The classic tell-all memoir and security primer by 1980s computer hacker Bill Landreth, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HPH9YOS">Out of the Inner Circle: A Hacker's Guide to Computer Security, is now available as an ebook for the first time.
Landreth had been one of a loose community of teen hackers called The Inner Circle. In 1983, when he was 18, his family's San Diego home was raided by the FBI.
Launched this week in Kindle format on Amazon.com, Out of the Inner Circle is priced at $2.99. The book has been expertly formatted, re-proofread, and revamped with an updated version of the original cover. It also includes a 1989 preface by Bill Landreth himself that reflects on changing times in personal computing, networks, viruses and other security issues. Following the original text is a 2016 interview between Bill and journalist Matt Novak about the effect that these events had on the computer whiz kid later in life.
"Computer 'nerds' and tech historians alike will get a kick out of this book being available again," said Kevin Savetz, a former computer journalist whose web-based publishing company is responsible for getting Inner Circle back into the hands of readers. "Savetz Publishing, Inc. is dedicated to providing useful and entertaining content in the digital age, and Bill's book definitely matches that goal."
Out of the Inner Circle: The True Story of a Computer Intruder Capable of Cracking the Nation's Most Secure Computer Systems (also subtitled: A Hacker's Guide to Computer Security) was originally published by Microsoft Press in 1985. It was a best-seller in its genre at the time, with approximately 68,000 copies sold.
"I'm pleased to have gotten permission from Bill to get his story out there to both old and new audiences," Savetz said. "Many of the security issues he wrote about are as relevant today as they were in the mid-'80s, and bottom line, he tells an interesting tale. In some ways, Bill was living out the movie WarGames in real life."
Landreth has an interesting and sometimes eccentric reputation in the computer world. Known as "the Cracker," he was arrested in 1983 for breaching the GTE Telemail email network, which revealed messages from the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, Coca-Cola and other businesses and government entities. He details this and other experiences with the law, as well as tips for dealing with hackers who infiltrate business computer systems. The book is a fascinating window into the world of technology from 30 years ago that still resonates today.
During his hacking days, Landreth was friends with many internet pioneers, including Tom Anderson, who later founded MySpace. Anderson was the last person to see Landreth before he disappeared shortly after the publication of Out of the Inner Circle. Landreth turned up later and has lived on the streets of Southern California on and off in the years since.
"Bill is a fascinating and sometimes controversial figure in computer history," Savetz acknowledged. "His book sheds light on the life of a hacker and also delves into everything from personal ethics to corporate security. Teen hackers such as those in The Inner Circle played a role in pushing entities to take online security seriously, and in causing laws to be updated to reflect a new era of computers and networking. Nowadays, people get paid big bucks to find vulnerabilities in computer networks. In that regard, Bill was a pioneer."
Savetz Publishing, Inc. is also responsible for FaxZero and FreePrintable.net. There are nearly 100 sites in the FreePrintable.net family of free printables sites created by Savetz Publishing, Inc., a company devoted to creating useful and informative web sites of interest to consumers and small businesses.