Subject: "Interrupt" by Toni Dwiggins

From: "Rob Slade, Social Convener to the Net" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 21:39:15 GMT

"Interrupt", Toni Dwiggins, 1993, 0-812-52037-8, U$4.99/C$5.99
 
The telephone system is a favourite target for thriller writers.  Recent
phone outages have made the public slightly more aware of the dependence we
have in the reliability and ubiquity of voice communications.  Most books
about attacks on the system have little bearing on reality.  Dwiggins,
though, has put some research into this.
 
The attack scenario is technically plausible.  It is an inside job,
requiring insider access and knowledge.  Social engineering is dealt with,
albeit briefly.  These remain the two primary computer security problems.
One of the early attacks is put down to a virus: that idea is squelched on
very solid grounds.  The central concept of the attack is one posited by no
less a luminary than Ken Thompson.
 
Dwiggins' inexperience does show in places.  I almost missed the Thompson
reference, as it was introduced by postulating something "deeper" than
object or machine code.  (To a nerd, this implies microcode.)  Then, the
discussion turns to the "interpreter", which is logically similar to, but
operationally distinct from, a compiler.  Also, as in "For the Sake of
Elena" (cf.  BKSELENA.RVW), the plot hinges on the inability of an
experienced TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf) user to identify a
(well) known correspondent in a live chat.
 
%A   Toni Dwiggins
%C   175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY  10010
%D   1993
%G   0-812-52037-8
%I   TOR/Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.
%O   U$4.99/C$5.99
%P   319
%T   "Interrupt"

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKINTRPT.RVW   950315

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