Steal This Computer Book: What They Won't Tell you About the Internet
Wallace Wang, Wally Wang · 1998
From the Publisher: The words viruses and hackers cause fear and paranoia among computer users, particularly beginners. False threats and warnings multiply overnight. In Steal This Computer Book: What They Won't Tell You About The Internet, author Wallace Wang describes the problems facing users and what they can do to protect themselves. He provides security policies for individuals. Wang also illustrates some of the undocumented ways to find information, details con games, spam problems, and more. He divided the book into four sections: Thinking Freely, Breaking Free, Fighting Back, and the Appendices. Part 1: Thinking Freely contains Alternate Sources of News and Information, Terrorist and Espionage Organizations, and Pledging Allegiance: Hatred As Patriotism. In Breaking Free, he addresses Buying Computers and Software On A Shoestring, Hiding Yourself With Encryption And Anonymity, Phone Phreaking, and Don't Keep Me Out. Fighting Back, the third and largest section, explores Stalking And Harassing An Online Service, Waging War On Spam, Getting Your Message Out: Hacking A Web Site, Information Paranoia, Con Games On The Internet, Viruses I: History And Symptoms, Viruses II: Prevention And Care, Writing A Computer Virus, and Hostile Java Applets. The Appendices include: (A) Glossary, (B) Visual Basic 3.0 Source Code for MEGA$HACK, and (C) Additional Resources. This is an important addition to the existing security books. Wang provides users with ways to protect their computers and their accounts. He also details some of the rationale that may motivate a hacker and also how to correctly and accurately detect a virus. For every problem described, Wang furnishes a way to circumvent or prevent it. Steal This Computer Book is a well-written book that should result in tighter user security and heightened awareness to potential difficulties.