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Hacking a Terror Network: The Silent Threat of Covert Channels 1st Edition

by Russ Rogers (Author), Matthew G Devost (Author)

3.6 14 ratings

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Written by a certified Arabic linguist from the Defense Language Institute with extensive background in decoding encrypted communications, this cyber-thriller uses a fictional narrative to provide a fascinating and realistic "insider's look" into technically sophisticated covert terrorist communications over the Internet. The accompanying CD-ROM allows readers to "hack along" with the story line, by viewing the same Web sites described in the book containing encrypted, covert communications.

Hacking a Terror NETWORK addresses the technical possibilities of Covert Channels in combination with a very real concern: Terrorism. The fictional story follows the planning of a terrorist plot against the United States where the terrorists use various means of Covert Channels to communicate and hide their trail. Loyal US agents must locate and decode these terrorist plots before innocent American citizens are harmed. The technology covered in the book is both real and thought provoking. Readers can realize the threat posed by these technologies by using the information included in the CD-ROM. The fictional websites, transfer logs, and other technical information are given exactly as they would be found in the real world, leaving the reader to test their own ability to decode the terrorist plot.

Cyber-Thriller focusing on increasing threat of terrorism throughout the world.
Provides a fascinating look at covert forms of communications used by terrorists over the Internet.
Accompanying CD-ROM allows users to "hack along" with the fictional narrative within the book to decrypyt.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Russ Rogers (CISSP, CISM, IAM, IEM, Hon. Sc.D.), author of the popular "Hacking a Terror Network: The Silent Threat of Covert Channels" (Syngress, ISBN: 978-1-928994-98-5), co-author of multiple books, including the best-selling "Stealing the Network: How to Own a Continent" (Syngress, ISBN: 978-1-931836-05-0) and "Network Security Evaluation Using the NSA IEM" (Syngress, ISBN: 978-1-59749-035-1), and former editor-in-chief of The Security Journal, is currently a penetration tester for a federal agency and the co-founder and chief executive officer of Peak Security, Inc., a veteran-owned small business based in Colorado Springs, CO. Russ has been involved in information technology since 1980 and has spent the past 20 years working as both an IT and InfoSec consultant. Russ has worked with the U.S. Air Force (USAF), National Security Agency (NSA), Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), and other federal agencies. He is a globally renowned security expert, speaker, and author who has presented at conferences around the world in Amsterdam, Tokyo, Singapore, São Paulo, Abu Dhabi, and cities all over the United States. Russ has an honorary doctorate of science in information technology from the University of Advancing Technology, a master's degree in computer systems management from the University of Maryland, a bachelor of science degree in computer information systems from the University of Maryland, and an associate's degree in applied communications technology from the Community College of the Air Force. He is a member of ISSA and (ISC)2® (CISSP). Russ also teaches at and fills the role of professor of network security for the University of Advancing Technology (www.uat.edu).

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Syngress; 1st edition (February 10, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1928994989
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1928994985
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.46 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.06 x 0.96 x 9.34 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #7,692,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,188 in Computer Hacking
- #5,218 in Computer Network Security
- #8,038 in Computer & Technology Certification Guides

Customer Reviews:
3.6 14 ratings

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Russ Rogers
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Russ Rogers was born in Oklahoma and attended the University of Oklahoma before joining the US Air Force, and graduating with a Bachelor's and Master's Degree from the University of Maryland. Russ has been involved with computers, programming, and hacking since the early 1980's; originally cutting his teeth on a Timex Sinclair 1000. Having been involved with the DEF CON hacker conference for 20 years, Russ retired as the Chief of Operations for the event. He was also a Professor of Network Security for the University of Advancing Technology, where he acted as the Program Champion/chair, attempting to ensure the degree program maintains some adherence to the requirements of industry, while still trying to stoke the inner hacker in his students. Russ has an A.S. in Communications Technology and a 2nd B.S. in Game Programming related to his own research into visualizing big data in security. He was also granted an Honorary Doctorate in Security for his contributions to the field. Russ is currently the Vice President of the BSides Las Vegas hacker conference and works in security at Xbox.
Russ was originally using dial-up modems to connect to mainframes at universities around the country, in order to access the Internet. At the time, it was still quite small, with text only web pages, and about 3,000 from around the world on IRC. His early interests center around this early internet, BBS', and BASIC programming.
I've had the good fortune to meet many of my heroes, including Steve Wozniak, Don Knuth, Alan Alcorn, and many of the original Bell Labs folks. Over the years, I've tried to shape my own life in the industry in much the same way, paying back to the community that helped me become who I am today, by continuing to contribute to DEF CON, and teaching the next generation about what it means to me, to be a hacker.
I've spoken and trained on security/hacking topics around the world, including Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Amsterdam, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. Including my work as a technical editor, I'm credited in 20 books; and I've appeared on CNN, magazines, and radio shows, as a subject matter expert.
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Matthew G. Devost
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Matthew G. Devost is a technologist, entrepreneur, and international security expert specializing in counterterrorism, critical infrastructure protection, intelligence, risk management and cyber-security issues (cyberterrorism, information warfare, and network security).
I am best known for having founded the Terrorism Research Center in 1996 where I served as President and CEO until November 2008. I've also been an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University since 2002, a Senior Advisor to the U.S. Department of Defense, and am currently President & CEO of FusionX LLC.
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Wilbur Wright
Hacking 101
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2015
Verified Purchase

Good foundational source of how hacking works. From here you can understand the basics and caveats of the ever changing struggle to control data and communications. No matter what kind of security you have it can be penetrated. Unless you are Hilary Clinton of course. Nothing is safe and you must be constantly vigilant to protect and prevent being hacked. This will become more clear in the book.

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DEV
Accomplishes its objective
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2005
Verified Purchase
By way of full disclosure, I was the techincal editor on this book. I think Russ and I would be the first to admit it is far from perfect, but it does achieve its desired objective which is to educate readers on how terrorists might communicate using covert channels in a way that is generally accessible via a fictional narative.

I would take issue with W Boudville's claim of pretentiousness. He is missing the point on the emergence reference, as it is not intended to describe the cell's tactics (which were traditional), but rather the way they came together and engaged in action in support of a movement with no solid formal ties to the movement itself (in this instance, al Qaeda). No attempt at trendiness is intended, but I'll solidly stand by the reference.

If you are looking for a perfectly rounded novel with sophisticated character development and irrefutable plot components, you're likely to be unsatisfied with this book. If you want to learn about the technical topic at hand and be entertained at the same time, this book serves as an interesting and viable tool to do so.

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2 people found this helpful

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Gary VanHaaften
It read like a teenage novel
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2015
Verified Purchase
It read like a teenage novel. But it did go into explaining the hidden channels, which most likely saved the book.

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NZ_Gav (Gavin Donovan)
Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2015
Good working examples in the book.

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naveed
Terrible story, no plot, poorly researched
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2007
How to write a book and make money: Find the hot topic of the day - today's is terrorism, put in your own pet theory or idea about the topic - the author's is how terrorists can use steganography to communicate and finally write a lot of fluff to combine the two. The author has written a poor story, thrown in liberal screenshots and lengthy explanation of how they work.

The author knows enough about steganography but know little about the terrorists and their culture. Of course, today any fool can sell a book about "terrorism" and most do.

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Christopher Byrne
On The Internet They Won't Know You Are a Dog
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2005
There are some important topics in cyber-security that are very important, but may not require an entire book to cover in detail. When it comes to online communication using "covert channels" and "stegenography", Syngress does what is excels at: they cover the topic in the context of a fictionalized narrative to give it a "real world" context. While not as excellent as some of their other efforts in this genre, Syngress still does a good, but not perfect, job with Hacking a Terror Network: The Silent Threat of Covert Channels (364 pages , SYNGRESS, 2005, ISBN 1-928994-98-9).

The context of this book is a revenge-motivated terrorist attack, borne out of the first Gulf War, against targets on the United States. Some might question how realistic the scenario is or is not, but the book weaves a story which may ring all too true today. The threat of terrorism is real, and it could/would be too easy for people with evil purposes to use covert channels to plan and coordinate an attack.

Without giving away a surprising plot twist, it is hard to envision how the scenario lain out in this book could be realistic, but then again no one on the streets envisioned 9-11 or the recent bombings in London either. What Rogers does in this book is effectively explain the different types of covert channels that can be used, tools that are readily available to use the channels, and tools that are available to detect their use. He also demonstrates that how, without a stroke of luck, it may be virtually impossible to detect the use of these channels.

The book is not written as tautly as it could be and at times you might want to say "Just get to the point!". And there are some items in the book, such as the presence of an Internet Cafe in Iraq in 1991, that require as they say in Hollywood, the "willful suspension of disbelief". Put these things aside and you will learn some new things and technologies you may not have known about before.

The bottom line is that without luck, nobody on the Internet will know you are a dog.

The Scorecard

Par on an Average Par 4

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3 people found this helpful

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steppingonlegos
Educational and Entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2005
I enjoyed this book and I think that many who would like to learn more about information security, or covert communications specifically, will benefit from this book. Steganography, encryption, and other areas of information security can be exceptionally dry subjects that many people may find hard to drudge through. Putting it into a cyber-thriller novel format helps convey it while providing some entertainment value at the same time.

That said, Russ Rogers is no Dan Brown or Stephen King. If you are expecting the storyline to be as gripping as The Da Vinci Code or Digital Fortress, you will most likely be disappointed.

Rogers also sacrifices some on the educational side in order to wrap the information into the storyline and keep it entertaining. So, if you are expecting Hacking Exposed or Hiding In Plain Sight, you will also be a tad disappointed.

But, the book serves it purpose and works well for the audience it was intended for. Movie critics will often slam movies for nit-picky technical reasons that nobody really cares about. In the end, if the movie entertains you for 90 or 120 minutes, it was probably worth the price of the ticket. This book will teach you and entertain you and is worth the price to read it.

[...]

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2 people found this helpful

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Jan Lukas
Pathetic nonsense
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2006
I am quite familiar with steganography. This book is just a nonsense.

Maybe, the fictional story could be worth of it, but how pathetic. She plans it all in detail. Then suddenly, she turns herself in to authorities, but does not get an idea to keep in contact with co-conspirators to help stop them.

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