This was an interesting read. I am always on the look out for any info concerning the toxic we not only put into ourselves, but also into our environment. The author makes very valid points, but I'm a natural born cynic. I've seen and heard too many "next great things" to believe anyone. The great cure-alls never panned out. I am aware of looking into natural cures and organic farming, and it all sounds great, BUT I also know the world cannot be fed using all natural farming methods, and I don't care how many "experts" are spouting it. The world does need more biodiversity to counter crop devastation (think the Irish potato famine and the current banana fungus...). I would recommend reading this book by anyone who wants to learn about this issue.
I received a Kindle ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

An interesting foray into encryption and privacy, especially when considering the point of view of authorities who may need to access data on devices seized upon arrests.

The author makes a case for strengthened encryption, and I feel this makes more sense than the contrary. The book is positioned around the main controversy of including backdoors to allow police and intelligence services to access a device, so that when they need to do it during an investigation, to apprehend a perp or to follow the trail of other people potentially involved, they could do so easily; whereas strong encryption would make it difficult or impossible. However, as has been discussed during actual investigations (an example given in the book involves Apple), there’d be no guarantees that in-built backdoors would be used only by authorities: if they’re here, sooner or later someone with ill intentions is bound to find them and use them, too.

This ties into a general concern about how we have evolved into a digital age, and have to envision security from this perspective. Here also, while not going into deep technical details, the book explains the principles underlying this new brand of security; how this or that method works; the pros and cons of going towards more encryption or less encryption; what other solutions have already been tested, especially in military environments; how cyber-attacks can disrupt governmental operations in many different ways, such as what happened with Estonia and Georgia, and even the 2016 US elections. All very current and hot issues that deserve to be pointed at and examined, because whatever solutions get implemented, if they create less security and impinge on civilian privacy as well, they’re not going to be useful for very long (if ever).

Also interesting, even though it’s not the main focus, is the concept of encryption methods needing to be made public in order to be really efficient: the more people have a chance of poking at them, testing them, and finding faults, the more these methods can be revised and strengthened.

Conclusion: Not a very technical book, but that’s precisely why it makes a good introduction to such matters: easy to understand, while highlighting major concerns that not only deal with national security, but with our own (and with our privacy) as well.

Another dark view on our future due to the web and cyber espionage etc.etc. I wonder when it will be possible to control a lot of the things we cannot control right now, even because our government doesn't want us to be able to control them. Scary.

Un altro libro che si dilunga in quanto sará brutto il nostro futuro a causa del cyber spionaggio che possa poi essere usato da hacker o dai poteri forti. Mi chiedo se e quanto sará possibile controllare quanto attualmente ci é impossibile tenere sotto controllo, sia per cause esterne che governative. Mette paura.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

Received e-arc from NetGalley and Yale (publisher) - thank you Landau for this insightful and timely lesson on today's cyber issues. As a teacher, I feel this should be required reading for all students.

A well balanced, illuminating and thought-provoking examination of cyber threats and security in the midst of the Digital Revolution, which is transforming our world from atoms to bits.

Susan Landau has pitched Listening In at the right level for the wider audience. She took my hand and sagely guided me through the otherwise complicated Delphic world of decryption keys, substitution ciphers and encryption algorithms and seamlessly applied it to topical real world situations.

Such as the Russian's hacking the DNC and the resultant email leaks, combined with false news stories and Twitter bots that disrupted the US elections. The US military's use of sophisticated cyberattack weapons to remotely destroy centrifuges at a nuclear facility in Iran. Perhaps the most apposite for us as citizens in the digital era, the FBI's failed court applications to force Apple to write software in order for the FBI to access a terrorist's locked iPhone. A hotly debated issue of security versus privacy that pertinently will continue to be relevant in our future.

But what really stood out was Susan Landau's pragmatic, real world approach on how to address the ongoing cyber threats that we face today.

DARPA, the agency that introduced Internet to the world, developed an essentially unhackable helicopter by securing two small, but critical systems, namely the communications software and the operating system. This is an exemplar for securing both cars and smartphones which are large, complex systems that access multiple communication channels.

Despite the continuing cries by governmental agencies such as the FBI, NSA and CIA of "going dark" - losing the ability to listen in or collect data, the reality is that they are and continue to develop strategies for conducting surveillance via phones, GPS, social media, ubiquitous video cameras, facial recognition technology, data analysis across separate databases and automated license plate readers to name a few.

Within weeks of the FBI taking Apple back to court, one hacking company was able to give the FBI access to the phone and charged $1 million for the effort. A few months later, a Cambridge University researcher demonstrated how to hack the phone using chip-mirroring techniques costing approximately $100 from purchases on eBay.

While end-to-end encryption and secured devices has made it more difficult to collect personal data and conduct surveillance, the protection that encryption offers is essential to thwarting organised crime and nation-states from stealing our data, creating disruptions in the political and economic sphere and otherwise sowing havoc and chaos.

I highly recommend this book as a must read for anyone interested in the reality of living in a digital world.

PS: Various devices such as Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri and Smart TVs operates by transmitting your voice commands to algorithms in the cloud to parse your request and send a response to your device in your hand or living room. Which means that you have effectively invited a permanent eavesdropper into your home.

This ARC had been provided compliments of NetGalley. Gratitude sent to Yale University Press for allowing this pre-release made available.

The author had drawn a virtual line in the sand. We are buried in the midst of a digital revolution that's being tugged at from all sides. I'm a believer. For one, "we the people" need to feel secure with the digital information we share. It may be in the form of bank account numbers, email addresses, messages or pictures. Let's say, when online, can we be certain that vital Information such as credit card numbers are always going securely to the intended source? Short answer - no. Could our protected data possibly be intercepted? We can only hope. Although, that's being hopefully optimistic. What is it about our trusted smartphone, for example, that protects such sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands? Encryption. The digital process of converting information into a code. Generally speaking, the stronger the code the better. Enter cryptology. The buzzword that defines the foundation of digital security. We've come a long way since the Morse Code.

On the other side of the coin, in some legal matters, a government investigator may need quick and reliable access to a smartphone. Terrorism, drug prosecutions and child pronography to name just a few. Accessing data would be practically impossible with smartphones provided with strong encryption technology. Most of today's manufacturers have that capability made available to us. The government, however, has recommended weaker encryption methods be employed. That would help alleviate their problem. Tracking individuals would be easier. Although it would open up a can of worms for the public. Criminal elements would have far easier access to private information just as well. That's the conundrum.

I only chose to address issues relating to smartphones. It's safe to say that's the one thing most of society shares. Digitally, speaking of course. Since the smartphone's grand entrance into the market about ten years ago, it's become a household item. Think of how many people you know, who don't have one!

The author brilliantly introduced many global hot-button issues regarding cyber security from its birth up until present day. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I selected this book. The information poured out like an angry beehive. It read more like an encyclopedia of cyber security than a novel. The author discussed at length dozens upon dozens of cases both global and domestic. If you wanted to know everything, I mean everything about our present digital revolution, this prose would be the one I'd recommend.