Non-fiction: The Cuckoo's Egg

Overview
Clifford Stoll, a systems administrator at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, tells a compelling, first-person story about how a tiny accounting discrepancy exposed a far-reaching computer intrusion. What begins as a 75-cent billing error leads to an obsessive pursuit of an unseen intruder who repeatedly breaks into the lab's systems. The narrative blends meticulous technical detective work with vivid descriptions of late-night stakeouts, phone traces, and the growing realization that the intrusion is part of an international espionage effort.
Stoll's voice is clear, wry, and grounded in the daily realities of maintaining shared computing resources. Technical detail is presented so readers can follow the logic of the chase without needing prior expertise, while the personal stakes and mounting frustration give the investigation dramatic momentum.

The Investigation
The trail unfolds through log files, time stamps, and telephone records as Stoll pieces together how the intruder moves through networks and hops across countries. He builds a rudimentary honeypot to attract the hacker, records keystrokes, and painstakingly maps connections between the lab's machines and remote sites. As the logs accumulate, they point to a skilled operator linking to military and research networks, seeking sensitive information and software.
Efforts to engage law enforcement and national agencies are a continual struggle; skepticism, jurisdictional confusion, and secrecy complicate collaboration. Stoll eventually helps identify Markus Hess, a West German hacker who was relaying stolen information to sources in the Soviet bloc. International cooperation, particularly with authorities and administrators overseas, proves crucial to making arrests and halting the breaches, though by then the episode has already exposed serious weaknesses in network security and institutional readiness.

Themes and Legacy
The account is part detective story, part technical primer, and part meditation on the human dimensions of computers. Stoll emphasizes that security is as much about people, procedures, and skepticism as it is about software and hardware. He stresses the consequences of complacency, the need for careful auditing, and the unexpected vulnerabilities introduced by convenient network access.
Beyond its immediate narrative, the episode helped ignite broader awareness of computer security in research institutions, government agencies, and the general public. Stoll's insistence on persistence and documentation set a model for incident response, while his vivid storytelling made abstract risks tangible. The story remains a touchstone in cybersecurity literature: a reminder that a single curious administrator, armed with logs and perseverance, can uncover threats that require cooperation across borders and disciplines to address.