No comments about Cyberswindle! (computer hacking): An article from: Chief Executive (U.S.).

2 comments about Computer Crime: Phreaks, Spies, and Salami Slicers (Issues in Focus).

1. Of all of the computer security books that I've read I would say this is probably the one that's at the bottom of the list. It gives you an introduction to computer hacking, phreaking, etc. The book also talks about some of the people involved in such crimes and what they did.

   I would recommend this book to someone really young that wants a general overview on the topic. The only reason I read it is because it's the only book that my school library had.




2. One of the first computer crime books I have read (freshman year in high school). It got me more into computer security than I was to begin with. Reading this book in class is what got me known as a hacker amongst my classmates, as much as I didn't want to be associated with that.

3 comments about The One Percenters.

1. After his wife Jill is murdered, Edward Caine loses his sense of purpose and has trouble dealing with life. He retreats into himself and obsesses over his wife's death. Even when he begins to rebuild his life and moves to another town, Ed remains preoccupied with death, but it is not until he meets another woman and has her stolen from this life as well that he finally has a revelation. Ed is a rare individual: he is one of a small group of people known as "one percenters," whose sole function in life is to maintain the integrity of the human race, to cleanse the world of the inferior members who would muddy the gene pool.
   
   Finally aware of his purpose in life and eager to fulfill his mission, Ed arms himself with booze, cigarettes, his wife's gun, and a belief that he is working for a greater good. Convinced that he is now a part of nature, Ed abandons his home for the woods. And over the course of the next year, he carefully selects and destroys those members of society whom he deems to be flawed.
   
   Ed knows that the outside world considers the service he is providing to be murder, so he plans one final act of violence to fulfill his destiny. What he plans will shake the foundation of a world gone haywire and will transform Ed from mortal to savior of humanity.
   
   ********
   
   If you are looking for a bit of dark fiction to distract and entertain you, look no further than John Podgursky's novella The One Percenters. This is a mixture of horror and psychological thriller that will hold its reader shocked and mesmerized as they travel through the nightmare of the narrator's existence.
   
   As we begin the story, we are caught up in the narrator's tragedy. Even though it is evident that he has committed a horrible crime, Ed seems initially to be a sympathetic character. But as Ed loses his grip on reality, we realize that there is more going on than he tells us about. And as we get to know Ed a little better and his mind begins to open up to us, we see the frightening and insane landscape that exists in his head. And he is no longer sympathetic...he is horrifying.
   
   Ed's story is told as a memoir. He is either speaking or writing his story to a doctor in whatever facility he resides in. He addresses some of his comments to "you" meaning the doctor, but after a while, it feels as if Ed is actually speaking directly to the reader. The result is personal and quite chilling.
   
   In the character Ed, Mr. Podgursky has given us a wonderfully unreliable narrator, and I spent much of the story trying to puzzle out exactly what is happening with him. How much of what he tells us is real, and how much is a fabrication of his unstable mind? Just how crazy is a guy who will abandon his life and go on a year-long murder spree to make up for where natural selection has failed? This person sees himself as a god, a savior of the human race, and he justifies his actions over and over again during the course of the narration. Towards the conclusion of the novella, I had convinced myself that I knew the story beneath the madman's ramblings, and I even felt somewhat smug and clever for having figured it all out. Wrong. I was completely and utterly wrong. At the end, Mr. Podgursky tosses us an unexpected curve that changes the entire story and that took my breath away.
   
   I enjoyed reading The One Percenters very much. The story surrounded me and pulled me straight into the mind of a madman, who then spoke to me on a very personal level. And one of the most uncomfortable and frightening aspects of this is that some of his ramblings made a horrible kind of sense to me. I ended this book feeling a little unsettled and quite entertained. This story is very well-written and executed, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting a bit of a chill.



2. Plot/Storyline: 2 1/2 Stars
   
   This book reaches out and grabs you from the first page, even the first line. Ed, the protagonist, tells the story from first person viewpoint as he is relating it to another, at first, unidentified person.
   
   In the beginning, Ed has abducted a young woman and tied her to a tree. His motivation is to get someone to listen to him. Finding out what he wants her to hear will keep you reading through most of the novel with that suspense in the back of your mind.
   
   Unfortunately, his revelations turn out to be rather anticlimactic. However, it is still an interesting story with plenty of events that will leave the reader shocked and gasping.
   
   Had I known to stop reading before the last chapter, this section would have received as many as 4 1/2 stars, maybe even 5 had it ended better. The ending seemed to be tacked on just to end it or to try to get an "Oh, wow! Now, I understand" kind of feeling from the reader, you know, like at the end of the movie, "Sixth Sense".
   
   It doesn't work. When you think back on the events in the book and how the author related them, the ending makes no logical sense whatsoever.
   
   Character Development: 4 Stars
   
   Disregarding the last chapter, Ed's character was extremely well developed. When reading, I could actually feel his grief and anger. The story does a great job of depicting his slow descent into madness. The wild theory he comes up with to justify his actions reinforces this downfall. While not a very likable character, at least from a female standpoint, he still manages to garner extreme empathy from the reader.
   
   Writing Style: 5 Stars
   
   Mr. Podogursky's writing is a beautiful and horrific thing to behold. His stream-of-consciousness style is perfect for this novel. There is not a lot of specific dialogue between two characters, but the entire novel is a dialogue with Ed speaking to someone `off camera' so to speak. Because of this, the reader tends to forget and feel as though Ed is speaking directly to them.
   
   Why horrific? Mr. Podogursky's style lets you into the mind of Ed, and it's a very scary place to be. The way the nonsequitors are tossed in makes for very realistic work.
   
   The descriptions are vivid and stark. The flow of this writing style made me want to just keep reading and never put the book down. There is also plenty of humor, dark as it may be.
   
   Editing/Formatting: 1 Star
   
   There were several editing errors throughout the novel, missing commas and things like that.
   
   The formatting was atrocious. The words "Page #" appeared at all intervals, especially troublesome when appearing in the middle of a sentence. The line spacing was bad, too.
   
   Rating: R for Violence and Profanity



3. Edward Caine's wife, Jill, was murdered by the 'Solemn Killer'. She was his seventh victim, not a name or a person just a number. This sent Edward over the edge. He became a 'One Percenter'.
   
   The author kept me on my toes throughout this book. What part of the story was Edward's imagination and how much was real? This book has a twist at the end that will leave the reader stunned. The language in this book is coarse and not necessary. The plot was strong enough to carry itself. This is an intriguing read that will stay with the reader long after closing the cover.

No comments about The Man Who Changed Rooms.

No comments about Intelligence and Security Informatics: First NSF/NIJ Symposium, ISI 2003, Tucson, AZ, USA, June 2-3, 2003, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) (Vol 2665).

No comments about Intelligence and Security Informatics: IEEE ISI 2008 International Workshops: PAISI, PACCF and SOCO 2008, Taipei, Taiwan, June 17, 2008, Proceedings (Lecture ... Applications, incl. Internet/Web, and HCI).

No comments about The Probation Service and Information Technology (Cedr Series).

No comments about Emerging technologies: innovative tools of the trade.: An article from: Industrial Engineer.

No comments about Antisocial networking sites.(Technofile): An article from: Security Management.

No comments about Under lock and key: proactive security tools seize cyber crime.(Techknowledge): An article from: Utah Business.