Synopsis
Invasion of Privacy is Ian Sutherland’s first full novel and a follow up to the short story Social Engineer. While reading Social Engineer is not necessary before picking up Invasion of Privacy, it follows the same protagonist for whom the series is named – Brody Taylor. Brody is a white-hat hacker that does penetration testing for companies in a style that is reminiscent of Kevin Mitnik’s stories from The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion.
Th story follows Brody as he accepts a challenge on an online hacker forum that leads into the more tactile criminal world. Brody works with police to solve murders while working against a more nefarious enemy online
My Reaction
This novel is a lot of fun. The events and elements in the story are very realistic and plausible – albeit highly dramatized. Taylor Brody is a believable character using real tactics to help in a criminal investigation. Ian Sutherland takes the time to draw a great picture of a paranoid hacker who takes extra precautions to keep his digital trail clean. I really enjoyed the story and hope Ian Sutherland continues to produce more.
Recommendation
I recommend this novel to people with an interest in “hacking” who want a realistic story. The tactics used are described in enough detail to entice more experienced IT professionals without getting so bogged down in jargon that a casual reader would get distracted.
That said, there’s not a lot to learn from the fictional story except possibly a look into a worse case scenario. But its a great break from the more serious histories of cyber warfare.