0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) (10/06/90)
It seems nobody on the net has announced that the PBS program "Nova" opened its new series with a program titled, "Computers, the KGB and Me." This hour-long "Nova" segment features Cliff Stoll himself describing how he, an astronomer by profession, fell into discovering some German hacker/phreaks dialing into Internet computers, declaring themselves "Superuser" and then linking out into MilNet to scan files all over the country for anything the KGB might find of interest. The episode is quite good in that Stoll and the actual participants describe how they set traps for the Germans and got the calls traced all the way back to the source, finally getting four Germans arrested and convicted for using international dial-ups tobreak and enter into U.S. government data bases. In addition to giving a sense of how the international dial networks for voice and data function, its presentation shows how what Stoll did amounted to the classic elements of a detective story, with a true computer-era gumshoe on the job. I can recommend it highly for all to look into their local PBS listings immediately, as "Nova" does get rerun on the secondary PBS channels for a week or so after last Monday's (10/1) premiere showing. It is an excellent one-hour summary of Cliff's book, "The Cuckoo's Egg," and those who can tape it will likely find it useful for presentation to bosses who have a difficult time understanding computer communications security matters. Once again, it is the current segment of "Nova" on PBS titled, "Computers, the KGB and Me." It's worth looking for and taping if you must. [Moderator's Note: It aired here in Chicago this past week, and is worth a look if it hasn't yet been shown in your community. PAT]
penguin@gnh-igloo.cts.com (Mark Steiger) (10/10/90)
Did anyone videotape this episode of NOVA? I think I missed it. :( [Mark Steiger, Sysop, The Igloo 218/262-3142 300/1200/2400 baud] ProLine.:penguin@gnh-igloo America Online: Goalie5 UUCP....:crash!gnh-igloo!penguin MCI Mail......: MSteiger Internet:penguin@gnh-igloo.cts.com ARPA....:crash!gnh-igloo!penguin@nosc.mil