Intercept: The Secret History of Computers and Spies - Hardcover

Gordon Corera

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297871730 ISBN 13: 9780297871736

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2015

Synopsis

INTERCEPT is the previously untold - and previously highly classified - story of the melding of technology and espionage. Gordon Corera's compelling narrative, rich with historical details and characters, takes us from the Second World War to the internet age, with astonishing revelations about espionage carried out today. The computer was born to spy. Under the intense pressure of the Second World War and in the confines of Britain's code-breaking establishment at Bletchley Park, the work of Alan Turing and others led to the birth of electronic espionage. It was a breakthrough that helped win the war. In the following decades, computers transformed espionage from the spy hunting of the Cold War years to the data-driven pursuit of terrorists and the industrial-scale cyber-espionage against corporations in the twenty-first century. Together, computers and spies are shaping the future, and from the rise of China to the phones in our pockets, what was once the preserve of a few intelligence agencies now matters for us all. Drawing on unique access to Western intelligence agencies, on the ground reporting from China and insights into the most powerful technology companies, Corera has gathered compelling stories from heads of state, hackers and spies of all stripes. INTERCEPT is a ground-breaking exploration of the new space in which the worlds of espionage, geopolitics, diplomacy, international business, science and technology collide.

About this title

About the Author

Gordon Corera is Security Correspondent for BBC News. He has presented major documentaries for the BBC on GCHQ, NSA and cybersecurity including CRYPTO WARS and UNDER ATTACK - ESPIONAGE, SABOTAGE, SUBVERSION AND W ARFARE IN THE CYBER AGE for Radio 4. He is the author of the THE ART OF BETRAYAL: LIFE AND DEATH IN THE BRITISH SECRET SERVICE (entitled MI6 in the paperback) and SHOPPING FOR BOMBS: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE AQ KHAN NETW ORK. In 2014 he was named Information Security Journalist of the Year at the BT INFORMATION SECURITY AND JOURNALISM AWARDS. @gordoncorera

Review

Never mind all those cold-war thrillers set in 1970s Berlin. The true golden age of spying and surveillance - whether carried out by states or, increasingly, by companies - is now * ECONOMIST * Gordon Corera, best known as the security correspondent for BBC News, somehow finds time to write authoritative, well-researched and readable books on intelligence. Here he explores the evolution of computers from what used to be called signals intelligence to their transforming role in today's intelligence world. The result is an informative, balanced and revealing survey of the field in which, I suspect, most experts will find something new -- Alan Judd * SPECTATOR * Bleakly entertaining ... The lesson of INTERCEPT is that secret information is power, and that there is no end to the struggle to capture it and control it -- Richard Walker * CapX * What good timing for [this] book ... Gordon Corera's book takes us through the labyrinth of cyber-espionage ... It concerns a psychosis of control, whereby the digitisation of spying infests every cranny of our lives -- Ed Vulliamy * OBSERVER * If you are looking for a clear and comprehensive guide to how communications have been intercepted, from cable-cutting in the First World War to bulk data collection exposed by Ed Snowden, this is it ... A most readable account of how computers and the internet have transformed spying -- Richard Norton-Taylor * GUARDIAN * Riveting ... Making use of excellent sources, Corera, the BBC's security correspondent, has produced a highly relevant read that addresses the key debate in intelligence gathering - the balance between privacy and security -- Stephen Dorril * THE SUNDAY TIMES *

About this edition

• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0297871730
• ISBN 13: 9780297871736
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 431