Zero Day: A book review

Zero Day, a novel by Mark Russinovich (2011)

This is a great read, about computers that suddenly malfunction, destroy data, and then fail: an airliner over the Atlantic, robots in an auto assembly plant, a nuclear power generating station, a big legal firm. And many more.

It is the story of how two very smart software coders uncover what's happening and why. One used to work in the US National Security Agency and now does freelance jobs. He left government service after he detected the events of 9/11 and none of his bosses would listen. The other is buried in an office of Homeland Security and trying her best to cope in an evil world with insufficient resources.

Mark Russinovich tells a story of how a wealthy Saudi develops a plan to bring down Western civilization. Without government or any other support, he enlists the services of individuals around the world: India, France, China, Russia, Pakistan, and elsewhere. Each contributes a piece and is amply rewarded.

As our heros begin to uncover the plot and its eventual consequences, an agent from Chechnya is dispatched. They manage to escape assassination attempts in New York City, Moscow, and Paris. Others around them are not so lucky. In the end, they manage to save the world and discover true love.

Mark Russinovich knows his stuff. He is a Technical Fellow at Microsoft and author of the popular Sysinternals tools. His writing style is smooth and easy. Individual chapters are only 2-6 pages as he hops around the world putting the pieces of the story together.

I first heard of this book a few months ago on the Security Now weekly podcast by Steve Gibson. After reading it, I have a better appreciation of how easy it is to bring down our networked society and how important computer security is to all of us.