A primer in practical computer security aimed at those shopping, communicating, or doing business online -- almost everyone, in other words.
--The Economist

A rich, insightfully fresh take on what security really means!
--David Ropeik, author of How Risky Is It, Really?

The closest the security industry has to a rock star.
--The Register

What you think you know about security is probably all wrong

We seem to be more security-conscious now than at any time in our history, yet the headlines scream of bombings, mass shootings, Chinese cyberattacks, and the NSA perusing your e-mail.

What's wrong here?

Widely acclaimed as the quintessential security expert, Bruce Schneier might also be seen as the conscience of the security industry. The bestselling author of Secrets and Lies and Liars and Outliers has been sounding the alarm for years. This collection of more than 155 of Schneier's most thought-provoking essays provides an unvarnished look at what's not working, what can work, and why we need to get busy.

It's time we listened.

For years, security sage Bruce Schneier has been warning us about the true security risks in our wired-up world, and revealing the illusions we construct to convince ourselves -- wrongly -- that we are safe.

He unmasked the smoke and mirrors behind airport security checks that make us feel safer without actually making us safer...why the FBI's wiretapping plan is in fact a boon to the bad guys...how the trust essential to a functioning society has been replaced with security measures that merely alter the level of risk.

Now, in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and chemical attacks in Syria, Schneier presents this anthology of more than 155 of his most insightful essays. Here you will find thought-provoking assessments of security and technology; the psychological, human, business, and economic aspects of security; privacy and surveillance; crime, terrorism, spying, and war; liberty and law; and much, much more.

You'll discover

• Why our computer security is a feudal system
• How science fiction writers can affect homeland security
• Why profiling actually makes us less safe
• The myth of the transparent society
• Google's and Facebook's privacy illusion
• Why the FBI and CIA failed to connect the dots on the Boston Marathon bombers
• The story behind the Stuxnet virus
• Who should really be in charge of cybersecurity
• How the US enabled the Chinese hacking of Google
• Why scanners and sensors are the wrong way to secure the subway system

Embark on this fascinating, unsettling journey into the real world of 21st-century security. And pay attention. Our future is at stake.