Member Review

This is the first Cory Doctorow book I have read and entered on a fast paced journey into geekdom. I love the style of writing (slightly irreverent) and the premise that the main character Masha works for a cybersecurity company who contract services to some very dodgy targeted surveillance for governments of any stripe. She likes to stir the pot by helping dissidents in countries to work around the surveillance and enlighten them on how to protect themselves from detection.
I enjoyed the storyline however I did miss out the tech nuances which if you are that way inclined would provide added depth and glee to your read. I have learnt more about the various ways our privacy is invaded and how much data I put out there – it really is Big Brother come to life.
Talking of nuances I missed the relevance of the title Attack Surface and was clued in by my personal tech support guru:
“The attack surface of a software environment is the sum of the different points (for "attack vectors") where an unauthorized user (the "attacker") can try to enter data to or extract data from an environment. Keeping the attack surface as small as possible is a basic security measure.
This title encompasses the premise of the book. I would definitely read more by this author and I feel I will learn something in the process.
Thanks to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the ARC.