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Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon Paperback – September 1, 2015

by Kim Zetter (Author)

260 customer reviews

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Top cybersecurity journalist Kim Zetter tells the story behind the virus that sabotaged Iran’s nuclear efforts and shows how its existence has ushered in a new age of warfare—one in which a digital attack can have the same destructive capability as a megaton bomb.

In January 2010, inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency noticed that centrifuges at an Iranian uranium enrichment plant were failing at an unprecedented rate. The cause was a complete mystery—apparently as much to the technicians replacing the centrifuges as to the inspectors observing them.

Then, five months later, a seemingly unrelated event occurred: A computer security firm in Belarus was called in to troubleshoot some computers in Iran that were crashing and rebooting repeatedly.

At first, the firm’s programmers believed the malicious code on the machines was a simple, routine piece of malware. But as they and other experts around the world investigated, they discovered a mysterious virus of unparalleled complexity.

They had, they soon learned, stumbled upon the world’s first digital weapon. For Stuxnet, as it came to be known, was unlike any other virus or worm built before: Rather than simply hijacking targeted computers or stealing information from them, it escaped the digital realm to wreak actual, physical destruction on a nuclear facility.

In these pages, Wired journalist Kim Zetter draws on her extensive sources and expertise to tell the story behind Stuxnet’s planning, execution, and discovery, covering its genesis in the corridors of Bush’s White House and its unleashing on systems in Iran—and telling the spectacular, unlikely tale of the security geeks who managed to unravel a sabotage campaign years in the making.

But Countdown to Zero Day ranges far beyond Stuxnet itself. Here, Zetter shows us how digital warfare developed in the US. She takes us inside today’s flourishing zero-day “grey markets,” in which intelligence agencies and militaries pay huge sums for the malicious code they need to carry out infiltrations and attacks. She reveals just how vulnerable many of our own critical systems are to Stuxnet-like strikes, from nation-state adversaries and anonymous hackers alike—and shows us just what might happen should our infrastructure be targeted by such an attack.

Propelled by Zetter’s unique knowledge and access, and filled with eye-opening explanations of the technologies involved, Countdown to Zero Day is a comprehensive and prescient portrait of a world at the edge of a new kind of war.

Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Immensely enjoyable...Zetter turns a complicated and technical cyber- story into an engrossing whodunit...The age of digital warfare may well have begun."
--Washington Post

"An authoritative account of Stuxnet’s spread and discovery...[delivers] a sobering message about the vulnerability of the systems—train lines, water-treatment plants, electricity grids—that make modern life possible."
--Economist

"Exhaustively researched...Zetter gives a full account of this “hack of the century,” as the operation has been called, [but] the book goes well beyond its ostensible subject to offer a hair-raising introduction to the age of cyber warfare."
--Wall Street Journal

“Part detective story, part scary-brilliant treatise on the future of warfare…an ambitious, comprehensive, and engrossing book that should be required reading for anyone who cares about the threats that America—and the world—are sure to be facing over the coming years.”
—Kevin Mitnick, New York Times bestselling author of Ghost in the Wires and The Art of Intrusion

“Unpacks this complex issue with the panache of a spy thriller…even readers who can’t tell a PLC from an iPad will learn much from Zetter’s accessible, expertly crafted account.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred)

“A true techno-whodunit [that] offers a sharp account of past mischief and a glimpse of things to come…Zetter writes lucidly about mind-numbingly technical matters, reveling in the geekery of malware and espionage, and she takes the narrative down some dark electronic corridors… Governments, hackers and parties unknown are launching ticking computer time bombs every day, all coming to a laptop near you.”
--Kirkus

"An exciting and readable story of the world's first cyberweapon. Zetter not only explains the weapon and chronicles its discovery, but explains the motives and mechanics behind the attack -- and makes a powerful argument why this story matters."
--Bruce Schneier, author of Secrets and Lies and Schneier on Security

From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

KIM ZETTER is an award-winning journalist who covers cybercrime, civil liberties, privacy, and security for Wired. She was among the first journalists to cover Stuxnet after its discovery and has authored many of the most comprehensive articles about it. She has also broken numerous stories over the years about WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning, NSA surveillance, and the hacker underground.

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Product Details

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Broadway Books; Reprint edition (September 1, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0770436196
ISBN-13: 978-0770436193
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (260 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7 in Books > Computers & Technology > Security & Encryption > Viruses
- #11 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Conventional
- #12 in Books > Computers & Technology > History & Culture > History

Customer Reviews

260

4.6 out of 5 stars

5 star		73%
4 star		19%
3 star		7%
2 star		1%
1 star		0%

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Top Customer Reviews

Excellent, Fascinating Read

By Matt Morgan TOP 500 REVIEWER on September 23, 2014

Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )

Being in the IT field (in particular working with OS design and administration) I took an interest when Stuxnet came to light a few years back. The last time I remembered such a stir created in the media about propagating malware was when the Morris worm surfaced in the late 1980’s. I did not know too much about Stuxnet other than what was shared in news reports so I was eager to learn more. This book definitely delivers the goods.

Instead of a dry, factual presentation that just leaves the reader bored, this book reads more like a novel – except that it’s true. It starts with a fascinating account of how Stuxnet was first discovered and describes in some detail how it exploited the operating system, what mechanisms it used to replicate itself, how it targeted the systems it was designed to find and it gives a fair estimate of just how much damage it caused before it was ultimately uncovered. The book goes on from there to discuss the implications Stuxnet has had on the digital world and how it has helped to redefine modern warfare.

The main text is written very much like a novel, but it makes heavy use of footnotes. These footnotes inject interesting facts relating to the point being made but would otherwise mar the chain of thought for the reader. This was a smart editing decision as it makes taking the side tracks optional.

One thought kept coming to mind as I got deeper into the material and learned more about the birth of this malware and how it all came into being – I had absolutely no clue just how deep the rabbit hole went, both militarily and politically.

For those interested in cybersecurity, those with an interest in electronic warfare or even those who are just downright curious about what is without question the most complex and sophisticated digital weapon known to date, this book is full of interesting information and because it’s written almost like fiction it’s a fast and engrossing read.

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Excellent telling of a very complex story

By Adam Caudill on November 15, 2014

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

I know quite a few of the researchers that were involved in reverse engineering Stuxnet and Flame - so I was able to watch the story unfold with a behind the scenes view - what's presented in here is a very accurate, and insightful view of one of the most important security discoveries in recent years.

Stuxnet, et. al. presented the security industry with a huge problem - and the implications are still being sorted out to this day. Government use of malware, and how the industry should handle it when discovered are topics that are still being debated on a daily basis. Kim does a great job on explaining the issues, and giving readers plenty to think about.

From a technical perspective, the book goes into enough detail so that those of us familiar with the topic know exactly what is being discussed and it's implications, while not going overboard and overloading non-technical users with incomprehensible details. The book has a good narrative style, while covering technical detail and including details on the sources for information. Throughout the book are footnotes that list source information, additional notes that explain context, or provide additional details that don't fit in the narrative telling - I strongly suggest that you read the footnotes, as they offer very useful information.

All in all, I strongly recommend the book, well worth it.

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You won’t be able to put down this outstanding narrative about Stuxnet

By Ben Rothke on November 11, 2014

Format: Hardcover

A word to describe Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw was hyperbole. While the general storyline from the 1996 book was accurate, filler was written that created the legend of Kevin Mitnick. This in turn makes the book a near work of historical fiction.

Much has changed in nearly 20 years and Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon has certainly upped the ante for accurate computer security journalism.

The book is a fascinating read and author Kim Zetter's attention to detail and accuracy is superb. In the inside cover of the book, Kevin Mitnick describes this as an ambitious, comprehensive and engrossing book. The irony is not lost in that Mitnick was dogged by misrepresentations in Markoff’s book.

For those that want to know the basics about Stuxnet, its Wikipedia entry will suffice. For a deeper look, the book take a detailed look at how the Stuxnet worm of 2010 came to be, how it was written, discovered and deciphered, and what it means for the future.

The book provides nearly everything that can be known to date about Stuxnet. The need to create Stuxnet was the understanding that a nuclear Iran was dangerous to the world. The book notes that it just wasn’t the US and Israel that wanted a nuclear-free Iran; Egypt and Saudi Arabia were highly concerned about the dangers a nuclear Iran would bring to the region.Read more ›

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Equal Parts Terrifying and Educational

By frankp93 VINE VOICE on October 12, 2014

Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )

While software viruses and worms have existed in some form since the 1950’s, the attack on Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz by the Stuxnet worm is acknowledged as the first instance of state-sponsored cyberwar resulting in physical destruction of industrial infrastructure.

Whether it remains, like 9/11, a ‘once in a generation’ event is debatable, but what’s not is the digital arms race it ushered in with little public discussion of the consequences as our internet of Windows-dominated PCs evolves towards an internet of things, and automated control systems play increasingly larger roles in our lives.

The opening chapters of ‘Countdown to Zero Day’ are as riveting as any techno thriller I’ve read – with the added element of being true and portending an all-too-plausible future of government – and non-state actor - sponsored cyberwar, provocation, and surveillance we’re in part already living in.

There’s no actually code in the book, per se, but enough discussion of drivers, reverse engineering, cryptographic hashing, hooking of APIs, DLLs and CAB files, ladder stacks, and certificate authorities to feel credible to anyone who has coded Windows and embedded systems such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) at the C and assembler levels.
If you haven’t, fortunately, Zetter’s writing is especially clear and crisp and the book by no means requires a technical background - although a ‘technical inclination’ will serve readers well. On balance this isn’t high-level executive summary stuff.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Excellent book. Very easy read on a difficult technical ...

Excellent book. Very easy read on a difficult technical subject.

Published 2 days ago by Bob

Excellent Book

Excellent book. A technical as well as a detective story

Published 7 days ago by Reuven Aviv

A page turner!

I picked up this book because only recently I started a new job in the exciting field of cyber physical system security. Read more

Published 20 days ago by Liuyang Yang

Future War, or not?

Great read that clarifies much but poses critical questions regarding cyber warfare. What cyber weapons are on the drawing boards destined for deployment in the future. Read more

Published 21 days ago by Rudy Willis

Stuxnet is more than you realize

Great book. You will realize that lines of war are no longer clear and that a cyber weapon can do damage in the physical world.

Published 25 days ago by Amazon Customer

Reminds me of The Cuckoo's Egg

This book reminded me of Clifford Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg. I know, that was written a long time ago, but Kim has so closely replicated that non-fictional account of cybercrime,... Read more

Published 26 days ago by secintel

Five Stars

Good book.

Published 28 days ago by Steve Jimison

Definitely brings a lot of concerns to light. It ...

Definitely brings a lot of concerns to light. It was very well written and kept me entertained until then, while learning tons of stuff about our current world situation, despite... Read more

Published 1 month ago by dgiaffe

Five Stars

Extremely interesting and entertaining. Couldn't put it down.
Impeccable research.

Published 1 month ago by eric kottmann

Five Stars

Reads like a thriller, with footnotes like a textbook!

Published 1 month ago by John Erickson

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