “Ask HN: Read any good books lately?” ↗…anyone who wants to get a feel for the era read it. It's quite enjoyable, as well. The Internet, today, feels very metropolitan in some ways, but then this was something of a wild frontier. Reading The Cuckoo's Egg gave me a frisson of recognition, as I was similarly torn between the abstract world of physics and the (comparatively) more concrete world of computing, as well as running into people mucking about where…
on “Cliff Stoll, the mad scientist who invented the art of hunting hackers” ↗One thing I learned from Cliff Stoll's the cuckoo's egg is that the internet was far from the only computer network. Every country was building one or more networks. There was some kind of cambrian explosion of network technologys going on. What the internet…
on “There were almost two internets. Then, the CIA destroyed one” ↗The Cuckoo’s Egg by Clifford Stoll. In my humble opinion, it should be a foundational text to read for all technology students.
on “Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?” ↗