This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race
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- Create Date：2021-04-06 13:51:00
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- Author：Nicole Perlroth
- ISBN：1526629852
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Summary
From The New York Times cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth， the untold story of the cyberweapons market-the most secretive， invisible， government-sponsored market on earth-and a terrifying first look at a new kind of global warfare。
Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break in and scamper through the world's computer networks invisibly until discovered。 One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal， a zero day has the power to tap into any iPhone， dismantle safety controls at a chemical plant， and shut down the power in an entire nation-just ask the Ukraine。
Zero days are the blood diamonds of the security trade， pursued by nation states， defense contractors， cybercriminals， and security defenders alike。 In this market， governments aren't regulators; they are clients-paying huge sums to hackers willing to turn over gaps in the Internet， and stay silent about them。 For decades， the United States was the only player in this market。 Now， it is just the biggest。 Our primary adversaries are now in this market too， each with its own incentive to exploit the Internet's vast security holes for their own spy operations， or all-out cyberwar。
This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth's discovery， unpacked。 A intrepid journalist unravels an opaque， code-driven market from the outside in-encountering spies， hackers， arms dealers， mercenaries， and a few unsung heroes along the way。 As the stakes get higher and higher in the rush to push the world's critical infrastructure online， This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is the urgent and alarming discovery of one of the world's most extreme threats。
Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break in and scamper through the world's computer networks invisibly until discovered。 One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal， a zero day has the power to tap into any iPhone， dismantle safety controls at a chemical plant， and shut down the power in an entire nation-just ask the Ukraine。
Zero days are the blood diamonds of the security trade， pursued by nation states， defense contractors， cybercriminals， and security defenders alike。 In this market， governments aren't regulators; they are clients-paying huge sums to hackers willing to turn over gaps in the Internet， and stay silent about them。 For decades， the United States was the only player in this market。 Now， it is just the biggest。 Our primary adversaries are now in this market too， each with its own incentive to exploit the Internet's vast security holes for their own spy operations， or all-out cyberwar。
This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth's discovery， unpacked。 A intrepid journalist unravels an opaque， code-driven market from the outside in-encountering spies， hackers， arms dealers， mercenaries， and a few unsung heroes along the way。 As the stakes get higher and higher in the rush to push the world's critical infrastructure online， This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is the urgent and alarming discovery of one of the world's most extreme threats。
Reviews
Nathan Hoyt
，
Very well written and should generally be understandable by those not in the cyber field。 I found it laid out the long story of the vulnerability of computers。 It certainly doesn't paint a pretty picture， but this is needed to help get everyone to understand the risks and the need to start taking this more seriously。 Very well written and should generally be understandable by those not in the cyber field。 I found it laid out the long story of the vulnerability of computers。 It certainly doesn't paint a pretty picture， but this is needed to help get everyone to understand the risks and the need to start taking this more seriously。 。。。more
Joe
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Fascinating。 I anticipated this to be a dry read but it was fast moving and eye opening。
James
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The profit motive or the actions of a few altruistic hackers will not prevent a cataclysmic cyber war resulting in trillions of dollars of damage， the undermining of any faith in democracy， and the increasing consolidation of power in big tech companies and the NSA。 With this one and Zuboff's surveillance capitalism I keep thinking about how we really are in the third industrial revolution， and it's not going great。 Despite the awful overreaches of the Red Scares and Cold War， the U。S。 generally The profit motive or the actions of a few altruistic hackers will not prevent a cataclysmic cyber war resulting in trillions of dollars of damage， the undermining of any faith in democracy， and the increasing consolidation of power in big tech companies and the NSA。 With this one and Zuboff's surveillance capitalism I keep thinking about how we really are in the third industrial revolution， and it's not going great。 Despite the awful overreaches of the Red Scares and Cold War， the U。S。 generally decided that it would at least have to appear to justify capitalism through the idea of the good life from 1919-1989。 The New Deal and the Great Society， along with the many progressive achievements at the state level during this time， didn't actually require social solidarity。 They just saved capitalism from itself and attempted to make a country built on horrendous violence somewhat more equal and fair。Since the end of the Cold War and the supercharging of the "information economy" through an almost total disregard for monopoly power and what anyone might call the common good， we've ended up with an industrial revolution that seems completely immune to the kind of progressive reforms of the early to mid 20th century。 In addition， without the bipolar Cold War framework， all sorts of loose authoritarian regimes based neither on regulated neoliberalism nor authoritarian central planning have sprung up。We are actually convinced we can go it alone， not only in cyberwarfare but in our pandemic response， and in our climate change response， and in our immigration response。。。and the only result of this isolation during the third industrial revolution will be immense suffering， not only for us but for everyone else。 Anyway， this is a well-written book that will make you kind of furious。 It doesn't make me think there's anything I can do to stay safer on the internet， besides not being famous。 。。。more
Mary
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AMAZING book - everyone needs to read this。 I was shocked that I hadn't heard of many of the events described in here; maybe that shows average citizens really aren't paying that much attention。 Each chapter is about a different aspect of hacking/cybersecurity/NSA/tech giants/etc。 She goes into history of the NSA and spying over the web， worldwide hacks， evolution of the underground market for zero days/bugs in software， relations between big tech companies and hackers， NSA and gov interests vs AMAZING book - everyone needs to read this。 I was shocked that I hadn't heard of many of the events described in here; maybe that shows average citizens really aren't paying that much attention。 Each chapter is about a different aspect of hacking/cybersecurity/NSA/tech giants/etc。 She goes into history of the NSA and spying over the web， worldwide hacks， evolution of the underground market for zero days/bugs in software， relations between big tech companies and hackers， NSA and gov interests vs privacy and protection for citizens， etc。 So many topics are covered。 She takes us to hacking conventions around the world， interviews with NSA and high gov ranking employees， meetings with young hackers， entrepreneurs， and activists， and much more。Best of all - it's really interesting stuff and is definitely understandable for "average citizens" like myself， （with no knowledge of code/hacking/tech stuff） to follow along and understand。 I couldn't put the book down。 I applaud the author for all the work and research she's done; it's really remarkable。 It's a compilation of 7 years research supposedly， but even for that it goes above and beyond。 。。。more
Garrett Jansen
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This is a cool， fast flying top-level view of the world of cyber weapons which surprisingly has tendrils everywhere。 While I’m familiar with the stories told， I hadn’t thought about them in the interconnected manner that they truly are which is a good exercise for tech folks to consider。
Jeffrey Thomas
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And the hits just keep on coming！ This excellent book details an unrelenting onslaught of cyberattacks， and outlines the author's own gradual realization of the dangers of internet warfare。 It is a lengthy but worthwhile read -- actually， I lost the book for a while because I did not want to read it at bedtime， for fear of nightmares or disrupted sleep！ Indeed the book is changing my stance toward online security -- multi-factor authentication， definitely！ As with most of us， the author first do And the hits just keep on coming！ This excellent book details an unrelenting onslaught of cyberattacks， and outlines the author's own gradual realization of the dangers of internet warfare。 It is a lengthy but worthwhile read -- actually， I lost the book for a while because I did not want to read it at bedtime， for fear of nightmares or disrupted sleep！ Indeed the book is changing my stance toward online security -- multi-factor authentication， definitely！ As with most of us， the author first downplayed the fear tactics promoted by sellers of security packages; but after years of research she has come to wonder that more disaster has not happened yet。 She briefly but baldly calls out the recent presidentical administration for wreaking havoc on US defense， by eliminating a cybersecurity department， incensing the Iranian and Chinese governments （both of which had been tamped down by Obama negotiations）， and suppressing mention of Russian hacking。 Our only defense seems to have come from thoughtful officials who acted under the radar of the administration。 The book ends in 2020; we wonder what the author would write now -- what has the new Biden administration done to bolster our security？ Another important point continually reinforced in the book is the hubris of secrecy， when digital weapons are so easily copied and used against us， as happened many times in the last decade -- our secrecy-bureaucrats are so protective of their own budgets and privileges they are blind to the dangers of inevitable publicity。 We are still not emotionally conditioned to understand the immediacy of digital weaponry; we still think in terms of physical action and the limitations of construction and delivery across time and space -- we grow up in physical bodies， learning about physical interactions over many years; how can we fully imagine internet-speed attempts and attacks and disinformation and chaos？ Perhaps the "digital native" generation will be more innately sensitive to this speed， and its dangers？ We can only hope。 。。。more
Voice_of_Reason
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While I found the book a fascinating read， much of it is unbearably repetitive and a good editor could have pared between 100 and 200 pages from this book。 Remember that quote， "If I had more time， I would have written a shorter letter。"？ If Ms Perlroth had had more time， she could have written a shorter book。 After I was done reading it on Kindle， I went to the "About this book" section， saw that the average time to read the book was over twelve hours， and vowed to never again read a book of th While I found the book a fascinating read， much of it is unbearably repetitive and a good editor could have pared between 100 and 200 pages from this book。 Remember that quote， "If I had more time， I would have written a shorter letter。"？ If Ms Perlroth had had more time， she could have written a shorter book。 After I was done reading it on Kindle， I went to the "About this book" section， saw that the average time to read the book was over twelve hours， and vowed to never again read a book of that length unless the subject matter was of extraordinary interest to me or the reviews were over the moon。 We only have so many hours given to us and getting stuck in an interesting but overlong read means we aren't reading that next book on our list which we might find more interesting and entertaining。。。and a shorter read。 。。。more
Lynn
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This is a pretty interesting book。 I’ve read books about cyber security about and it gets confusing and incomprehensible after awhile。 The author states she wrote this book to help laymen to understand it better。 She jokes she knew nothing about the topic when she was hired by the NYT but they gave her job because no one else working there could understand what the experts were talking about when they interviews them。 She steadily learned about cyber security immersing herself into it。 She found This is a pretty interesting book。 I’ve read books about cyber security about and it gets confusing and incomprehensible after awhile。 The author states she wrote this book to help laymen to understand it better。 She jokes she knew nothing about the topic when she was hired by the NYT but they gave her job because no one else working there could understand what the experts were talking about when they interviews them。 She steadily learned about cyber security immersing herself into it。 She found her very accessible at first and enjoying her writing but near the end I was struggling to comprehend。 A tough subject。 。。。more
Chet
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I found this to be very technical for my layman's knowledge， and it was a difficult slog （for me） most of the way through。 It did open my eyes to what was something I was aware of， but not to the extent it is。 Very academic， almost textbookish。。。I can envision it being required reading for those in computer science。 I found this to be very technical for my layman's knowledge， and it was a difficult slog （for me） most of the way through。 It did open my eyes to what was something I was aware of， but not to the extent it is。 Very academic， almost textbookish。。。I can envision it being required reading for those in computer science。 。。。more
Clay
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Picks up where Snowden left off: the zero-day business。 The earliest case she mentions was pre-Internet: the Russian hack on IBM typewriters in the US Embassy in Moscow that recorded every keystroke。 Current practices started with hackers posting vulnerabilities on message boards to show off， and prompt big tech to fix sloppy code。 Then a VA cybersecurity vendor got the idea of paying hackers starting at $75 for their work， then passing info to clients so they could protect themselves。 Then US d Picks up where Snowden left off: the zero-day business。 The earliest case she mentions was pre-Internet: the Russian hack on IBM typewriters in the US Embassy in Moscow that recorded every keystroke。 Current practices started with hackers posting vulnerabilities on message boards to show off， and prompt big tech to fix sloppy code。 Then a VA cybersecurity vendor got the idea of paying hackers starting at $75 for their work， then passing info to clients so they could protect themselves。 Then US defense contractors started paying much more and providing to US government agencies to use these back doors for defense or offense。 Called zero-days because when discovered， users have zero days to protect themselves or suffer the consequences。 Now many governments are into the act， and the lead between the leaders （USA， Israel， China， and Russia） and the rest is shrinking。 Price for zero-day can be $1。5m， and more with exploits built-in， i。e。 programmed to get into a target system and do something like shut off all the lights。 The most elegant one to date is Stuxnet， which used to shut down uranium enrichment in Iran for a while。 Says this was like the Manhattan Project and bomb in Hiroshima: once countries saw the potential， everyone wants to have it。 Book is a wake up call that these practices can easily get out of hand， and cause unfathomable damage: as one hacker tells the author: the world will end by accident。 On the other hand， if there was no Stuxnet， and Israelis bombed the Iranian reactor instead， it could have started a major war。 Argentina is a major zero-day center of expertise， with hackers initially motivated by getting access to high-tech services blocked or highly priced by bad government policy。 Apple tried to encrypt everything in the iPhone with no backdoor for the FBI。 The government took them to court， then dropped the case because they found a $1。3m zero-day jailbreak exploit that opened the phone for them。 Russia is testing US infrastructure grids and demonstrated its capability in shutting down Ukraine electricity， ATMs， and nearly everything else connected for a day。 A full-scale attack in the US could shut down the electric grids for months to over a year。 In the past， US hackers won global hacking awards; now its hackers from Iran， Israel， Argentina， and other such places。 Still， many US hackers are still in the game， particularly ex NSA types。 There's been a transition， like Jerry Rubin who went from revolutionary to stockbroker。 US Hackers went from "information wants to be free" to selling to the highest bidder， even if the customer was a nasty authoritarian human rights abuser。There are other tradeoffs discussed: Zero days can empower oppressed minorities like Kurds in Turkey， as well as oppressors。 It enables the whole range of governments: from the worst human rights abuzers like Sudan to the better USA and five eyes。 A Turkish Kurd working on zero days in USA draws the line when presented with a Turkish General client。 A zero day broker claims to never sell to non US clients， until a wikileaks type expose shows this isn't true: "I was shocked， and closed down my zero day trade， he claimed。" Zero days are getting more common because software is getting more complex: software once hundreds of lines is now 50 million， giving lots more room for error。 There's an ethical question of how even the "better" USA justifies keeping secret computer vulnerabilities that put citizens at risk。 One CIA official puts it that if it takes four supercomputers to exploit a vulnerability， you can leave it; it its a zero day that will be more easily spotted， tell the vendor。 The raises the further question of why vendors sell software with so many vulnerabilities。 Among the explanations is Mark Zuckerberg's famous motto: move fast and break things。 Another not discussed in the book is the need for constant updating of software helps prevent software piracy; if so， its a bad deal for customers， because common channels for zero days are the software update mechanisms。 More likely is that tech companies， like many other organizations， only take difficult actions in the aftermath of disasters， as Microsoft did in 2002 when an early Windows hack became public knowledge。The USA emerges as a highly vulnerable country because it is so wired and so at the center of things tech。 In recent years， the worst hacks have been enabled by zero days developed by NSA， stolen， and sold to the highest bidder。 One of the worst was kept by NSA for 5 years， knowing that if deployed it could affect any windows computer user。 The takeaway: NSA is the top player on offense， but dismissive of defense。 Its main defense strategy in cyberwar is to tell attackers: whatever you do to us， we will do worse back to you。I admire Nicole's courage in going after this story。 The authoritarian leaders involved often bite back。 The Dear Leader from N Korea launched a major hack against Sony for a film about him。 Putin has also attacked foreign critics。 MBS in Saudi had Khashoggi killed and chopped into little bits。 He then went after WP owner Jeff Bezos， who was ultimately nabbed by a simple download by Jeff's mistresses' brother from his sister's phone。 Trump fired his head of cybersecurity when he wouldn't agree with the "stop the steal" narrative。 Is there any hope？ Some policy suggestions at the end are sensible， but hard to imagine in the USA political climate much constructive involvement from the government。 One telling point is that Nicole considers Norway a best practice policy case。 A bit like "getting to Denmark" in other governance circles: high trust societies are more likely to comply with sensible government regulation。 Nicole points out how Russian and other operations have helped to poison the trust well in the USA so that in the 2020 election the Russians were barely involved: they didn't need to be; the chaos and distrust they helped to seed 4 years before was working of its own accord。 So my guess is that her policy suggestions involving government are not likely to be adopted until the inevitable catastrophe happens。 One of her suggestions is out of date: mobilizing the best USA hackers to find vulnerabilities through competitions et al; the problem is that the best hackers are no longer US citizens， so you would be putting a 2nd rate team up against the problem。 Some of the challenges are clear in the Solar Winds hack discovered a few months ago。 Microsoft says China did it， the US government's Director of Intelligence says it's Russia。 NSA says they were surprised by it because they are forbidden by law to work within the USA to detect such things: yet Snowden showed us how they get around this。 Nicole， the book author and coauthor of the latest on Solar Winds: https://www。nytimes。com/2021/03/14/us。。。says in her book that the key to a top-notch zero-day exploit is that the target doesn't realize what's happening for weeks， months， even years in some cases。 So what's a government early warning system to do？ There's talk of using private business as the early warning system， as happened by accident with Solar Winds: but the dark pathways Perlroth describes of the zero-day business make this seem risky。 Users can do their part。 90 percent of hacks are through passwords， so use 2-factor authentication， and don't use "password" as your password。 Apple products are harder to hack than others: the cost of an iPhone jailbreak zero-day is $3m or more。 But there are still nasty players willing to spend the money， and hackers willing to sell the zero-day to them。 The overall takeaway: zero-day exploits aren't going away; Governments， businesses， and individual computer users beware。 。。。more
Christopher Warshaw
，
Tom Clancy ain’t got nothing on the truth！！Unbelievably scary the vulnerability of today’s internet connected world we live inAfter reading this I made sure I had a lot of cash on hand for when the Cyber Wars beginNot if but when
Ben
，
Solid overview of infosec as it relates to natsecWell sourced and entertaining but melodramatic and the author let herself and her biases make their way into the story too much。 Needed an editor。
Marcos
，
Five stars because everyone should read this。 The cyber landscape isn't something I knew about at all but now I can't ignore what a looming threat it is。 The author compares it to the pandemic at the end， saying how we weren't prepared and hoping it won't take a global threat for everyone to take the issue seriously Five stars because everyone should read this。 The cyber landscape isn't something I knew about at all but now I can't ignore what a looming threat it is。 The author compares it to the pandemic at the end， saying how we weren't prepared and hoping it won't take a global threat for everyone to take the issue seriously 。。。more
Leila
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Excellent。 Eye opening revelations about the cyber world， Hacking， and the Cyberweapons Arms Race， told so that even a grandmother can understand the dangers， current threats and dangers of the world we are now living in。
Toni
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This book is eye opening regarding the history of cyber warfare/information security between nation states。 Highly accessible and engaging for non-trechnical readers interested in the topic but a little lacking for someone fascinated by technical details。
Dhaval Patel
，
Riveting story about the current state of cyber arms。 Insightful and alarming 😱
David
，
Absolutely fantastic！ Well written，informative and timely。Recommended reading for all
Vibhor Jain
，
One of the tough ones to rate。The information provided is exceptional。 Shows the hard work put in by the author。 The high rating is an indicative that readers are actually in awe of the content。The downside is the presentation/layout of the content。 The book requires good editing。 At times it feels you are reading random thoughts of the writer。 Timelines feel haphazard at times。 Many points are repeated in the book。This is definitely a great foundation to the topic and adds to the awareness but One of the tough ones to rate。The information provided is exceptional。 Shows the hard work put in by the author。 The high rating is an indicative that readers are actually in awe of the content。The downside is the presentation/layout of the content。 The book requires good editing。 At times it feels you are reading random thoughts of the writer。 Timelines feel haphazard at times。 Many points are repeated in the book。This is definitely a great foundation to the topic and adds to the awareness but by no means this would be the best。 。。。more
Mike Gonzalez
，
23
Preetisha
，
A hefty book that feels satisfying to have finished！ And one that makes me want to throw away my phone and move to a remote town in Montana ASAP。。 just kidding。 But I appreciated that she focused on specific conversations/people to make cybersecurity more accessible to the average human。 Pretty wild how much hacking goes on and how easy it is to not be super informed about any of it！ The NSA sucks and so do our foreign adversaries！ It would have been nice to see more sources for claims made thro A hefty book that feels satisfying to have finished！ And one that makes me want to throw away my phone and move to a remote town in Montana ASAP。。 just kidding。 But I appreciated that she focused on specific conversations/people to make cybersecurity more accessible to the average human。 Pretty wild how much hacking goes on and how easy it is to not be super informed about any of it！ The NSA sucks and so do our foreign adversaries！ It would have been nice to see more sources for claims made throughout the book。 Minus one star for the author's incessant references to writing for the New York Times。。。。。 。。。more
Mike
，
This is an excellent book。Perlroth covers decades of history on information security， and tells detailed stories about some of the most significant publicly-known breaches。 That includes a very detailed history of the US/Israelli Stuxnet program that damaged Iranian centrifuges used for nuclear weapons development， the Chines breach of the US Office of Personnel Management's records （including security clearance applications） and much more。 The underlying technology is absolutely complicated， bu This is an excellent book。Perlroth covers decades of history on information security， and tells detailed stories about some of the most significant publicly-known breaches。 That includes a very detailed history of the US/Israelli Stuxnet program that damaged Iranian centrifuges used for nuclear weapons development， the Chines breach of the US Office of Personnel Management's records （including security clearance applications） and much more。 The underlying technology is absolutely complicated， but her book is pitched at lay readers， outside the tech sector， and is quite accessible。Just as she was finishing the book， the SolarWinds hack was discovered and reported。 That serious breach doesn't appear in the book at all -- proof of how quickly the news develops and how fast the bad news about the bad guys breaks。Her coverage is so good because she looks at the policy， espionage， economic and other incentives that underlie the infosec cold war。 This is a great primer for anyone who wants to understand why we are at risk， as well as how。The epilogue could serve as a standalone policy briefing document for Congressional staffers looking to draft legislation that would secure our infrastructure。 It's a useful read for industry infosec workers and intelligence and defense sector practitioners as well。This book is an important contribution to the public dialogue on this critical topic。 I've spent my entire career working in information technology， databases and big data， and I learned a great deal from reading it。 。。。more
Jeff Berman
，
When I served at the Senate， among the most chilling and riveting declassified meetings I sat in on were led by Richard Clarke， our nation’s first Cyber Czar。 The future threats he outlined then are clear and present dangers today， as brilliantly and accessibly detailed by Nicole Perlroth in This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends。 It’s hard to imagine reading a more urgent book this year。
John
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Fascinating and well-written。 It tells a personal story， too， in that it delves into her journalistic work and thus has a sleuthing quality to it。 This adds to the interest。 And Perlroth seems to have a novelist's dramatic strengths that make the story as much a detective story as a handbook on the world's ills and coming ills as they relate to cyber destruction and dread。 At times some of the story and the background went too far into the weeds for me， but overall an excellent story。 Fascinating and well-written。 It tells a personal story， too， in that it delves into her journalistic work and thus has a sleuthing quality to it。 This adds to the interest。 And Perlroth seems to have a novelist's dramatic strengths that make the story as much a detective story as a handbook on the world's ills and coming ills as they relate to cyber destruction and dread。 At times some of the story and the background went too far into the weeds for me， but overall an excellent story。 。。。more
Stefan
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Amazing book that will leave you both infuriated at the short sightdeness of focusing on cyber offence almost exclusively as well justifiably paranoided about the security of your digital devices。
Istók Róbert
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Felt like reading a thriller， but the fact that this is based on real-life was chilling。 We live in a world where everything is connected to the internet。 This gives hackers more surface than ever before to attack us， nation-states a vast battleground to advance their interests from the comfort of their homes and makes us extremely vulnerable in case we get hacked。This book is a fascinating walkthrough of the major cyber hacks from the last 20+ years。 Stuxnet， NotPetya， Wannacry， she has it all。 Felt like reading a thriller， but the fact that this is based on real-life was chilling。 We live in a world where everything is connected to the internet。 This gives hackers more surface than ever before to attack us， nation-states a vast battleground to advance their interests from the comfort of their homes and makes us extremely vulnerable in case we get hacked。This book is a fascinating walkthrough of the major cyber hacks from the last 20+ years。 Stuxnet， NotPetya， Wannacry， she has it all。 And oh， if you read the book， you can also find out how the conspiracy theories around Bill Gates & the Covid pandemic might have gotten mainstream， amongst other gems from 2020。Want to reduce the chance of getting hacked？ - Never click on suspicious links- Use a password manager to have different passwords for every app- Please turn on two-factor authentication。 This is the minimum you can do to protect your online identity。 。。。more
Ben
，
This is more of a history of cyberweapons than a current state of affairs， and I do wish it had gotten a bit more technical at points， but nonetheless this is a very good book outlining an underrated threat in an easily readable way。 An enjoyable and informative read， for sure。 Keep your software updated ;）
Nick
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Being in this industry I was naturally interested in the topic。 Our nation's cyber defense is a topic most people dont easily grasp， but Nicole does a fantastic job of laying out the history of how we "got here" and offers suggestions on how we could proceed。 The book isn't targeted at techies， but rather laypeople， and in that Nicole succeeds in clearly addressing the serious nature of our cyber problem。 Being in this industry I was naturally interested in the topic。 Our nation's cyber defense is a topic most people dont easily grasp， but Nicole does a fantastic job of laying out the history of how we "got here" and offers suggestions on how we could proceed。 The book isn't targeted at techies， but rather laypeople， and in that Nicole succeeds in clearly addressing the serious nature of our cyber problem。 。。。more
Heather
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Fascinatingly scary。 I now view data breaches， unexplained power outages， etc。 through a different lens。 Security really is an important thing， and so much of it is out of the individual's hands。 But we can make our passwords strong！Contains some bad language。 Fascinatingly scary。 I now view data breaches， unexplained power outages， etc。 through a different lens。 Security really is an important thing， and so much of it is out of the individual's hands。 But we can make our passwords strong！Contains some bad language。 。。。more
Nicholas Smeaton
，
An excellent look at the history of cyberwarfare up to late 2019。 Perlroth's book focuses more on the people involved than on the technical side of things which means this book is more accessable for those with limited knowledge of software development。 The book does come to terrifying conclusion but the author does an epilog in which she suggests a number of actions which would reduce the risk of an all out cyberwar hurling our society back to the middle ages。This is a must read for anyone want An excellent look at the history of cyberwarfare up to late 2019。 Perlroth's book focuses more on the people involved than on the technical side of things which means this book is more accessable for those with limited knowledge of software development。 The book does come to terrifying conclusion but the author does an epilog in which she suggests a number of actions which would reduce the risk of an all out cyberwar hurling our society back to the middle ages。This is a must read for anyone wanting to know what's going on behind the curtain of 'National Security' or for any author wanting to write a novel about Cyber warfare that is realistic。 。。。more
Caroline H
，