The Death of the Internet

by Markus Jakobsson (Editor)

Fraud poses a significant threat to the Internet. 1.5% of all online advertisements attempt to spread malware. This lowers the willingness to view or handle advertisements, which will severely affect the structure of the web and its viability. It may also destabilize online commerce. In addition, the Internet is increasingly becoming a weapon for political targets by malicious organizations and governments. This book will examine these and related topics, such as smart phone based web security. This book describes the basic threats to the Internet (loss of trust, loss of advertising revenue, loss of security) and how they are related. It also discusses the primary countermeasures and how to implement them.

Genres: Nonfiction

386 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2012

Reviews

[Andres Cordoba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the most enjoyable read, but quite informative. the book covered a variety of attacks used by 'hackers' to steal data and equally a number of protocols that could be used to prevent such attacks and defend against them. This was all laid against a backdrop of the supremacy of user experience, where users could and would work against their security for their convenience. However, Jackobsson did a solid job of portraying the users as innocent, rather than idiots.

A flaw in my opinion of the work was in Jackobsson's occasional near paranoia with the developments on hand and the unwillingness of the market to change. More importantly, Jackobsson often privacy to a brief mention in most sections, if at all, as an issue, with no concern for users comfort with large collections of data and intrusions onto their devices in the name of security.

Overall, the content was sometimes informative and interesting enough to make it worthwhile, but was generally either dull or sensational. The level of detail, really means the book is just a bit below four stars for me.

[Katherine Rackliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a very long and detailed lit review! I am starting to recognize authors in the cybersecurity academia space (one of them is my advisor!). This kind of reads like an anthology of security papers, with some more interesting than others.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this primarily for a college research paper, but quickly became intrigued by Jakobsson's no-nonsense approach to the serious threat to the Internet and network security: its own users.