This is How They Tell Me the World Ends

“This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends” by Nicole Perlroth is the best security book I have ever read. It is jawdropping from cover to cover. The scope of the reporting itself is extraordinary - Perlroth takes us through world shaping events such as Stuxnet, the Shadow Brokers, Snowden, Apple v. the FBI, the Ukrainian war - all in the same text!

All too often security can feel like plumbing. Checking boxes off a spreadsheet to satisfy a compliance framework. And that’s okay - plumbing is important work! Perlroth breaks this illusion in her novel and reminds us that those fun little exploits we play with in Metasploit and Hack the Box are cyberweapons of mass destruction. And unfortunately, we are on a collision course for disaster.

This book has fundamentally shaped the way I view security and the world at large. The quality of this book cannot be overstated. Those interested in the ‘backroom negotiations’ of security or global affairs will absolutely love reading about era defining stories in cyber that Perlroth has masterfully woven together.