America the Vulnerable

Inside the New Threat Matrix of Digital Espionage, Crime, and Warfare

De: Joel Brenner

Narrado por: Lloyd James

Now available in a new edition entitled GLASS HOUSES: Privacy, Secrecy, and Cyber Insecurity in a Transparent World.

A former top-level National Security Agency insider goes behind the headlines to explore America's next great battleground: digital security. An urgent wake-up call that identifies our foes; unveils their methods; and charts the dire consequences for government, business, and individuals.

Shortly after 9/11, Joel Brenner entered the inner sanctum of American espionage, first as the inspector general of the National Security Agency, then as the head of counterintelligence for the director of national intelligence. He saw at close range the battleground on which our adversaries are now attacking us-cyberspace. We are at the mercy of a new generation of spies who operate remotely from China, the Middle East, Russia, even France, among many other places. These operatives have already shown their ability to penetrate our power plants, steal our latest submarine technology, rob our banks, and invade the Pentagon's secret communications systems.

Incidents like the WikiLeaks posting of secret U.S. State Department cables hint at the urgency of this problem, but they hardly reveal its extent or its danger. Our government and corporations are a "glass house," all but transparent to our adversaries. Counterfeit computer chips have found their way into our fighter aircraft; the Chinese stole a new radar system that the navy spent billions to develop; our own soldiers used intentionally corrupted thumb drives to download classified intel from laptops in Iraq. And much more.

Dispatches from the corporate world are just as dire. In 2008, hackers lifted customer files from the Royal Bank of Scotland and used them to withdraw $9 million in half an hour from ATMs in the United States, Britain, and Canada. If that was a traditional heist, it would be counted as one of the largest in history. Worldwide, corporations lose on average $5 million worth of intellectual property apiece annually, and big companies lose many times that.

The structure and culture of the Internet favor spies over governments and corporations, and hackers over privacy, and we've done little to alter that balance. Brenner draws on his extraordinary background to show how to right this imbalance and bring to cyberspace the freedom, accountability, and security we expect elsewhere in our lives.

In America the Vulnerable, Brenner offers a chilling and revelatory appraisal of the new faces of war and espionage-virtual battles with dangerous implications for government, business, and all of us.

Different perspective

Overall I enjoyed it. The book did a great job of covering a lot of historically relevant topics and did a little forecasting too, which was refreshing.

Great information

I work in IT and deal with networking security issues every day, this book gives the average computer user an inside to what the security world is all about. I really enjoyed the last chapter and the ideas for a better way of communication from one country to another who share the same ideology of a democratic society

Interesting take on the Porn industry

The author is right about the way you want to portray the Porn industry. This is an interesting take on how free porn came to be. The first hand stories are interesting and the book has led me to understand how free porn works, the implications it had on the industry, and the effects it has had in our society.

A Must Listen for Anyone in CyberSecurity

What did you love best about America the Vulnerable?

The author comes from a place of real world authority of this subject and his comments are highly creditable. The content is provided in a manner that is interesting, thought provoking, and free of dry jargon. He takes a very methodical approach to introducing the issues, the ‘so what’ part of the equation, and provides recommendations or commentary. The topics are current, relevant, and timely. If you are someone who is in the C-Level management, IT professional, or an actual Cyber Security professional, this is a mandatory listen.

What about Lloyd James’s performance did you like?

I felt the performance was excellent. Mr. James reading made you feel like the two of you were having a conversation about the subject over a coffee. I would certainly seek other materials by the performer.

wars in the future?

if this is correct, and if we aren't proactive, this is the future. Government sponsored hackers could take down our whole country and disrupt our way of life. Let's hope we're smart and proactive.