This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends
by Nicole Perlroth · first published 2021
67% recommend27% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Accessible, journalist-written history of the zero-day market and cyberweapons arms race, covering how exploits are procured, priced and sold to governments. Suits non-technical readers new to cybersecurity.
Common criticism: Some infosec readers call it technically inaccurate and sensationalized
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Filled with spies, hackers, arms dealers, and a few unsung heroes, written like a thriller and a reference, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is an astonishing feat of journalism. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, The New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth lifts the curtain on a market in shadow, revealing the urgent threat faced by us all if we cannot bring the global cyber arms race to heel.
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…truly do a cyber attack on infrastructure like they’ve been doing to Ukraine it will end in war. There’s a reason they are only attacking the wait time pages and not airport operations. Read the book This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth. It has a chapter that shows a lot of what has been going on in Ukraine. One quote that stuck with me was a Ukrainian saying you guys (US/West) are next,…
on “US airport websites under DoS attack” ↗For those who are just being exposed to this stuff, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth was an entertaining read that covers some of the history in this space.
on “iPhone flaw exploited by second Israeli spy firm” ↗I just recently read This is How They Tell Me the World Ends by Nicole Perlroth which was an extremely interesting and concerning book, explaining the escalating capabilities of chained zero-day exploits to create devastating cyber attacks on critical infrastructure.…
on “Biden says Russia exploring options for possible cyberattacks against US targets” ↗I heavily recommend reading “This is How They Tell Me The World Ends” written by one of the guests he had in episode 98, Nicole Perlroth (which also touched a little on the NSO in that episode). She’s The NY Times cybersecurity reporter. A lot of the book focused on the…
on “NSO Group iMessage Zero-Click Exploit Captured in the Wild” ↗In addition to Darknet Diaries, there is a lot of interesting info in Nicole Perlroth's new book titled "This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends" https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/this-is-how-they-tell-me-the-w...
on “Three ex-US intelligence officers admit hacking for UAE” ↗…and have stopgap measures on every critical device. There's a great book that talks about this ecosystem (of buying bugs, vulnerabilities, and other 0days), among other cyber security related things: This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race https://www.amazon.com/This-They-Tell-World-Ends/dp/16355760...
on “Why the ransomware crisis suddenly feels so relentless” ↗Read the book This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth There’s a few chapters in the beginning about the history of the exploit market. Haven’t finished it yet. To my knowledge it’s not illegal to sell vulnerabilities.…
on “U.S. tightens export controls on items used in surveillance of private citizens” ↗Fiction: "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead (now a well-reviewed series on Amazon) A fantastic book that lingered with me for weeks after reading it. Non-fiction: "This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends" by Nicole Perlroth If you want to be shaken to your core by the past, present, and future of cyber-espionage and cyber-warfare, this is the book that will drop your jaw more than once.
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗Hm it's hard to believe these incidents were so long ago. They were very big news at the time, but I can understand that many people have never heard of them, or forgot. I'm reading the recent book This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends, which reviews all these incidents. I recommend it for anyone working in software! Google isn't the main focus of the book, and it comes off looking significantly better than our government ... ----…
on “Control as Liability” ↗If you are interested in a detailed account of the cyberarms race, check out "This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race" by New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth. While the books tends to get a tad repetitive after a while, and definitely skirts many of the technicalities, its definitely provides…
on “The battle for the world’s most powerful cyberweapon” ↗…incentivize the 'attack' side of the market while companies historically disincentivize the 'defense' side. A solid elucidation of the system (for laypeople like me) can be found in Nicole Perlroth's book "This is How They Tell Me the World Ends": https://browse.nypl.org/iii/encore/record/C__Rb22352302__STh... Anyone interested in learning more about how NSO group operates can check out digitalviolence: https://www.digitalviolence.org/#/
on “‘Zero-click’ hacks are growing in popularity” ↗…It’s the story of Jim Simons and Renaissance, the hedge fund with the best returns in the industry. Very informative and it approaches the development of the firm from the viewpoint of different people. This is how they tell me the world ends, by Nicole Perlroth This is about Zero Days and the environment they get developed and the consequences for society. It’s very well researched, although as with every book that’s written by a non-tech…
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best books you have read in 2022?” ↗This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race https://www.amazon.com/dp/1635576059/ Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking https://www.amazon.com/dp/111943338X/ PTFM: Purple Team Field Manual https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LJV1QCD/…
on “Ask HN: Cyber Security Books, Links and Videos” ↗…thought these two books are fantastic: - Tracer in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60471288-tracers-in-the-... - This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49247043
on “Ask HN: What should I read next?” ↗My knowledge derives from personal experience, but if you want digestible evidence you can go read the books: “Click Here to Kill Everybody” by well known cryptographer Bruce Schneier or “This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends” by the lead cybersecurity reporter of the New York Times, Nicole Perlroth.
on “UnitedHealth Group has paid more than $2B to providers following cyberattack” ↗