Worm

The First Digital World War

By: Mark Bowden

Narrated by: Christopher Lane

Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Worm: The First Digital World War tells the story of the Conficker worm, a potentially devastating piece of malware that has baffled experts and infected more than twelve million computers worldwide. When Conficker was unleashed in November 2008, cybersecurity experts did not know what to make of it. Exploiting security flaws in Microsoft Windows, it grew at an astonishingly rapid rate, infecting millions of computers around the world within weeks. Once the worm infiltrated one system it was able to link it with others to form a single network under illicit outside control known as a “botnet.” This botnet was soon capable of overpowering any of the vital computer networks that control banking, telephones, energy flow, air traffic, health-care information — even the Internet itself. Was it a platform for criminal profit or a weapon controlled by a foreign power or dissident organization?

Surprisingly, the U.S. government was only vaguely aware of the threat that Conficker posed, and the task of mounting resistance to the worm fell to a disparate but gifted group of geeks, Internet entrepreneurs, and computer programmers. But when Conficker’s controllers became aware that their creation was encountering resistance, they began refining the worm’s code to make it more difficult to trace and more powerful, testing the Cabal lock’s unity and resolve. Will the Cabal lock down the worm before it is too late? Game on.

©2011 Mark Bowden (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Clear, Concise Story of the Conficker Worm

I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. It was very clearly written with plenty of background on the technical side of computer viruses and worms to make the story clear and easy to follow. The Conficker worm turns out to be rather mysterious, and I appreciated that mystery element. For the most part, Bowden keeps himself out of the story - another plus. Recommended for those who like Hackers, The Cuckoo's Egg, and stories about computer history.

scary

I just finished this book and I see in today's newspaper some of the people that are in the book have a grant from the government to build a new firewall. They are to start from the beginning to create a new way of protecting computers instead of patches. Mark Bowden's well written book allowed me to understand the problem and the importance to the new firewall. The conficker worm is the largest most frighting malware I have heard of. This book reads like a sci-fi book only it is all real. The conficker has created the largest bot-net ever seen and no one yet knows what this worm is going to do or when never mind how to stop it. Just imagine what would happen if some one shut down all the Internet traffic and crashed all the computers. This is a great book and Christopher Lane did a good job narrating the story.

great overview of worms, viruses, bot nets

fascinating insider take on what it was like to fight very sophisticated criminal group as they attempted to build and control a massive bot net. well done by author, superb performance!

Learned Some New Stuff

This was a 3.5 for me. I am one of those people who know about the internet, but really have no clue as to how it operates; I just click and it's there for me. So, I definitely learned something about the internet's creation, how it works, etc. As for the worm, it was interesting to learn about in some parts, but dragged on in others; also, the cat-fights between the "tribe" members got to be a bit irritating. I think the fact that the worm (luckily) actually didn't cause much damage made for an anti-climatic ending. But, overall, it was an interesting read, well narrated, and I learned new things.

Great Intro to Cyber Crime and Security

Great story that explained the history and functioning of the internet and internet crime as well the efforts of the private sector and government to combat it.

Compelling content excellent presentation.

I finally gave myself a Saturday to binge listen to this book. I had been listening to it before going to sleep at night but found myself staying up too late because the content is fascinating. It's a good story and keeps your attention riveted to the progress of a battle with an "Internet worm". I am not a computer geek, but what I've learned from this book is that I should care very much about what and attack on the Internet because of dire personal and national economic consequences should it to be compromised. It's a great listen. Just be ready for the hair to stand up on the back of your neck. Enjoy!

Internet the next battle ground

Very educational.. from someone in the IT field- I enjoyed the book and thank you for sharing. And now I have to study more so I can become an Xmen... <I hope to be that good>

Engaging and Informative

Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down), in Worm, tells the story of the Conflicker worm which was introduced to computers in 2008 and infected 1.5 million computers in 195 countries. He brings to the public the story of those who would disrupt the internet and those who are charged to protect it. A strength of Bowden is his uncanny ability to tell this story in a way that the nongeek will easily follow and understand. I was particularly interested in passage where Bowden explains what goes into protecting the internet, profiles the people involved in that task, and explains something of what takes place in such an atmosphere and environment. It is probably the topic covered, but I found Black Hawk Down to be far more engaging than Worm. On the other hand, the battle scenes of Black Hawk Down lend themselves to life-and-death struggle and computer hacking and worms are not that bloody. Nonetheless, Bowden fan will be entertained, informed, and otherwise rewarded for reading his most recent book. Christopher Lane's reading is well done.

THIS IS ONE FANTASTIC BOOK!

I thought this might be too technical for me but I love messing around with my computer so took the plunge. It's the best unsolved "whodunnit" ever. I could NOT put the book down. Talk about gripping your seat and holding your breath...and to think that 'thing' is still out there ready to pounce.

The story is great, and the narration is perfect. I even chuckled from time to time. This will appeal to people at all levels of technical expertise and all age groups. I am 75 years old and loved it.

I enjoyed this

What made the experience of listening to Worm the most enjoyable?

This is an interesting story about a world I know little about. I like the way the author weaved some information in as to how things work in the computer world, as I like to understand how things work. It is an engaging story, a mystery. Well written and well narrated.