This fictional work tells the story of a terror network that uses the Internet to plan and (almost) carry out its nefarious plans. The network is stopped by the good guys, who manage to break the code and stop the situation from happening at the last moment, to the sound of the bugles of the US Cavalry coming to the rescue. Hundreds, if not thousands, of similar thrillers are out there, and are usually better written.

But then, this book should not be thought of solely as a literary work. It is, rather, a primer on the security holes of the Internet, and how to exploit them, explained in detail, and at a level that the average high-school student (or potential terrorist?) can understand and learn from, complete with screen shots and tutorials on particular software. So why make it all public? The author and technical editor would undoubtedly explain their labor with the same words that Huff used to justify his classic book [1], by quoting the words of a retired burglar whose published reminiscences were a graduate course in lock picking: “The crooks already know these tricks; honest men must learn them in self-defense.” With this object in mind, the book does its job well. If you did not give enough respect to steganography and its potential for harm before, you definitely will after finishing this volume.

There is a disturbing subtext, however: the security holes explained here are among those that have been detected, and the use of them can be countered. Are there any others out there that only the terrorists know of? For this answer, we may have to wait for the author’s sequel.