Hacker Cracker: A Journey from the Mean Streets of Brooklyn to the Frontiers of Cyberspace

Hacker Cracker is a technological thriller for all us geeks, hackers, and security students/professionals in the world. Ejovi details his rise from a dangerous neighborhood where drugs, murder, and gangs ran rampent tothe discovery of a whole new world where it didn`t matter what color you were, only how smart you were. At times I felt as though I was reading parts of my past, the beauty of the baud, discovering warez chatrooms on AOL, and doing things to explore and find more out about this world of cyberspace. Definitly a great read for anyone who has seen the underside of the computer world.

Ejovi Nuwere is from Bedford Stuyvesant a neighborhood in brooklyn he comes from somewhat of a brokenhome doesnot really know his father and has a mother who does just about anything in the world for her children but she is a drug addict and has Aids he lives with his grandmother uncle and brother and numerous others that hang out at his grandmothers apartment were something is always going on.He faces the struggles most other intercity kids face with the gangs,drugs poverty and violence but he seems to pick up on the fact that the gangs and drugs are a losing way to go.In one part of the book while he attend a school for the performing arts he ends up joining a gang just for his own protection but it seem a somewhat differant type of gang besides the violence they where teaching the members. While in school he had a few brushes with some basic IBM computer but when he hooked up with the principal and asst. principal who had apple mac he started to develop a real interest in computer and this interest was fed by the uncle who also lived with who had a computer and would let Ejovi many 10-14 hour days on. Along with another computer hacker he had met in school they begin getting into hacker chat rooms and learning and developing their skills and trying to make a name as is the thing to do in the hacker community.With his knowledge and desire to succede he ends starting to get jobs while still a teenager and as time goes on decides that full time may not be the way to go one thing for sure it does not pay the bills Alot of the computer hacking involves stolen credit cards and manufactured cards one story when Ejovi couldnot stand it and decided to buy his own computer with a stolen number and has the computer delivered to a run down building nextdoor and the FBI ends up coming was pretty funny story.This is a pretty good book about somebody having the drive and desire to succcede even living in tough and living through tough conditions and making it along the way he also takes up a form of kung fu.It was a little difficult at times understanding some of the computer stuff for a novice like me but there are definitions in the back of the book and he describes thing pretty good.

Outstanding first work from Ejovi Nuwere.The title "Hacker Cracker" suggests a story about computer crime. Indeed, the book is much more than that. It's a story of growing up in a crime ridden neighborhood. It's about the confidence gained from martial arts. It's about a boy coming of age. And - also - it's about the underground hacker culture.This really is an amazing work from such a young author, even with the help of a veteran contributor. The insights are keen, and the ability to weave lessons from San Shou boxing through computer hacking through the revelations of the horror of 9/11 reveal an outstanding intellect and wisdom beyond the author's 20 years. The book is a quick read, and appropriate for a much broader audience than just folks interested in computers. All the technical terms are clearly explained in the text and a glossary, and there is no assumption of advanced knowledge of computers.Buy the book, read it, and enjoy it!

After reading "Masters Of Deception" several times before leaving it at Logan Airport, I had a strong feeling that it was to be the best "hacking" story I would ever read. Flash to a few years later...I recieve an autographed copy of "Hacker Cracker" for Christmas. I was intrigued at first (being that much of my adolescence was spent on a computer) but also a bit skeptical.To my knowledge, Ejovi wasn't a famous hacker - in fact - I had no clue who he was. But I began reading almost immediately after unwrapping it.The first 100 pages (including the prologue which is featured on the back of the book), I was even more skeptical about the life Ejovi claimed to have lived. Fights, never knowing his father, his mother in and out of prisons and her drug use which led to her contracting HIV. But after that, my doubt began to diminish. Accurate portrayals of psych ward life, his first brush with hacking which was on AOL (a scene I knew better than anyone) seemed on point with descriptions of Phishing as well as the original "Warez" private rooms.Ejovi progresses in his knowledge of UNIX systems such as FreeBSD and Solaris, and begins to break into systems which unintentionally lands him jobs and sparks a career in computer security.He meets all sorts of people in this field along the way, and eventually becomes a part of the supposedly elite group w00w00 (whos members include Napster (MP3 file sharing program fame) and attrition.org's Jericho (his site being famous for archiving defaced webpages).His martial arts career as well as his acting career are noted in his book, but not to a real great extent, but rather a diversion from all the hack talk. He even has a chapter of commentary on the events of 9/11.All and all, I would recommend this book to people interested in technology. That is almost (but not in all cases) a pre-requisite for being able to enjoy this book to the fullest. Otherwise you will find yourself dying of boredom reading through a large chunk of this book.It's easy to read, but well-written and may open your eyes to a different world... whether it is BedStuy or the world that hackers live in. Or both.

Most of the people who've read this book can't relate to the technical content. I'm a few years older than the author, but I can relate to his die hard passion for technology and his sincere interest in understanding how things work. If you read the entire book you'll also notice that the author is helping you get started in the world of hacking. If you can't relate to the technical aspect of this book, it probably is going to bore you to death. This is a book you should read if you're interested in understanding the hacker methodology and how it developed pre - dot.com years. The book also helps you get an understanding of the types of hackers and their skill sets...