Stalking the Wily Hacker: 40 years later – Cliff Stoll [video]

I watch a lot of videos at 1.5x. Older Cliff Stoll videos don't work at 1.5x. Cliff at 1.0x is already like other people at 1.5x.

I am so stoked to see Cliff at 1.0x in 2026 is still like other people at 1.5x. I am so glad to see Cliff still out there talking. "The Cuckoo's Egg"[0] was formative for me when I was a kid getting into computers. I am so happy that Cliff is out there making formative experiences for new hackers today.

Great talk, Cliff. (The "adjusted for inflation" quip about the budget made my day, too.)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg_(book)

A coworker suggested that I read The Cuckoo's Egg and I sorta shrugged it off. When I got around to reading it, I was pretty happy that it exists. It's a real time-portal to a pre-security internet. You can skip all the descriptions about how tech works, which are included for normies. Imagine not using passwords or just using 'password' or all the other stuff that we did when we were young and stupid. Then imagine government agencies doing the same. What? Yep. That's what the book is about.

I saw him live in a presentation he gave in Chicago, early 90s. He and his book are the cause of my switching from a very young PhD in thermodynamics career to going back to school for CS, then working in the latter field until retirement, years back. I also read his Silicon Snake Oil book, as soon as it came out, which he - himself - publicly claimed to have been in error, in parts, sometimes, but about which I now think - looking at X, TruthSocial, TikTok, etc. - that may, in fact, has been premonitory...

That was really fun to watch and I took the chance to also watch the 40 year recap from the German side (in German tho https://media.ccc.de/v/ho26-124-vom-hacker-zum-spion-die-ges...).

The Cuckoo's Egg is still one of the best security books ever written. Glad he's still around.

What a fascinating video. What a treat to hear him talk.

Much of my excitement has been dying off due to the commercialization of the hacker community, the culture war, and the constant legislative losses for privacy and effective ownership of goods you purchase because they've code in them you often cannot legally circumvent the "digital lock" on.

I'm curious what can be done to get it back. It seems the more I care, the more I get jaded due to the constant loss of freedom with tech.

I saw him speak at the Dayton Hamvention two times. Absolute fun and like no other.

When I was CSO at Relativity, I conducted security awareness training for all, and gave each one a copy of Cuckoo’s Egg.

Great followup interview, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJCWsoozg0Q

I would not take the advice of somebody, if that persons basement is not full of klein-bottles. Everything else is just surface level ..

sorry guys just noticed but shouldn't the "Baby klein bottle" be called "Klein klein bottle"?

www.kleinbottle.com

is this an overlooked DE pun by Cliff? is that even possible?

One of my favorite books is "The Cuckoo's Egg". I read it at least yearly. Cliff Stoll has had an incredible impact on my interests. I'm happy to see him doing talks.

Stoll is a treasure. His enthusiasm for science and teaching never gets old.

Thank you Cliff!

I had shivers most of the time during the talk, it was touching me from the inside and flipping me back like a latex glove. And while I knew your story I confess I listened to you for the first time.

It was the most amazing cyber space trip ever, feeling those copper lines and understanding you could interface with their content.

You simply represent what a hacker is, I'm getting older and loosing motivation and creativity, but after hearing you I swear I will never give that up and I promise I will keep the hardcore digging for those cents.

You are our father.

It's been a few years - and I guess decades - since I read Cliff's book. One thing I recall is his journey from a Berkeley hippie to a man dealing with the military and men in suits and realizing that they are also good and necessary people. And also becoming a family man if I remember correctly.

It's a really important part of the story in my mind of Cliff growing up - sort of - as part of the experience.

The PBS Nova episode about Stoll was the literal starting point of my discovery of the internet.

Because of the show, my next year in university I signed up for an elective CompSci course (I was an English Literature major) about threat assessment. Part of our course involved browsing the RISKS Forum newsgroup on the Sparc Stations at the University of Toronto Engineering Annex.

That episode was also the beginning of my fascination with telecom equipment, which I got the chance to use professionally for about a year in 1998-1999. There's a telephone museum about an hour from where I live that still has a working mechanical switch that you can dial on and see it working.

Thanks @CliffStoll for the wonderful talk.

Damn, has it really been 40 years. I remember chatting with Cliff about the book on USENET. I'm glad time has been kind to us.

A thoroughly enjoyable watch - he's a natural disrupter. It is a reminder to focus on principles rather than any latest fashion. It is quite refreshing in the current AI torrent.

It used to be common to leave voicemail for him from conference bridges ("cl1ff st0le muh k0d3z"). His greeting said something like "I'm not here right now; I'm baking cookies".

@CliffStoll Even though I wasn't the perpetrator of said voicemail, apologies on behalf of all the kids who annoyed you just because they could.

Stoll is still the best storyteller in security. 40 years and this holds up perfectly.

the story really comes full circle for me now. i've read the book in the 90s and recently listened to hess's POV via a ccc talk (https://youtu.be/USDNMWZsR5o auto subbed/dubbed video here)

great nostalgia for when the internet was still amazing

A friend put me onto The Cuckoo's Egg, and that's where I first met Cliff. And honestly, half the protagonists in hacker fiction can't hold a candle to him.

Such a fun and enthusiastic guy. I’ve one of his klein bottles from like 20 years ago, think he still sells them.

Fantastic book, great story, awesome memories. Thank you, Cliff.

His book was so good. Real agent stuff!

This was great. Thanks for sharing.

Cliff Stoll is alive? Good news.

I bought this person's book too. I didn't know they were still alive. I really enjoyed reading The Cuckoo's Egg—it was such a fun read. They really have a way with words

Did he really break the screen on someone's phone during the talk? He seems dangerous to be around.

Great