Cybersecurity and Cyberwar

A generation ago, “cyberspace” was just a term from science fiction, used to describe the nascent network of computers linking a few university labs. Today, our entire modern way of life, from communication to commerce to conflict, fundamentally depends on the Internet. And the cybersecurity issues that result challenge literally everyone: politicians wrestling with everything from cybercrime to online freedom; generals protecting the nation from new forms of attack, while planning new cyberwars; business executives defending firms from once unimaginable threats, and looking to make money off of them; lawyers and ethicists building new frameworks for right and wrong. Most of all, cybersecurity issues affect us as individuals. 

We face new questions in everything from our rights and responsibilities as citizens of both the online and real world to simply how to protect ourselves and our families from a new type of danger. And, yet there is perhaps no issue that has grown so important, so quickly, and that touches so many, that remains so poorly understood.

In Cybersecurity and CyberWar: What Everyone Needs to Know, New York Times best-selling author P. W. Singer and noted cyber expert Allan Friedman team up to provide the kind of easy-to-read, yet deeply informative resource book that has been missing on this crucial issue of 21st century life. Written in a lively, accessible style, filled with engaging stories and illustrative anecdotes, the book is structured around the key question areas of cyberspace and its security: how it all works, why it all matters, and what can we do? Along the way, they take readers on a tour of the important (and entertaining) issues and characters of cybersecurity, from the “Anonymous” hacker group and the Stuxnet computer virus to the new cyber units of the Chinese and US militaries. Cybersecurity and CyberWar: What Everyone Needs to Know is the definitive account on the subject for us all, which comes not a moment too soon.

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Reviews

In our digital age, the issues of cybersecurity are no longer just for the technology crowd; they matter to us all. Whether you work in business or politics, the military or the media—or are simply an ordinary citizen—this is an essential read.

- Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google

This is the most approachable and readable book ever written on the cyber world. The authors have distilled the key facts and policy, provided sensible recommendations, and opened the debate generally to any informed citizen: a singular achievement. A must read for practitioners and scholars alike.

- Admiral James Stavridis, US Navy (Ret), former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO; Dean, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Tufts University

I loved the book. Wow. Until I read this astonishing and important book, I didn’t know how much I didn’t know about the hidden world of Cybersecurity and Cyberwar. Singer and Friedman make comprehensible an impossibly complex subject, and expose the frightening truth. Understanding these often-invisible threats to our personal and national security is a necessary first step toward defending ourselves against them. This is an essential read. 

- Howard Gordon, Writer and Executive Producer of “Homeland” and “24″

If you read only one book about “all this cyberstuff,” make it this one. Singer and Friedman know how to make even the most complicated material accessible and even entertaining, while at the same time making a powerful case for why ALL of us need to know more and think harder about the (cyber) world we now live in.

- Anne-Marie Slaughter, President of the New America Foundation, former Director of Policy Planning, US State Department

Singer and Friedman blend a wonderfully easy to follow FAQ format with engaging prose, weaving explanations of the elements of cybersecurity with revealing anecdotes. From the fundamentals of Internet architecture to the topical intrigue of recent security leaks, this book provides an accessible and enjoyable analysis of the current cybersecurity landscape and what it could look like in the future.

- Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law and Computer Science at Harvard University, author of The Future of the Internet — And How to Stop It

A well written and fascinating examination of the technology that supports our society and much of the world. The authors discuss how cyberspace and security work, how they affect us, and what every individual -and Soldier -should know. If you have a computer, smartphone, or digital account, you should read this book.

- US Army Professional Reading List