SOLVED. Fiction novel about hackers and social engineering. [s]

[Karel]

I am looking for a book about hackers and social engineering that I read about 15 years ago. I remember the following about it:

1) The story happens in the US. There was one good hacker and one bad hacker; the bad hacker had social engineering skills and I think he may have hurt someone as well (I don't really remember the plot).
2) The good hacker tried to hack the bad one, but he messed up because he didn't set up ping latency properly - he wanted to appear as if he is in Europe I think, but the bad hacker found out that he is quite close (same city or district I think).
3) Both hackers adored computer history, and this fact was mentioned in the book, and part of the plot was connected to some important computer related milestone as well.
4) The good hacker kept his code hidden in a military base with remote access, with the code being stored on old wire tapes.

As you can see I don't really remember what was the plot about, but hopefully the other details will be enough to find the book. Thank you!

[Kris]

Karel, can you tell us more about the two male hackers - e.g., their ages, jobs/skills/interests, rich/poor, family/friends, etc.? What are their parents' jobs?

What/who do they typically hack?

Can you tell us more about the social engineering? (Spoilers are okay - just give us a clear warning before revealing a spoiler.)

[Kris]

The Blue Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver?

https://www.worldcat.org/advancedsearch > Keywords: hackers social engineering | 1990-2008 ? | Not juvenile | Fiction | Book | English

[Karel]

Kris, I cannot belive it, but The Blue Nowhere is indeed the book I was looking for. Thank you very much! I was searching for this book desperately for many years. Cannot wait to read it again!

This thread is SOLVED.

[Kris]

Great. Glad you found your book, Karel. I suspect your term "social engineering" was key to finding it.