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linuxlibrarian's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
A definite read for all CyberSec Students, and wanna be hackers.
anovelobsession's review against another edition
5.0
If just reading the prologue to this book doesn't make you want to live off the grid and bury your money in your backyard, you are braver than I. A lot of this book was information that I know nothing about so I did a lot of re-reading and looking up words and people/events in the news. It definitely opened my eyes to the world we are living in know. Information is power. Have enough of it and you can control anything. It also gave me a new appreciation for those working in our Cyber Command. But it also left me with a lot of questions and anxiety about what we are doing to ensure our infrastructure, banking and weapon systems remain safe and secure!
jadeyen's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
medium-paced
4.75
I loved the journalistic approach and person forward storytelling, coupled with the contextual geopolitics, information about the government, etc. Though I do think that contributed also to a minor sense of head swirling at just how layered and complex these things can be — even as a software engineer that keeps fairly up to date with geopolitics! She deftly weaves multiple nation-states/corporations security policies and actions, security history, sources all across different government departments, and hacker/security figure profiles to a cohesive and very well written/composed narrative. I’m both terrified and glad to have read this.
All my homies hate IoT/me first security policy!!
All my homies hate IoT/me first security policy!!
julcoh's review against another edition
4.0
I read [b:Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon|18465875|Countdown to Zero Day Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon|Kim Zetter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404960332l/18465875._SX50_.jpg|26123986] five years ago, and this book was a fantastic follow-up to understand the contemporary zero day and cyber exploit environment.
Perlroth was one of The New York Times' primary cybersecurity journalists for a decade and covered much of this history in real-time, from Edward Snowden through Guccifer 2.0, the Shadow Brokers, and the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. This history allows her to weave a comprehensible and interesting story tying together the full scope and history of the zero day exploit market's development, and its effect on our geopolitics.
If I may, likely unfairly and certainly incompletely, sum it up:
With Stuxnet, America (AGAIN) was the first nation-state to use a new class of WMD against a foreign adversary.
American agencies then spent the next five years developing a grey market for zero day exploits to enable its offensive cyber hacking capabilities, assuming 1) that it would maintain its lead in cyber exploitation for years, and 2) that it would be able to balance national security with the privacy and security of private firms and the public community, by deciding unilaterally which exploits should be turned over to (American) firms to patch, and which should be kept secret.
They were grossly and explicitly wrong on both assumptions.
In 2016 The Shadow Brokers leaked the NSA's entire suite of hacking tools to the open web, followed in 2017 by Wikileaks publishing the CIA's Vault 7 suite of hacking tools to the open web.
These American weapons have since been turned on us, our closest allies, and the rest of the world in a sustained new-normal global "cold" cyberwar. The WannaCry ransomware attack that took down the NHS for days, the NotPetya attacks by Russia on Ukraine, and the scores of hacks by North Korea, China, Iran, UAE and others around the world represent what must be the most enormous boomerang effect in all of human history.
In effect, the US developed a digital nuclear bomb which was stolen, copied, then dropped on us and our closest allies.
Perlroth ends the book with a few notes of potential optimism and a roadmap for change, but I am not optimistic.
*I listened to the Audible audiobook narrated by Allyson Ryan, not my favorite voice actor.
Perlroth was one of The New York Times' primary cybersecurity journalists for a decade and covered much of this history in real-time, from Edward Snowden through Guccifer 2.0, the Shadow Brokers, and the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. This history allows her to weave a comprehensible and interesting story tying together the full scope and history of the zero day exploit market's development, and its effect on our geopolitics.
If I may, likely unfairly and certainly incompletely, sum it up:
With Stuxnet, America (AGAIN) was the first nation-state to use a new class of WMD against a foreign adversary.
American agencies then spent the next five years developing a grey market for zero day exploits to enable its offensive cyber hacking capabilities, assuming 1) that it would maintain its lead in cyber exploitation for years, and 2) that it would be able to balance national security with the privacy and security of private firms and the public community, by deciding unilaterally which exploits should be turned over to (American) firms to patch, and which should be kept secret.
They were grossly and explicitly wrong on both assumptions.
In 2016 The Shadow Brokers leaked the NSA's entire suite of hacking tools to the open web, followed in 2017 by Wikileaks publishing the CIA's Vault 7 suite of hacking tools to the open web.
These American weapons have since been turned on us, our closest allies, and the rest of the world in a sustained new-normal global "cold" cyberwar. The WannaCry ransomware attack that took down the NHS for days, the NotPetya attacks by Russia on Ukraine, and the scores of hacks by North Korea, China, Iran, UAE and others around the world represent what must be the most enormous boomerang effect in all of human history.
In effect, the US developed a digital nuclear bomb which was stolen, copied, then dropped on us and our closest allies.
Perlroth ends the book with a few notes of potential optimism and a roadmap for change, but I am not optimistic.
*I listened to the Audible audiobook narrated by Allyson Ryan, not my favorite voice actor.
dale_kooyenga's review against another edition
3.0
Great book that I will utilize to review Wisconsin's public policy relating to IT vulnerabilities. This is also a must read for Military Officers in order to understand the new threat and vulnerabilities across numerous systems. Interesting ethical/moral/legal questions come to the surface in this book. If you see the world in black and white this book will reveal a like of grey zones when it comes to the right approaches and policies to address "zero days" and other threats to IT systems that have the power to shut down life as we know it.
mikeschouw's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing book on the world of zero-day exploits, cyberwars and how scared you should be of the next cyber attacks.