The Art of Invisibility: The World’s Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data by Kevin D. Mitnick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Kevin Mitnick shows his hacking expertise by delving deep into the world of online privacy. Because of his advanced skills, I ended up having to divide the book into two parts: part one is layman (or if you are like me computer kryptonite) literate and part two is the advanced level of computer paranoid that does not mean the government and private sector is not watching (you know that part of Live Free Die Hard where he hacks the satellite using a flip phone…yeah…inaccessible for a goob like me.)
In the first half of this book we are immersed in data as it is revealed to us just how much of our privacy is being bought, sold, and violated with complete legality. Coming, as it does, on the wings of Congressional reversal of stricter ISP laws, this part was a valuable and much needed dissection of what is happening to our privacy and what we can do about it.
In part two we get to the hard work of invisibility. Part one was just to make your information harder to access. It was well explained and easy to follow. I myself put more than a couple to good use and computers like to come up with problems they did not even know about around me. But if you want full invisibility…well…he explains all of it for us but it is not easy.
So why do we need it if we are not criminals? Remember when Apple was hacked and user’s data was sold? How about all those times we turn on the news to learn of a new virus or worm has found its way into android software? The extreme measures will prevent searches and data being logged. It will prevent cell phone companies from even seeing let alone selling your info. Those annoying ads on Google can be a thing of the past.
Some people might be turned off by a hacker telling us just how he and companies could find, collect, and use our data. Me, I found the source reliable and like to hire experts for jobs.
And best of all, while the book ranged from amateur to advanced in the computer world, it did NOT read like a technical manual.
Bottom Line is that this was an informative book on a much needed subject that was easily accessible for everyone. I would recommend this for anyone concerned about privacy.
THIS ARC WAS PROVIDED VIA NETGALLEY FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.
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