The Accidental Spy Catcher

How an Astronomer Found the KGB Online

A 75-cent accounting error. A year-long obsession. The first cyber spy hunt in history.

In 1986, astronomer Cliff Stoll was asked to track down a minor billing discrepancy at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. What he discovered would change cybersecurity forever: a hacker systematically stealing American military secrets and selling them to the KGB.

With no budget, no training, and no institutional support, Stoll built a one-man surveillance operation that would eventually unmask a ring of West German hackers working for Soviet intelligence. His investigation pioneered techniques still used today—including the first-ever honeypot trap.

In this book, you'll discover:

• How a 75-cent discrepancy led to the first documented case of international cyber espionage
• Why the FBI, CIA, and NSA all refused to investigate—and what that reveals about institutional blind spots
• The ingenious honeypot trap that finally caught the hacker
• What the KGB was really after—and how much they paid for it
• The lessons we learned (and the many we've ignored) about network security
• Why this 1986 case still matters in today's world of nation-state cyber operations

This book is for you if:

• You're interested in the origins of cybersecurity
• You enjoy true crime and investigation narratives
• You want to understand how the cyber threat landscape evolved
• You're a security professional curious about the field's history
• You loved books like Countdown to Zero Day or Dark Territory

Part of the Digital Outlaws series, this book tells the remarkable true story of an amateur who accomplished what the entire American national security establishment couldn't—and in doing so, helped create the field of cyber threat hunting.

The Soviet Union wanted America's secrets. They didn't expect an astronomer to be watching.