The Cuckoo's Egg

The First Cyber-Espionage Hunt

"How a 75-cent accounting error led to the discovery of a KGB espionage ring."

1986

The Anomaly

Clifford Stoll, an astronomer turned systems administrator at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, notices a 75-cent error in computer accounts. He decides to investigate.

1987

Markus Hess

After months of surveillance (honeypot), Stoll traces the intrusion back to Markus Hess, a German hacker selling US military secrets to the KGB.

Mission Status: Complete

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