Meeting Cliff Stoll

Today I had the chance to meet the man who unintentionally invented the modern digital forensics practice, Cliff Stoll. In 1989 he published a book about his 1986-87 detection and response against KGB-backed spies who hacked his lab and hundreds of government, military, and university computers. I read his book in high school and it later inspired my military and private computer security services. Cliff was kind enough to take a photo with me today at the SANS Institute Cyber Threat Intelligence Summit in Virginia.

Comments

Unknown said…
That is so cool. I only just read that book in the last year. Its a great read.
7:25 PM
Unknown said…
I read the book some years ago. It sets a great example of how even today security analysts need to;
1.Think outside the box
2.Be persistent
3.Have a natural curiosity to track and solve problems
4.Never assume and never give up
Thanks for sharing this Richard. It reminded me of what I am doing and what I am responsible for.
Cheers
10:00 AM
kevin.manson@gmail.com said…
Richard, Cliff's story is a true inspiration to all who care about CyberSecurity and "Law and disorder on the electronic frontier" I fully agree with Roy W's post here. Your group at FireEye is also an inspiration. I remember meeting Kevin when he was training FBI agents with Sytex and Foundstone.
11:53 AM
Stone said…
Cliff Stoll was definitely an inspiration to many of us. I also read the same book in High School and Cyber Security has been the focus of my career just the same through the military and into my civilian career. I have a signed copy of the Cuckoo's Egg sitting in my bedroom as one of my most favorite possessions.
11:14 AM
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