Masters of Deception

The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace

By: Michelle Slatalla, Joshua Quittner

Narrated by: Colby Elliott

From the bedroom terminals of teenagers isolated from their peers by their hyperactive intellects, to the nerve center of a nationwide long-distance phone company infiltrated by a hacker's hand, Masters of Deception offers an unprecedented tour of the murkiest reaches of the electronic frontier and a trenchant, blow-by-blow chronicle of the most notorious gang war in cyberspace.

In 1989, Paul Stira and Eli Ladopoulos, two teenage hackers from Queens, New York, made some exploratory forays into local phone-company computers and discovered a domain far more mysterious and appealing than any they had ever seen. To unravel the mysteries, they contacted Phiber Optik (aka Mark Abene) - a member of an infamous gang of crack hackers called the Legion of Doom. Phiber Optik was legendary throughout cyberspace for his wealth of hard-won knowledge about the phone system. When he was satisfied that Stira and Ladopoulos weren't a couple of lamers, the three kids arranged a meeting of the minds in Ladopoulos's bedroom.

When Phiber Optik got kicked out of LOD after a tiff with its leader, Erik Bloodaxe (aka Chris Goggans), the New York kids formed a rival gang called Masters of Deception. MOD soon matched LOD's notoriety, gaining a reputation for downloading confidential credit histories (including Geraldo Rivera's, David Duke's, and a rival hacker's mom's), breaking into private computer files, and rewiring phone lines. All the while, federal agents were secretly monitoring this highly illegal battle royal and closing in for the kill.

Slatalla and Quittner, who have followed this case for five years, lead us down the darkest alleys of cyberspace and up to the front lines of the raging battle over just who will control the web that already connects everyone to everybody else. They offer an unparalleled hacker’s-eye view of the inner life of hackers, a heady realm where order and chaos hold equal sway.

©1995 Harpercollins (P)2010 Last Word Audio, LLC

Critic reviews

“Oh is this ever a good book. It’s not just that the crime in this case is nonviolent, indeed almost harmless, but that the book is so well written and the topic - computer hacking - so interesting.” ( Washington Post Book World)

Riveting Piece of History

I listened to this book on my Audible app for my phone, mostly during my 20 minute commute. Many times, I found myself hanging out in the parking lot or garage, waiting until the end of a chapter to find out what would happen next. The authors and narrator do a great job of bringing this fascinating group of hacker kids to life. Mark Abene, one of the central figures, is one part hero and one part tragic victim. Finding out what happened to him and his friends was amazing, and as a proud owner of a TRS-80 when I was a kid, I loved the trip down memory lane.

Not only is this a great, human story about young people getting in over their heads, and society figuring out how to incorporate new technologies, it's also a real education into how the phone systems worked and interconnected. Slatalla and Quittner have a knack for making complex, technical stuff understandable and entertaining, all the while keeping the story grounded with real people and all of their familiar vices and virtues. A great read!

A+ Unbelievable recount of a time I can well remember.

A must listen for anyone who was fortunate enough to have lived through this era. The story brought me back to well remembered, much simpler time. It is uncanny how much times have changed over the last 30+ years. It seems just like yesterday I sitting with my C64 for many more hours than I should have been. In today's times you could never get away with that stuff.

Excellent

Being from a telecom background, I thought this was excellent and smething I didn't know.

Great story, poor productuon

The story was fantasic and the narrator was good. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars overall is because the production quality wasn't great and every "s" from the narrator had a high pitched whistle.

Story Ok. Narrartor not so good.

The narrator whistles his "S" in every word and placement in the word. Not a good thing when listenening with headphones.

Nice to revisit

I read this book when I was younger and it opened my eyes to a connected world. Nice to revisit.

The audio quality is terrible

I’ve been excited to listen to this book but the audio quality is trash. The hard “S’s” are harsh and ear piercing. I’m going to try to finish it but am very tempted to just buy the book and read it. They need to have these audiobooks professionally edited for quality assurance.

Recording Issue: The “S” Sounds are Ear-Splitting

I hate to have to write this review, because I’ve read the physical book and it’s incredible. And the performer of the audiobook is great.

But the technician recording and/or editing this audiobook version failed majorly: many of the “s” sounds come out in an ear-splitting sharp sound. It’s unbearable, and I had to give up listening rather quickly.

Awful Narration

The narrator’s whistling S made this almost impossible to listen to. The story itself was decent.

Great book, horrible production!

This is actually a great book. Buy the book but skip this audiobook. Either the sound engineer or the post-production engineer should be fired. Every S, the second most common consonant sound in English, is butchered. I actually regret purchasing this audiobook.