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Cybersecurity and Cyberwar
Book

Cybersecurity and Cyberwar

What Everyone Needs to Know

Oxford UP, 2014 more...


Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

P.W. Singer and Allan Friedman of the Brookings Institution reveal the mysteries of botnets and shed light on the murky areas of cyberwar and clandestine military operations. They detail fascinating episodes, such as the US-Israeli Stuxnet attack on Iranian nuclear engineers, an infiltration so stealthy the engineers didn’t even know it was happening. And, they tell businesses how to stay alert to their own security. Their other true accomplishment, meanwhile, is maintaining a light, entertaining tone. getAbstract recommends their fascinating study to students, coders, start-ups, historians, strategists, anyone in the military, and business owners and managers seeking insight into the defining security frontier of our time.

Take-Aways

  • In 2010, the computer security firm McAfee found new malware every 15 minutes. By 2013, it found a new example each second.
  • The Stuxnet worm provides a case study in bloodless cyberwarfare with no military or civilian casualties.
  • Stuxnet infiltrated Iran’s nuclear program through Iranian scientists’ flash drives and laptops, and adjusted engineers’ equipment to self-sabotage.

About the Authors

Peter Warren Singer directs the Brookings Institution’s Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence. Allan Friedman is research director of Brookings’ Center for Technology Innovation.


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