Zero-Day Exploit

Rating:
Summary: Poorly written and overpriced
Review: A polemical diatribe that simply tries too hard. Considered purely as a novel, possibly in the thriller genre, it is poorly done. The characterisation is pathetic. Just cardboard. The dialog is utterly repetitive. The two secondary heroes are just sounding boards to the main character. Sherlock Holmes' Watson was hollow, but still light years ahead of these secondary characters.

Then there is the plot itself. All too reminiscent of the Y2K scare. Remember that? Planes falling out of the sky. Pacemakers freezing up. Utility companies' generators stopping. Just like Ed Yourdon and others peddled Y2K in the late 90s, this book has the same feel. Hysteria combined with an opportunistic grab at the topical problem of terrorism.

Purely as a $8 paperback novel, it is lacking. But as a $35 book?? Strewth.

Rating:
Summary: Right On... A good cyber-novel that highlights security...
Review: I'm seeing more security books come out in the style of cyber-novel. The latest one is called Zero-Day Exploit - Countdown To Darkness by Rob Shein. While not on par with Tom Clancy material, it does quite well and should appeal to the cyber-geek in all of us.

In the novel, two security programmers (both geeky but pretty normal) are hired to do a security audit on a new VPN product to be used by the Department of Justice. They quickly find two exploitable bugs (denial of service and buffer overflow) and report the situation. But as often happens in real-life, politics and CYA cause the findings to be minimized and the software is installed anyway with a promise to fix the software later. Of course, it doesn't get done. Meanwhile, Islamic idealists enlist the help of two hackers in the Phillipeans to scan networks looking for this VPN package as well as some industrial software so that a cyber-attack can be launched against the US. The original security audit team (this is years later) notices the increase in port scans for the VPN package and try to alert the DoJ. But until the attack actually occurs, no one will listen. Once all hell breaks loose, its them against the hackers.

This is more of a novel and less of a security primer than books like Steal The Box. The author does go into detail on the technology, but not to the point of putting pages and pages of screen prints in the book. It's all part of the story dialog and action. The second member of the team ("MadFast") starts just about each sentence with "Right on", so don't expect outstanding dialogue. But then again, this would be closer to reality if you were listening and watching real computer geeks/hackers. A reader experienced in security will be entertained (but won't learn much), but others less tied into computer security may have their eyes opened as to dangers that are very real.

While not perfect, I still liked it a lot. Definitely worth a read...


Rating:
Summary: Security experts race to stop Islamic terrorists!
Review: The back cover calls this book "a must read cyber thriller." It's right--the book features real places like the Defcon tradeshows in Vegas to Washington, D.C. hotspots and the slums of Manila where a group of terrorists sprouts, grows, and plans to take over US-based computers using a zero day bug. The story centers around a security expert named Reuben who tries to stop the bug from being exploited, trying to convince governments, colleagues, and a vendor who is loathe to believe they have a faulty product. Pretty cool stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Fifty-dollar list price for a novel??? Gimme a break!
Review: The first problem I have with this book is the absolutely laughable price tag. Even at Amazon's discount, thirty-five bucks is still a joke for a novel!

The second problem I have with this novel is that it simply isn't very good. The author is second rate, at best. So, since it's a second rate work of fiction, shouldn't it be priced at about half the price of a popular novel, such as those by Stephen King, Tom Clancy, etc...?

Where does a nobody clown that no one ever heard of get off trying to gouge people for fifty bucks, and for a cheesy work of fiction to boot!?!?!?

The 2 guys who gave it 5 stars are paid reviewers, I'm not (and one of them even states that the book isn't very good). I just like to read, and I work for a living. Take my advice: Before you even think about tossing your money away on this book, go to a bookstore and read the first couple of pages. Once you've done that, I suspect you'll put your money to better use.

Rating:
Summary: Not well written
Review: This book is a slog to get through. It's an exploration of the world of whitehat and blackhat hackers, the FBI, and well, I really couldn't get through it because the writing wasn't very good. The dialogue in particular was painful to get through. The characters weren't very well developed. I would like to have been able to recommend this book. I think there are some interesting ideas in there, but they are just too far past all of the tough dialogue.

Rating:
Summary: Solid Story with a Real Message
Review: This cleverly written book does a great job of highlighting a serious security threat that has little to no visibility in mainstream society. The storyline is catchy and intermingled with just the right amount of technical background to bring the pages to life.

Don't be dismayed by the one-star reviewers...you really have to question someone who considers Tom Clancy's latest works to have been anything more than mindless drivel.

Nonetheless, it's a great choice for anyone with a remote interest in network security and the potential ramifications that it has on contemporary American society. If you have an interest in REAL national security topics, this piece of fiction is a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Solid Security Fiction.
Review: Zero-Day Exploit is a solid pick in the security-fiction arena. This book doesn't assume a lot of technical knowledge (if any) from the reader so if you don't know a lot about networking or security or IT don't be afraid to pick this book up you'll still enjoy it.

The plot of the book involves critical infrastructure & SCADA systems at risk, which is a controversial and more talked about and less acted upon topic in both government and private sector circles. The climax of this book is a bit weak but, cover to cover I was kept very interested.

Rating:
Summary: A cyber-terrorist saga reflecting the cutting edge
Review: Zero-Day Exploit: Countdown to Darkness is an exciting novel of suspense. The trade paperback format is curiously reminiscent of computer tutorial manuals, and indeed there is a strong moral concerning the laws of cyber-security (such as "security through obscurity does not work" and "if a key is not required, you do not have encryption - you have encoding" yet the heart of story is a cyber-thriller novel. Written in bite-sized chunks of action organized by date, the saga traces the exploits of a group of hackers who found infiltrating target corporation software remarkably easy. Featuring a forward by the President and CEO of Black Hat, Inc., and written by one of the world's leading counter-terrorism expert who takes pains to present an authentic account Zero-Day Exploit is a cyber-terrorist saga reflecting the cutting edge of the 21st century.