Breaking and Entering: The Extraordinary Story of a Hacker Called "Alien" - Paperback

by Jeremy N. Smith (Author)

This taut, true thriller dives into a dark world that touches us all, as seen through the brilliant, breakneck career of an extraordinary hacker--a woman known only as Alien.

When she arrived at MIT in the 1990s, Alien was quickly drawn to the school's tradition of high-risk physical trespassing: the original "hacking." Within a year, one of her hallmates was dead and two others were arraigned. Alien's adventures were only just beginning.

After a stint at the storied, secretive Los Alamos National Laboratory, Alien was recruited by a top cybersecurity firm where she deployed her cache of virtual weapons--and the trespassing and social engineering talents she had developed while "hacking" at MIT. The company tested its clients' security by every means possible--not just coding, but donning disguises and sneaking past guards and secretaries into the C-suite.

Alien now runs a boutique hacking outfit that caters to some of the world's biggest and most vulnerable institutions--banks, retailers, government agencies. Her work combines devilish charm, old-school deception, and next generation spycraft. In Breaking and Entering, cybersecurity finally gets the rich, character-driven, fast-paced treatment it deserves.

This gripping true story of a master hacker reveals:

• Social Engineering: How devilish charm and old-school deception allow a hacker to sneak past guards and secretaries into the C-suite.
• MIT Hacking Culture: A deep dive into the world of high-risk physical trespassing--the original "hacking"--from exploring steam tunnels to climbing the Great Dome.
• Digital Forensics: A look inside the secretive Los Alamos National Laboratory and top-tier cybersecurity firms where virtual weapons are deployed against the world's biggest institutions.
• A Woman in a Man's World: The character-driven true story of Alien, an extraordinary woman who built a brilliant, breakneck career in the male-dominated fields of technology and spycraft.

Author Biography

JEREMY N. SMITH writes regularly for the New York Times, the Atlantic, and Discover, and he and his work have been featured by CNN, NPR News, and Wired, among other outlets. A graduate of Harvard College and the University of Montana, he is the author of Growing a Garden City and Epic Measures.