Review: Surprise, Surprise
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2014
Review of netwars, The Code by M. Sean ColemanI wasn’t too sure what I was getting into with this first of five installments by M. Sean Coleman. Seemed kind of geeky at first and then it turned dam right spooky. Although this installment was short and quick, there was plenty to digest and at the end there was even a website to check out: www.netwars-project.com.The long and short of this first installment involves the murder of Scott Prince, the founder and owner of a high tech security system used by many governments and large corporations. One of Prince’s little secrets is that he is pedophile who is about to divorce his wife so he can live his fantasy in a palace somewhere in, of all places, Thailand.  Prince has joined a group of his fellow creeps called the Teddybear’s Picnic Network under what he believes is a cloak of anonymity, except a hacker named Strider has uncovered this network and has identified Prince as a high profile member.Strider is a self-proclaimed, lone wolf assassin as well as a legal enforcer, who abides by his own Code and that Code has no empathy for the likes of Scott Prince. Another hacker and member of the notorious Black Flag organization who goes by the name of Nightshade also glums onto Prince and pursues a blackmail scheme wherein he agrees not to reveal Prince’s association the Teddybears if Prince gives him access to the data on Prince’s security system called PrinceSec.For this short installment, there is plenty of mystery and intrigue to go a long way. The potential battle lines are drawn between Strider and Nightshade on several fronts, none of which should be set out in a review.There also is a lot to learn from this installment involving the Deep Web and its browser program Tor. As secret and anonymous as the Deep Web portends to be, we all know the outcome about the downfall of the Silk Road, a product of the Deep Web.One should definitely visit the website www.netwars-project.com to gain some factual prospective as to what the future could hold for all of us with respect for warfare. It opens one’s mind to how insecure our net experiences really are, which is quite healthy.I would rate this with 4 stars. The writing style of this book is good, but not great. The upcoming duels between the hackers, including Strider and the Black Flag, and National Cyber Crime Unit appear to be very exciting and promising. And just who is this Strider character, a friend or a foe? Stay tuned for installment two.