# The Cuckoo's Egg

DevFeed: [The Cuckoo's Egg](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-cuckoo-s-egg-27750.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://gagor.pro/book/2000/the-cuckoos-egg/>)

Author: Tom

Published: 2000-02-09T00:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Tomasz Gągor](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/tomasz-gagor.md>)

Topics: [IT\_Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/it-security.md>), [Unix](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/unix.md>), [Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/security.md>), [Networks](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/networks.md>), [Internet](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/internet.md>)

Tags: [hacking](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hacking.md>), [internet](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/internet.md>), [it-security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/it-security.md>), [networks](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/networks.md>), [security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/security.md>), [server](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/server.md>), [services](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/services.md>), [spam](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/spam.md>), [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/systems.md>), [technology](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/technology.md>), [terminal](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/terminal.md>), [unix](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/unix.md>)

## AI overview

A personal review of Clifford Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg, describing its portrayal of a system administrator tracking a hacker and its depiction of early Unix, networked computing, and IT security. The author says the book influenced their interest in Unix systems and security.

## Source excerpt

Kukułcze jajo Ekscytujące łowy na nieuchwytnego hackera Author: Clifford Stoll I've read it in Polish, so I kept polish picture. This book had a huge impact on how I perceive IT security. It was the way that shaped my fascination by Unix systems and probably impacted some of my decisions about my future 😉 It's a fascinating lecture on the battle between "sys admin" (actually an astronomer external link and kinda random guy, but with a skill) and a hacker. Cold war times. Quite "analog" IT systems, printers as terminals, etc. A time machine to the beginnings of networks and Internet. It was at a time when there was no encryption on services. Computers were powerful machines taking whole rooms and you could work with them only via terminal. A different world, but that's how it all started.