I always start the list of books to understand computer-, network-, information-, and cyber-security with Cliff Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage.
That book is an easy read, draws the reader in like a good novel, and a great intro to why we all do what we do
Many items of understanding our field are embedded in that real world tale, including the very important fact that "this ain't new, folks." The book was published three decades ago, describing events even farther back.
1. Malicious hacking is not only by geeky introvert teenagers in mom's basement. Foreign nations do it, too. (No longer as an essential lesson to blow out a myth than ten years ago.)
2. It's not always for kicks; real espionage has been online all along.
3. "Lilly pad hopping" using multiple intermediary computers for packet transport to obscure the source is not new. (That term is not used in the book.)
4. Cliff implemented the first publicly known honeypot computer protection program, complete with live out-of-channel alert notification. (That term is not used in the book.)
5. Law enforcement and counter-intelligence agencies of multiple nations are hide-bound organizations resistant to major new information "not invented here," that is, information that is already on the list they already know they need to monitor or investigate.
