If you've ever made a secure purchase with your credit card over the Internet, then you have seen cryptography, or "crypto", in action. From Stephen Levy-the author who made "hackers" a household word-comes this account of a revolution that is already affecting every citizen in the twenty-first century. Crypto tells the inside story of how a group of "crypto rebels"-nerds and visionaries turned freedom fighters-teamed up with corporate interests to...

Computers are everywhere. Some of them are highly visible, in laptops, tablets, cell phones, and smart watches. But most are invisible, like those in appliances, cars, medical equipment, transportation systems, power grids, and weapons. We never see the myriad computers that quietly collect, share, and sometimes leak vast amounts of personal data about us. Through computers, governments and companies increasingly monitor what we do. Social networks...

"A renowned broadcast journalist reports that a major cyberattack on America's power grid is not only possible but likely, that it would be unimaginably devastating and that the United States is shockingly unprepared."--NoveList. Imagine a blackout lasting not days, but weeks or months and affecting tens of millions of people over several states. Koppel believes that a well-designed attack on just one of the nation's three electric power grids could...