This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“”Okay,” I said, my heart thumping
harder now. Meeting with the FBI? As a suspect?
What? “Why would I be a
suspect?” | “Because … well … to be blunt: given who your
wife is, since her family is from Iran, it looks like you knew the email was
coming and clicked on it on purpose, to let Iran into our network. Why else would you have clicked on it?”” –
William Cooper, and Michael McKinley, Chapter 5, Page 19
“It’s weird if you think about it. There are eighty million people in Iran –
tens of millions more with family ties there – and you get all the big and
complicated variation in that group that you would in any other large group of
humans. Without exception. A simple family dinner of five reveals
stunning differences between blood relatives under one roof. Yet to most outsiders, all Iranians are
crammed into one monolithic category defined by a handful of zealots who happen
to have seized the government.” – William Cooper, and Michael McKinley, Chapter
6, Page 24
“As if Pam had anything to do with this. I’m just some dude that works at a company
that does business with the federal government, one of hundreds of
thousands. Iran hacks everyone. And millions of people have family
connections to Iran. Pam was not in
cahoots with Iranian-government hackers.
She is smart and kind and works for the greater good of us all with the
films she makes and she is the last person on the planet who would use her
husband as a pawn in a treasonous cyber espionage campaign.” – William Cooper,
and Michael McKinley, Chapter 7, Page 28
Excerpts provided with approval by the author
Is This An Overview?
A war between America and Iran has
begun. Cities are set ablaze. The trigger for the war was an Iranian
cyberattack. What enabled the
cyberattack, was a phishing email, by someone who worked at a security company
that sold equipment used by the American government. That someone was Michael. What the government believes, is that Michael
clicked on the link on purpose to assist Michael’s spouse, Pam, who is of
Iranian descent. Even though Pam is
American, and Pam’s parents fled Iran.
It is not just Michael
and Pam who face prejudice, as all those with Iranian ties become considered
hostile. With a bounty on anyone who
looks to be Iranian. The war justified
the suspension of various laws, which lead to Michael and Pam to be separated
and taken by the government for questioning.
How can Michael and Pam overcome the persecution? How far would the government and people be
willing to persecute others?
Caveats?
This book is based on politics and
sociology. There is a political
bias. The political biases are
references to behavior of politicians when the book was written, projected forward
a few years with different names attached to the people.
