John Markoff

Updated: 11/16/2019 by Computer Hope
John Markoff

Name: John Markoff

Born: October 24, 1949, in Oakland, California, USA

Computer-related contributions

  • New York Times journalist and author.
  • Known for his book and series of articles about the 1990s pursuit and capture of hacker Kevin Mitnick.
  • Member of the original staff of the computer industry weekly InfoWorld.
  • Editor at Byte Magazine (1994).
  • Reported that Robert Tappan Morris, son of National Security Agency cryptographer Robert Morris, was the author of what would become known as the Internet worm (1988).
  • Referred to the World Wide Web as a "map to the buried treasures of the Information Age." (1993).

Significant publications

  • What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry (2005).
  • Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw (1995).
  • Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier (1991).
  • The High Cost of High Tech (1985).

Honors and awards

  • Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting (2013).

Related computer pioneers

Websites