The Cuckoo's Egg - Stollian Counter Espionage

Cliff Stoll was an amazingly lucky individual and he was the right man to counter attack European hackers and bring them to justice. Here is a reason why Cliff Stoll was the right man for this job:

Luck & Dilligence

Cliff Stoll was lucky. Everything landed into his lap. Not everyday do hackers, let alone hackers from Europe, use your research facility's computer to perform espionage against the military and government institutions of your country. Cliff Stoll was an astronomer become computer systems manager. He didn't have the formal training that would be expected of a counter espionage internet agent; his job required him to move from being a full-time research astronomer to systems manager. He had the background of a research and the knowledge of stars and black holes, not computer wizardry. Then the chances of him, shortly after his job assignment, noticing a slight accounting error caused by a computer hacker were slim. Stoll luckily had a boss to give him the flexibility and time to figure out who the cuckoo was tampering with their system. Again and again funds were low, Stoll's boss's patience wore thin, and the hacker far out of reach; but some how a little more time was given to Stoll's efforts to find this infiltrator. Although many governmental agencies didn't care less about Stoll's hacker friend, they eventually understood the importance of figuring out who the hacker was and were willing to help Stoll. While he was finding out who the hacker was he had phone company friends help him make phone traces to where the hacker was located. He also had friends who would help him think through his problems and place confidence in his ability to solve it. Cliff Stoll was lucky.

Though Stoll didn't have the training to handle computer espionage he didn't let that stop him from figuring out that someone was tampering with his system. He didn't let this lack of expertise prevent him from figuring out who was tampering with his system. Stoll carefully analyzed every movement of the computer terrorist; not one login was unnoticed. Every username the hacker used, every terminal command he typed, and every file he downloaded was caught and recorded. Stoll was amazingly intuitive, diligent, and had a "can do" attitude to persevere and succeed with his goal of unveiling his clandestine hacker.

After a year of effort, sleeping at the office, an unhappy girlfriend and boss, and the reluctance of government agencies' help in tracking international computer espionage rodents, Stoll's efforts paid off. He eventually found where the hacker was coming from and was able to put an end to his crimes. Stoll was the right man at the right time and at the right place. Even though there were setbacks there were more set-forwards. Though there where times when he wanted to give up he kept going. Other individuals may have had the opportunity to bring down computer espionage but Cliff Stoll is the one who did and the one that will be remember.