Richard A. Clarke – författare

Few understand the devastation cyber weapons can wreak or how the United States will use them in a crisis. Security expert Richard A. Clarke goes beyond 'geek talk' to succinctly explain how cyber weapons work and how vulnerable America is to the new world of nearly untraceable cyber criminals and spies. Clarke reveals how successful foreign cyber espionage has already penetrated the Pentagon, the control systems for U.S. electric power grids, and the defense industry. While the U.S. has not yet been attacked in a full-scale cyber war, pedabytes of information have already been stolen, including advanced research in aerospace, weapons systems, biotechnology, and engineering. From the first cyber crisis meeting in the White House to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley and the tunnels under Manhattan, Clarke tells the history of the first decade of this new age and the unlikely people and places at the center of this crisis.Based on interviews and first person accounts, this sobering story of technology, government, and military strategy involving criminals, spies, soldiers, and hackers begins the much needed public policy debate about what America's doctrine and strategy should be, not just for waging, but for preventing the First Cyber War.

They have accessed the office of the Secretary of Defense, the control systems for U.S. electric power grids, and the plans to protect America's latest fighter aircraft. They can shut down our most vital systems, from transportation to finance, using such weapons as logic bombs, botnets, and trapdoors. They are today's cyber warriors, the latest combatants in a battle for supremacy that has already begun-a battle America may already be losing. "Cyber War" goes behind the geek talk of hackers and computer scientists to clearly explain what this new warfare involving government, technology, and military strategy is and how we can prepare for it. From the first cyber crisis meeting in the White House a decade ago to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley and the electrical tunnels under Manhattan, national security experts Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake trace the rise of the cyber age and profile the characters at its epicenter, including criminals, spies, soldiers, and hackers.As they outline how our national security has already been compromised, Clarke and Knake make chillingly clear what America stands to lose if we continue to follow policies that block our ability to effectively defend ourselves against a cyber attack.

An urgent new warning from two bestselling security experts - and a gripping inside look at how governments, firms, and ordinary citizens can confront and contain the tyrants, hackers, and criminals bent on turning the digital realm into a war zone.