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Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon by Kim Zetter
drguildo's review
3.0
It's obvious a lot of research has gone into this book and the author presents a lot of interesting information, there's just far too much boring detail. Things like the monthly uranium enrichment yields would be far better represented as a graph or simply summarised. That level of detail is best served by the reports that the author has made the effort to cite.
julcoh's review against another edition
4.0
I expected a riveting account of the US and Israeli project to sabotage Iran's covert nuclear program-- and got it. I did not count on the supreme sense of unease I now feel at the state of cybersecurity guarding the world's critical infrastructure, as well as broad swaths of ubiquotous industrial equipment. Power generation, dams, water treatment, fuel refining... all vulnerable.
Especially in light of the recent Vault 7 WikiLeaks disclosure, this is a must-read. Even if it's just to look back with horror after the first major offensive cyber attack on civilian infrastructure occurs. It could happen in one year, ten years, or fifty, but I increasingly believe in its inevitability.
Especially in light of the recent Vault 7 WikiLeaks disclosure, this is a must-read. Even if it's just to look back with horror after the first major offensive cyber attack on civilian infrastructure occurs. It could happen in one year, ten years, or fifty, but I increasingly believe in its inevitability.
niittula's review against another edition
5.0
Mycket bra beskrivet, och dramatiserat, om hur Stuxnet fungerade och användes för att slå ut centrifuger i Irans urananrikningsanläggningar, och vilka konsekvenser detta får (och har fått) för cyberkrigföringen.
terminalfin's review against another edition
5.0
This was the first complete book I have read in well over a decade. I have skimmed many a book from time to time, but this one was recommended to me by a co-worker and tied into my fascination, and passion, for all things cyber security. Needless to say, reading this was a no-brainer especially with the comments I continued to receive from the friend who recommended the book to me.
The book tells the tale of the Stuxnet, DuQu, and Flame malware. These malware samples represent a major shift in the nature of cyber attack and cyber warfare in the history of the world. The author goes into great detail on various aspects of the events leading up to the discovery of the worm, the political tensions which brought about its necessity (and eventuality), the technical aspects of the worms at a level that most can understand, with enough critical details that a security nut like me could enjoy, and then an analysis of the future of cyber war (zero day hunting and sales, national actor cyber engagements, and the role of governmental organizations in enacting cyber as an effects generator for political, military, or other action).
I feel that the blending of each of the previous topic areas help paint an overall picture of the current cyber climate, the nature of Stuxnet and the other two malware systems, and provides a good series of questions to look into for future readings and analysis. There are plenty of papers published which cover many of these areas and this book provides a very decent jump-off point for future research.
This is a book I can wholeheartedly recommend to any cyber enthusiast, a casual reader looking to get further insight into how these attacks work, and the implications associated with an attack and the associated zero-days. The book does maintain a level of technical detail but this is minimized in terms of confusion thanks to the author's ability to articulate, in lay terms, these details for less technical readers.
The book tells the tale of the Stuxnet, DuQu, and Flame malware. These malware samples represent a major shift in the nature of cyber attack and cyber warfare in the history of the world. The author goes into great detail on various aspects of the events leading up to the discovery of the worm, the political tensions which brought about its necessity (and eventuality), the technical aspects of the worms at a level that most can understand, with enough critical details that a security nut like me could enjoy, and then an analysis of the future of cyber war (zero day hunting and sales, national actor cyber engagements, and the role of governmental organizations in enacting cyber as an effects generator for political, military, or other action).
I feel that the blending of each of the previous topic areas help paint an overall picture of the current cyber climate, the nature of Stuxnet and the other two malware systems, and provides a good series of questions to look into for future readings and analysis. There are plenty of papers published which cover many of these areas and this book provides a very decent jump-off point for future research.
This is a book I can wholeheartedly recommend to any cyber enthusiast, a casual reader looking to get further insight into how these attacks work, and the implications associated with an attack and the associated zero-days. The book does maintain a level of technical detail but this is minimized in terms of confusion thanks to the author's ability to articulate, in lay terms, these details for less technical readers.
katherine_shelton's review
informative
slow-paced
3.5
Mostly a great read, but a little over-written and occasionally repetitive. I think it could have used some tighter editing. But overall, a decent, thorough look at the first known use of a cyber weapon on a nuclear facility.
stevenyenzer's review against another edition
4.0
I read and loved Zetter's original Wired articles about Stuxnet, so I was really looking forward to Countdown to Zero Day. She does such a good job explaining and dramatizing complex and technical systems that you almost forget how esoteric some of it is -- in the middle of her description of how Stuxnet changes the frequency of the rotational speed of nuclear centrifuges by infecting their PLCs, I realized how boring this could be in anyone else's hands.