THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the Financial Times &
McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award * Bronze Medal, Arthur Ross
Book Award (Council on Foreign Relations)
"Part John le Carré and more parts Michael Crichton . . . spellbinding."
The New Yorker
"Written in the hot, propulsive prose of a spy thriller" (The New York
Times), the untold story of the cyberweapons market--the most
secretive, government-backed market on earth--and a terrifying first
look at a new kind of global warfare.
Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices
and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's
arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone,
dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election,
and shut down the electric grid (just ask Ukraine).
For decades, under cover of classification levels and non-disclosure
agreements, the United States government became the world's dominant
hoarder of zero days. U.S. government agents paid top dollar--first
thousands, and later millions of dollars-- to hackers willing to sell
their lock-picking code and their silence.
Then the United States lost control of its hoard and the market.
Now those zero days are in the hands of hostile nations and mercenaries
who do not care if your vote goes missing, your clean water is
contaminated, or our nuclear plants melt down.
Filled with spies, hackers, arms dealers, and a few unsung heroes,
written like a thriller and a reference, This Is How They Tell Me the
World Ends is an astonishing feat of journalism. Based on years of
reporting and hundreds of interviews, The New York Times reporter
Nicole Perlroth lifts the curtain on a market in shadow, revealing the
urgent threat faced by us all if we cannot bring the global cyber arms
race to heel.
