A Hacker’s Mind

The renowned computer security expert and bestselling author explores how understanding hacks can illuminate societal issues and help us solve them. A hack has long been associated with computer technology and is a way to undermine the rules of a system to the hacker's advantage in a manner that was not foreseen or intended by the system's developers. In "The Mind of a Hacker," Bruce Schneier takes the concept out of the realm of computer science and uses it to analyze the social systems that underpin our society: from tax laws to financial markets and beyond. He reveals a range of powerful actors who use hacks to bend our economic, political, and legal systems to their will. According to Schneier, "even loopholes have loopholes," and this is intentional. Unchecked and amplified by artificial intelligence techniques, these hacks threaten to disrupt our financial markets, weaken our democracy, and undermine our own cognitive systems. However, if we properly understand the hacker mindset, we can improve existing systems, predict and defend against hacks, and create a fairer world.