Cyberphobia

Crossing the road, we look both ways. Riding a bicycle at night, we use lights. So why is our attitude towards online security so relaxed? Edward Lucas reveals the ways in which cyberspace is not the secure zone we may hope, how passwords provide no significant obstacle to anyone intent on getting past them, and how anonymity is easily accessible to anyone - malign or benign - willing to take a little time covering their tracks. The internet was designed by a small group of computer scientists looking for a way to share information quickly. In the last twenty years it has expanded rapidly to become a global information superhighway, available to all comers, but also wide open to those seeking invisibility. This potential for anonymity means neither privacy nor secrecy are really possible for law-abiding corporations or citizens. As identities can be faked so easily the very foundations on which our political, legal and economic systems are based are vulnerable. Businesses, governments, national security organisations and even ordinary individuals are constantly at risk and with our ever increasing dependence on the internet and smart-phone technology this threat is unlikely to diminish - in fact, the target for cyber-criminals is expanding all the time. Not only does Cyberphobia lay bare the dangers of the internet, it also explores the most successful defensive cyber-strategies, options for tracking down transgressors and argues that we are moving into a post-digital age where once again face-to-face communication will be the only interaction that really matters. Edward Lucas has achieved the near-impossible: equipping us all with a highly readable yet instructive guide to the dangers behind our everyday internet use and how best to stay safe. Parents should buy for their children - and vice versa Sir David Omand, former Director of GCHQ and UK Intelligence and Security Coordinator The internet is our greatest vulnerability as well as our greatest resource: hackers and hoodlums can steal your most important resources and disappear into the ether. Edward Lucas not only demonstrates just how vulnerable we are. He demonstrates how we can fight back against the cyber-criminals. And he does so with panache and style - explaining complicated concepts in plain words and brings light to even the darkest corners of the internet Adrian Wooldridge, author of The Great Disruption: How Business is Coping with Turbulent Times Putin [and] his friends ... are gangsters on a scale that makes Al Capone or the Corleones seem small-time ... Lucas is right to castigate our folly in treating all this so lightly Max Hastings, Sunday Times on Deception Entertaining and informative ... Lucas contrasts our complacency and delusion with Russia's ruthless ingenuity Mail on Sunday, on The New Cold War Highly informed, crisply written and alarming ... Outstanding Evening Standard, on The New Cold War An impressive polemic arguing that the West still underestimates the danger that Putin's Russia poses Sunday Times on The New Cold War