The Hacker's Handbook is a non-fiction book from the 1980s effectively explaining how computer systems of the period were hacked. It contains candid and personal comments from the book's British author, Hugo Cornwall, a pseudonym of Peter Sommer who is now a Research Fellow in Information Systems Security at the London School of Economics and frequently appears in the UK courts as an expert on digital evidence and computer forensics as well as media pundit and author on information security topics.
One popular aspect of the book is the salacious printouts of actual hacking attempts (although confidential details, such as passwords, are blacked out).
The first edition, which is the version most easily available for download, was published in 1985 and the last of four editions (edited by Steve Gold) appeared in 1989. In 1990 the UK Parliament passed the Computer Misuse Act - publication of additional editions would likely have been considered an incitement to commit an offence under that Act.
Famous quotes containing the word hacker:
“The Hacker Ethic: Access to computers—and anything which might teach you something about the way the world works—should be unlimited and total.
Always yield to the Hands-On Imperative!
All information should be free.
Mistrust authority—promote decentralization.
Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position.
You can create art and beauty on a computer.
Computers can change your life for the better.”
—Steven Levy, U.S. writer. Hackers, ch. 2, “The Hacker Ethic,” pp. 27-33, Anchor Press, Doubleday (1984)