As a member of the cyber security community, I am at odds with how to rate or discuss this book. By far I can say that it is well written and as a semi bias biographical account of the great history of 'hacktivism' it provides a lot of information. The biggest negative to the book is in fact just the sheer amount of history this 'short' book endows, the cast of characters is incredibly large and the amount of actions or inactions it accounts to individuals very quickly becomes hard to process, as well as the mixing of real names and 'l33t' names can be quite confusing. At times I truly would get confused at the cast that was being discussed and some of their contributions were so large that I could have truly seen a whole book on some individuals alone.

I enjoyed a large part of the book, it was inspiring and fun to see how the brains behind some of the events or applications we use started, just as being kids finding their way to old school bulletin boards or forums. Having quotes of things they would write to each other on mailing lists, and understanding the belief system that is a cornerstone to the ethics that largely remain in this community. But other parts of the book was quite a dry telling, almost as if the author themselves are attempting to stop you from getting excited or really interested in certain characters or events. Making the book seem far longer and making full chapters just truly drag as if you are reading a history book in high school again for your latest report.

All in all, I would say this book is a very nice read and if you want to know the (generally) true, while maybe at times dull history of some of the most creative and ethically minded technology specialists then this book is what you are looking for. Keep in mind you may need a computer present to note names, 'l33t' names or look up events to get a more thorough background of some of the more interesting sections.

3.5/5

A trip down memory lane. Nostalgic, fun read and reminded me of the hours of joy I had with tools like l0phfcrack and BackOrfice.

The subject of this book is very interesting to me, and I'm rounding up to 4 stars due to that and the large amount of journalistic research that must have went into the making of the book. I can't imagine that most of the old members of cDc were interested in an in-depth analysis of their history, but the author seems to have drawn out plenty of details from them.

Ultimately, though, the telling of the stories starts to get a bit dry by the end and there are lots of names dropped throughout that can make following along a bit difficult without flipping pages back and forth to remind yourself who is who.

Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World is a fascinating look at one of the worlds most infamous hacking groups. As someone who works in security, I'd heard of the cDc but I hadn't followed them closely or been around when they were big so this was a real treat for me to dig in and see how the whole thing got started.

The book goes deep on the background, describing how the cDc came about, who the major players were and how they affected not just hacking but technology in general. I found the whole thing hugely interesting and I was amazed at how many of ex-cDc members that I'd heard of, or that ended up founding or leading some of the biggest tech companies in the world.

The book touches on ethics, freedom and does a good job of not sensationalising the cDc or hacking in general. It even ends with a nice look at ex-cDc member and current political heavyweight Beto O'Rourke. Overall, one of the better books I've read about hacking and IT Security.

This is not a deep technical book, nor it is a deep book about the people within the cDc. But it is still a good general story about the group, I think it serve as easy introduction to the group.

Not bad, just not deep.

Who knew that Beto O’Rurke was a childhood hacktavist. What a twist.

Decently interesting read.

Not anything I would ever have thought I'd be reading, but here we are.

I loved it. I didn't think I would. I thought at most I'd be engaged, thank it for its time, and continue about my life, but I actually genuinely loved it. This is a whole new world of books that I didn't know existed. Books I want desperately to read now!

I just am blown away by how much I appreciated this book. Not my first choice for a fun summer read, but it was thoroughly enjoyable and I learned so stinking much.

Excellent history and discussion around the cDc and its exploits.