A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers
Ratings22
Average rating4.2
"With the nuance of a reporter and the pace of a thriller writer, Andy Greenberg gives us a glimpse of the cyberwars of the future while at the same time placing his story in the long arc of Russian and Ukrainian history." —Anne Applebaum, bestselling author of Twilight of Democracy The true story of the most devastating act of cyberwarfare in history and the desperate hunt to identify and track the elite Russian agents behind it: "[A] chilling account of a Kremlin-led cyberattack, a new front in global conflict" (Financial Times). In 2014, the world witnessed the start of a mysterious series of cyberattacks. Targeting American utility companies, NATO, and electric grids in Eastern Europe, the strikes grew ever more brazen. They culminated in the summer of 2017, when the malware known as NotPetya was unleashed, penetrating, disrupting, and paralyzing some of the world's largest businesses—from drug manufacturers to software developers to shipping companies. At the attack's epicenter in Ukraine, ATMs froze. The railway and postal systems shut down. Hospitals went dark. NotPetya spread around the world, inflicting an unprecedented ten billion dollars in damage—the largest, most destructive cyberattack the world had ever seen. The hackers behind these attacks are quickly gaining a reputation as the most dangerous team of cyberwarriors in history: a group known as Sandworm. Working in the service of Russia's military intelligence agency, they represent a persistent, highly skilled force, one whose talents are matched by their willingness to launch broad, unrestrained attacks on the most critical infrastructure of their adversaries. They target government and private sector, military and civilians alike. A chilling, globe-spanning detective story, Sandworm considers the danger this force poses to our national security and stability. As the Kremlin's role in foreign government manipulation comes into greater focus, Sandworm exposes the realities not just of Russia's global digital offensive, but of an era where warfare ceases to be waged on the battlefield. It reveals how the lines between digital and physical conflict, between wartime and peacetime, have begun to blur—with world-shaking implications.
Reviews with the most likes.
Well written and clear, I'm about ready to buy a generator and solar panels for the inevitable day when the blackouts come.
Executive Summary: 3.5 stars. A bit slow in places, but a pretty fascinating and scary read.
Full Review
I've had a subscription to wired.com for the last year or so, and I tend to click on/read most of Mr. Greenberg's articles. He tends to focus on cybersecurity and computer crime.
This book focuses on the increasingly scarier world of state-sponsored hackers and cyber warfare. I've read a few other books on this now and I found it pretty well researched and written. I didn't know much of the events in this book so I feel like I learned a lot from it.
America tends to just focus on itself, so a lot of this was left to minor headlines and largely ignored by the public. However the internet has made the world a much smaller place, and the warning signs this book presents should not be ignored by any country.
If you enjoy computer hacking stories this book is worth a look, otherwise it may be worthwhile to check out an article on the subject instead.
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2,097 booksWhen you think back on every book you've ever read, what are some of your favorites? These can be from any time of your life – books that resonated with you as a kid, ones that shaped your personal...