Fiction.
Thriller.
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In Rogue Code, Mark Russinovich takes high-frequency trading one step further to show how a ruthless breed of traders' grip on high finance makes the stock market vulnerable to hackers who could bring about worldwide financial collapse.
Cyber security expert Jeff Aiken knows that no computer system is completely secure. When he's called to investigate a possible breach at the New York Stock Exchange, he discovers not only that their system has been infiltrated but that someone on the inside knows. Yet for some reason, they have allowed the hackers to steal millions of dollars from accounts without trying to stop the theft.
When Jeff uncovers the crime, the NYSE suddenly turns on him. Accused of grand larceny, he must find and expose the criminals behind the theft, not just to prove his innocence but to stop a multi-billion-dollar heist that could upend the U.S. economy. Unwilling to heed Jeff's warnings, the NYSE plans to continue with a major IPO using a new, untested system, one that might be susceptible both to hackers and to ruthless high-frequency traders willing to take any risk to turn a profit.
Now Jeff Aiken must unearth the truth on his own, following the thread to the back alleys of Rio de Janeiro to take on one of the world's most ruthless cartels.
Praised for his combination of real-world technology and quick-paced action, with Rogue Code Mark Russinovich delivers an intense thriller about a cyber threat that seems all too possibleâ??and the Wall Street traders who might allow it to happen.
Includes a foreword by Haim Bodek, author of The Problem of HFT: Collected Writings on High Frequency Trading & Stock Market Structure Reform.
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(3.75)
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3
But I really like his style regardless of the flaws. And this one is about high speed trading, which I just avoided during the first internet bubble and now I am slowly trading with part of my retirement money, so I still have some stocks and try to stay current with the IT / Tech News.
While no Day-Traiding expert, I know terms like IPO and have a basic understanding of the stock-market, NYSE and NASDAQ which certainly helps reading this book.
What I really liked, in comparison to books describing IT and internet by other writers, the tech is on the point real. This part may be too much for a normal computer-users, as a former Helpdesk-Slave I consider myself not a Hacker, but a Nerd and an Insider and I use a little (Mac OS) Unix daily.
So I cannot really say how the tech described here works for a non-tech user.
What is obvious to the books before in the series: the writing has matured. Not without faults, I think it is 10-20% too long and jumps too much between the different places. But that is nicely boxed within a chapter, one place per chapter, mostly.
There are a few news-articles, summaries and memos thrown in the story. Some are of real events, the Facebook IPO.
Still, I recommend it, the tech is real and believable and the risks very real.
After the book has ended, there is a section with additional material, both books, articles and urls. This something which I miss in a lot of fictional books, and in this case I will read some of the material on the Web (but probably not the books).
(Corrected two wrong words and inserted a few where the structure and grammar was bad, I German, expect this ... May 29th 2014) (