The movie uses, according to the beginning, the actual characters from the entire "spy" chasing. I doubt the CIA agents who show up are really the actual ones, however.
An astronomer at Berkley labs whose grant has run out gets a job in the IT department. His boss finds a $.75 problem in billing -- no account to charge it to -- and the chase is on. The actual events take place in the early 80's. The boss gives it to our hapless hero, who finds an account with no account number. This piques his interest, so he starts tracing it down.
At one point, there are 50 stolen printers in action, to trace the hacker, who is finally discovered in Hanover, Germany. The Hacker was selling information he found while hacking to the KGB. Remember, this is before the wall fell, and while the KGB still existed.
Additionally, the names the hacker used are quite a blast. Using a librarian to figure them out is a masterpiece!
It is quite fun to watch how hard this young man had to work to trace the spy/hacker. Today, all this can be done in almost seconds. Then, it took two years, getting warrants from each state the hacker traveled through.
While the movie is pretty old -- at the time of my review, 25 years -- it is exceptionally interesting, informative, and FUN to watch. Mr. Stoll, a hippie if ever there was one still left in the '80s, reenact his role, is fantastic. You can tell this was the highlight of his life (up to then, I hope). His animation, his enthusiasm, his good story telling are all worth watching.
I do wonder if he married that girlfriend.
An astronomer at Berkley labs whose grant has run out gets a job in the IT department. His boss finds a $.75 problem in billing -- no account to charge it to -- and the chase is on. The actual events take place in the early 80's. The boss gives it to our hapless hero, who finds an account with no account number. This piques his interest, so he starts tracing it down.
At one point, there are 50 stolen printers in action, to trace the hacker, who is finally discovered in Hanover, Germany. The Hacker was selling information he found while hacking to the KGB. Remember, this is before the wall fell, and while the KGB still existed.
Additionally, the names the hacker used are quite a blast. Using a librarian to figure them out is a masterpiece!
It is quite fun to watch how hard this young man had to work to trace the spy/hacker. Today, all this can be done in almost seconds. Then, it took two years, getting warrants from each state the hacker traveled through.
While the movie is pretty old -- at the time of my review, 25 years -- it is exceptionally interesting, informative, and FUN to watch. Mr. Stoll, a hippie if ever there was one still left in the '80s, reenact his role, is fantastic. You can tell this was the highlight of his life (up to then, I hope). His animation, his enthusiasm, his good story telling are all worth watching.
I do wonder if he married that girlfriend.
