Byte Wars: The Impact of September 11 on Information Technology [Paperback]

Edward Yourdon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0130477257 | ISBN-13: 978-0130477255 | Publication Date: April 1, 2002 | Edition: 1

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks are transforming information technology, leading to profound and permanent changes. In Byte Wars, legendary software engineering expert Ed Yourdon focuses on the immediate changes IT professionals are already encountering, and the long-term changes they must prepare for. From privacy issues to lean supply chains, "Death March," security, disaster recovery, and contingency planning projects, Yourdon addresses 9/11's impact on IT at every level - and outlines effective responses for executives, IT pros, and citizens alike.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Less sensationalistic than its title suggests, Byte Wars: The Impact of September 11 on Information Technology compiles software developer Edward Yourdon's timely concerns about 21st-century IT security. Specifically addressing government officials, corporate executives, IT managers, programmers, and citizens, he identifies risks to safety, privacy, and other fundamental values and provides concrete steps they (that is, we) can take to disarm threats.

Yourdon is well known for having beaten the Y2K drum vigorously, and it would be easy to mistake him for a hysteria-monger. His clarity, confidence, and good humor will quickly allay any doubts in the reader's mind; though some of his ideas have only the most tenuous link to the events of 9/11, they are all well considered and valuable as we move further into an era we don't yet understand.

Examining emergent systems, resiliency, death-march projects, and more with an eye toward securing our lives and liberty, Byte Wars gives us an optimistic look at our murky future. --Rob Lightner

From the Back Cover

How 9/11 is transforming IT—and how to survive the new "decade of security"!

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks are transforming information technology, leading to profound and permanent changes. In this book, Ed Yourdon—legendary software engineering expert and author of Decline and Fall of the American Programmer—focuses on the immediate changes IT professionals are already encountering and the long-term changes they must prepare for. Yourdon addresses 9/11's impact on IT at every level: strategic, national, corporate, and personal. Coverage includes:

• "Thinking the unthinkable": Identifying and managing risks you've never considered
• New "decade of security" that is following the '90s "decade of productivity" and the '80s "decade of quality"
• Privacy landscape changed forever: what it means to your organization—and to you
• New threats, new paradigms, new counter measures (the balance of security vs. functionality)
• "Death March," security, disaster recovery, and contingency planning projects
• The new balance of security vs. functionality
• Increasing the resilience of your IT infrastructure
• Grassroots, peer-to-peer collaboration: responding to tomorrow's unpredictable, chaotic crises

Yourdon doesn't just present problems: he outlines specific strategy options designed to lead to more effective decision-making—for IT professionals, projectmanagers and senior corporate executives, government leaders, and citizens alike.

"One of the ten most influential men and women in the software field."

—Crosstalk magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130477257
• ISBN-13: 978-0130477255
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,296,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The view from Ground Zero, April 7, 2002

By 

Ken Orr (Topeka, KS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Byte Wars: The Impact of September 11 on Information Technology (Paperback)

Many people, Ed Yourdon and I included, thought that January 1, 2000 represented a unique "point of discontinuity" that might start a chain of events that could cause major tremors in our modern electronic world. We were wrong, but much of the work that was done to prevent a Y2k catastrophe turned out to have help us survive a real point of discontinuity- September 11, 2000. One financial company after another has explained the reason that the U.S. financial market was able to recover so quickly was the work they had done dealing with Y2k.

On of the ironies thinking about the Y2k is that people like Ed were right for the wrong reasons-enormous man-made structures can topple, just like the World Trade Center Towers, but with the right planning and testing the underlying information/communication infrastructures can survive and/or recover quickly. Throughout his career, Ed has been thinking about the big issues involved in IT. From his earliest publications on structured design to offshore programming, Ed has been ahead of his time.

Now, Ed Yourdon has written a book analyzing the impact of 9/11 on IT. Once again, Ed has taken the intellectual high ground to force us, once again, to think about the unthinkable. How do we develop systems or environments that can handle truly unexpected events? How do we make our systems failsafe and robust? How do we get management to give a damn?

In Byte Wars, Ed is once again thinking about big issues. In the glow of ground zero he is suggesting that executives and policy makers start working to make our technology, and consequently our society itself, more "survivable". Like his other books, I found this book full of uncommon common sense. I particularly like what Ed had to say about emergent and resilient systems. Massive unexpected failures require the ability to adapt on the fly. That in turn requires environments that promote rapid, collaborative problem solving.

This is fine book that executives and professionals inside and outside IT should be reading.

Ken Orr
Topeka, Kansas

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Broad Assessment of What 9/11 means to IT, April 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Byte Wars: The Impact of September 11 on Information Technology (Paperback)

Provides the big picture as concerns IT post-September 11th. Implications and advice for policy makers, execs, IT workers, and interested citizens. There are certainly things in here you haven't thought about yet, as well as a provocative section on reassessing your own personal priorities and philosophies in light of the enormity of recent world events. Highly readable (not at all a techie tome). I heartily recommend this book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sensible approach to information technology risks, April 4, 2002

By 

S. Heller (Sulphur Springs, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Byte Wars: The Impact of September 11 on Information Technology (Paperback)

If you are a manager in a computer-dependent business, you need to read this book to find out how to minimize your computer-related risks. September 11th was just one event, albeit a very big one, but thousands of computer risks surface every day in much more mundane ways. If you aren't planning how to prevent and/or deal with such risks, you are putting your business at risk.

Should others buy this book? It's easy enough to read that everyone could learn something from it. But if you didn't worry about Y2k, you probably won't worry about computer risks in general, and this book might not convince you otherwise.