Book Review: Dawn of the Code War
Katie 
Over the summer I started a grad school class in Cyber Security so when Dawn of the Code War: America’s Battle Against Russia, China, and the Risking Global Cyber Threat came up on NetGalley for review, I knew I needed to check it out. It was a little bit weird to be reading bout subject matter that had come up in class when I was “skipping” class to travel (I just never registered because I knew I wouldn’t be able to fully commit to keeping up with the course work) and maybe part of the reason why I read it was because I felt a little bit guilty about not being in class.
This book went into a bit more detail on some of the topics that were touched upon in my Fall semester and so it was interesting to not only read more indepth about some of the topics but learn about some other topics as well that may or may not come up in the future in class like attribution and deterrence, P2P file sharing issues, learning more about what is a hacker and how the definition of that has changed over the years.
One thing that seems to be consistent throughout all my reading on these topics is the mention of the movie War Games with Matthew Broderick. It is from the 80s and I haven’t seen it, but my next order of business is to track down where I can watch it because this (fictional) movie seems to be the backbone for a lot of what has become cyber security laws and policies.
I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated. This book was published October 16, 2018from Perseus Books, Public Affairs.
About the Book
The inside story of how America’s enemies launched a cyber war against us-and how we’ve learned to fight back
With each passing year, the internet-linked attacks on America’s interests have grown in both frequency and severity. Overmatched by our military, countries like North Korea, China, Iran, and Russia have found us vulnerable in cyberspace. The “Code War” is upon us.
In this dramatic book, former Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin takes readers to the front lines of a global but little-understood fight as the Justice Department and the FBI chases down hackers, online terrorist recruiters, and spies. Today, as our entire economy goes digital, from banking to manufacturing to transportation, the potential targets for our enemies multiply. This firsthand account is both a remarkable untold story and a warning of dangers yet to come.