Here are some fun security sites, some of which let you play with hacking in a safe, legal environment.
NKU has an active cyber defense team that participates in many Capture the Flag competitions.
Here is a list of fun non-fiction readings on the topic of computer security. Most are nontechnical in nature, but be careful or you might learn something anyway.
- Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon by Kim Zetter
- The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll
- Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government--Saving Privacy in the Digital Age by Stephen Levy
- Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws who Hacked Ma Bell by Phil Lapsley
- Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick
- The Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling
- Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground by Kevin Poulsen
- Secrets and Lies by Bruce Schneier
- Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers by Andy Greenberg
There aren't too many good novels on hacking and computer security, but there are a few:
- Halting State by Charles Stross
- Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
- Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Finally, here are a few good movies and anime about hacking:
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
- The Matrix (and The Matrix Reloaded actually shows Trinity using nmap, which you'll learn to use at NKU.)
- Serial Experiments Lain
© 2005-2020 James Walden, Ph.D.