digital fortress- book review_shubham

Digital

Fortress

By

Dan Brown

Reviewed by:

Shubham Singhal

A051 - 80303120053

Batch 2012-2014

12-03-2013

PGDM

NMIMS, Hyderabad

Shubham Singhal | Roll No.: A051, SAP ID: 80303120053 2

Contents

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 3

About the book ...................................................................................................................... 3

About the Author ................................................................................................................... 5

The Story ............................................................................................................................... 6

Relationships ......................................................................................................................... 7

Evaluation of the Book ...................................................................................................................... 8

Usefulness of the book for my study ...................................................................................... 8

How it is related to my subject of study ................................................................................. 8

Is it intended for my subject of study ..................................................................................... 8

Is the Book written clearly and did the author achieve his goal .............................................. 9

Author’s main points with some examples from the book ...................................................... 9

Understanding of the subject of study enhanced though this book ...................................... 11

Personal experiences relating to the book............................................................................ 12

What I appreciate most of this book .................................................................................... 13

What I disliked about the book ............................................................................................ 13

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 14

Sources: .......................................................................................................................................... 14


Introduction

About the book:

Digital Fortress is a techno-thriller novel.

It was published in 1998.

Number of Pages: 512

Genre(s): Science Fiction and Techno- Thriller

It is based on a theme of the government surveillance of electronically stored

information, even on the private lives of citizens, and the possible ethical

implications using such high end technology.

The main story revolves around the NSA‘s clandestine TRANSLATR, which

is one of the greatest master-piece of the NSA and was capable of deciphering

any code built to enforce the nation‘s digital privacy secretly.

Main characters in the book:

Susan Fletcher — The NSA's Head Cryptographer, and the story's

lead character

David Becker — A Professor of Modern Languages and the fiancé of

Susan Fletcher


Ensei Tankado — The author of Digital Fortress and a disgruntled

former NSA employee

Commander Trevor Strathmore — NSA Deputy Director of

Operations and main antagonist

Phil Chartrukian — Sys-Sec Technician

Greg Hale — NSA Cryptographer

Leland Fontaine — Director of NSA

"Hulohot" — An assassin hired to locate the Passkey and secondary

antagonist

Midge Milken — Fontaine's internal security analyst

Chad Brinkerhoff — Fontaine's personal assistant

"Jabba" — NSA's senior System Security Officer

Tokugen Numataka — Japanese Executive attempting to

purchase Digital Fortress.


About the Author:

Name: Dan Brown

He is the author of best selling novels including the Da Vinci Code

His novels are published in 52 languages around the world.

In 2005, he was names as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World

by Time Magazine

Background:

He was born on 22 June, 1964.

He was born to a mathematics teacher and a church organist.

He was raised in New Hampshire with two younger siblings on a prep

school campus where he developed a fascination with the paradoxical

interplay between science and religion.

The themes he had his interest is reflected in his work.

He is a graduate of Amherst College and Philips Exeter Academy.

Dan Brown is a writer by profession.

Other works by the author:

The Da Vinci Code

The Lost Symbol

Deception Point

Angels & Demons

Inferno


The great novels by him have also been converted into blockbuster movies,

like currently the work is going on by the Columbia Pictures for the film on

‗The Lost Symbol‘.

The Story (in a graphical format):


Relationships:

About myself:

I read this book for the first time while I was in 2nd

year of my B.Tech.

in Computer Science.

I have always had keen interest in computer science, coding and

information security.

I had taken Cryptography, coding in several languages like C, C++,

Java, Computer Networks during my graduation.

I then worked in IT industry for 2 years in Information Security

domain as a Security Analyst.

Why this book:

Since this book is my favourite because:

Common interests of the book and myself: the codes!

The book is an easy to read and literally un-droppable

It is a perfect blend of:

o Fast paced techno thrill

o Technology

o Romance

o Action

o Secret intelligence organizations

o Responsibility and accountability in an organization

o Love the work that you do- being passionate

As per me, it is a must read (I have myself read it many times) for all,

and to support me on that point- yes, millions of copies of this book

have been sold and is widely acclaimed all over.

Some of the Reviews to support my point are:

Digital Fortress is the best and most realistic techno-thriller to reach the market in

years. Dan Brown‘s ability to paint in living color the gray area between personal

freedom vs. national security is awesome. The story line is so good, readers will

feel a chilling thrill a minute as the book makes one think who is truly the terrorist

and who is actually freedom‘s guardian.

- Midwest Book Review


In this fast-paced, plausible tale, Brown blurs the line between good and evil

enough to delight patriots and paranoids alike.

- Publisher’s Weekly

Evaluation of the Book

Usefulness of the book for my study: <Personal Views>

The book Digital Fortress and I have a common interest- the codes.

This book helped me:

To get an insight of the power of the codes.

To know the various number of uses of codes.

To know how important it is to maintain the information security and

protect the important and confidential data for letting out to the outside

world.

To know that whether our personal conversations, emails really

personal or are they being monitored by the intelligence organizations.

To know how a single man with his simple genius mind challenged the

best intelligence organization- the NSA just by writing an unbreakable

code and how he could blackmail the NSA.

To get exposed to the power of Information Technology in today‘s

world.

How it is related to my subject of study: < Personal Views>

The book is related to the ‗codes‘ which is of a common interest to me as well.

I have always had keen interest in computer science, coding and information

security.

I had taken Cryptography, coding in several languages like C, C++, Java,

Computer Networks during my graduation.

I then worked in IT industry for 2 years in Information Security domain as a

Security Analyst.

Is it intended for my subject of study: <Personal Views>


This book is a work of fiction and a part of my curriculum. I read it out of

interest and also as part of my hobby– which is reading.

This book interests me since it is about the topic of cryptography, codes,

information security, network architecture- which being a technology

enthusiast excites and interests me.

Is the Book written clearly and did the author achieve his goal:

<Personal Views>

The book is written in a very easy, expressive and adaptive language which

keeps the reader engrossed with the book.

The suspense of the story is packed with such twists and is so unpredictable

that it keeps the reader thinking and go page by page as soon as possible to get

to know the code which would save the NSA‘s future.

Yes, the author has achieved his goal in making the book very interesting and

a real thriller packed with the latest technology and secrets of that time. And

thus this makes the book a very widely acclaimed and thus selling millions of

copied worldwide.

Author’s main points with some examples from the book: <These

are the author’s views>

―Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will guard the guards?‖

This is in context that NSA refers to the guards here who claim to

protect the world by cracking codes and letting out the important

useful information but what if their intentions are wrong? So, who

is keeping a check on that? Thus, the question who is going to

guard the guards themselves?

This became an important centre of question and discussion of the

book, since the NSA was keeping a deep dark secret through the

Strathmore‘s strategy, which was under a danger to getting

disclosed to the entire world creating a havoc in the digital world,

and it is thus important to keep a check on his work and plans.

―Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer.‖

It is like a motivational statement as used in the book.


What is possible today was not possible yesterday even in our

dreams. This thought and the belief in the technology and the

possibilities keep the scientists and the coders and the code

breakers keep going.

Thus nothing is possible i.e. everything is possible and the things

that are considered to be impossible they are not impossible, it is

just that one needs to wait for it as it is going to take some more

time to become a reality.

―Please accept this humble fax. My love for you is without wax.‖

This is what David Becker sent to Susan Fletcher (romantically).

David Becker was a professor of Modern Languages and was the

fiancé of Susan Fletcher.

Susan Fletcher was the NSA's Head Cryptographer.

Susan only told David about the codes, how it evolved and how

they broke the codes.

So, out of love David wrote this for Susan to tell her how much he

loves her. Here a code is used - without wax – which refers to

purity. So, this shows how much pure his love is for her, and it was

her for whom he went the extra mile and did anything he could for

her.

―But Susan's thoughts were far removed from the political implications of

Digital Fortress. She was still struggling to comprehend its existence.

She'd spent her life breaking codes, firmly denying the existence of the

ultimate code. Every code is breakable - the Bergofsky Principle! She felt

like an atheist coming face to face with God.‖

A lot was going in the NSA that day revolving around the

TRANSLTR. Many strategies were being implemented along with

the political games- in which Susan was least interested.

To her surprise there existed a code having mutation strings

which resulted in an unbreakable code.

As per the Bergofsky Principle- every code is breakable and this

forms the basis of their study and the cryptography and this is what


keeps a code breaker keep going that yes, the code is breakable and

yes there is a solution to it.

But, over here there was a situation, where they had an unbreakable

code, so this left Susan thinking on the possibility of it, and how

the world would be if this is the case. It is like atheist who believes

there is no such thing as God, is coming face to face with a God in

reality and thus all his/her previous beliefs and in a way his entire

life and work is questioned.

"‘We all have a right to keep secrets,' he (Tankado) said. 'Some day I'll see

to it we can.‘"

As per Tankado, there is a right to keep secrets and that is how it

should be done. But by using TRANSLTR, the NSA was able to

break this and break all the codes getting exposed to all the secrets.

Tankado thus decided to make sure that people can keep secrets

and there is a way out to have codes that are unbreakable and he

said that someday he will make sure that this can be done. And yes,

this came as a warning to the NSA and he did by writing the

Digital Fortress.

Understanding of the subject of study enhanced though this book:

< Personal Views>

The main subject of this book is codes, cryptography, digital attacks,

information intelligence agencies, hacking, algorithms etc.

Dan Brown has done a wonderful work with this masterpiece in talking

about these things in a descriptive way wrapping with a great storyline and

adding the spice of a thriller.

By this book I got to know about these things and how these are used in

real life and how they can affect one‘s life (in the digital world) i.e. by

letting out all of ones‘ information to the public including all the emails,

conversations.

Also, I got to know about the existence of organisations like NSA and how

they work and how much amount of work has been done in this field and

its scope from the point of view of information security.


Thus, this book did help me in knowing about these topics and since it is a

work of fiction, I am actually able to imagine what amount of work and

breaching, hacking, codes and the code breaking must be going on in the

intelligence organizations and how much challenging can it be!

Personal experiences relating to the book: < Personal Views>

I got this book during my B.Tech. as a recommendation and as a gift from

my elder brother (also a B.Tech. in IT), so it was an emotional moment

and also I was looking forward to read the book as soon as possible since I

respect my brother and like taste of books and articles. We share common

interest topics when it comes to technology and coding.

At that time, I was not good enough in English and have not read much

books previously, so it took me quite some time to read it along with my

academic commitments of my semester system.

This book helped me in a way to improve my English and my reading

speed because it increases as one reads more and more.

I do remember I participated in an inter college competition organized by

‗Career Launcher‘ to check good one is to become a future manager and it

required a series of competitions, one of which was an English written one

and a Group Discussion (this being my first ever Group Discussion

competition). And to prepare myself for it, ( you would not believe this) I

read a few more chapters of this book, to get more fluency and command

over English language because I simply enjoyed a lot reading this book,

whereas the others were mugging up the word lists and browsing the

internet and what not. And yes, I did got to the finals of the competition.

(This one is a bit funny to think about now) I used to read this book in the

classroom lectures, on my way to the college and in my bedroom, and not

my text books of my curriculum. I was so much glued to it and to reach to

the end to know the suspense. And my mother used to scold me and at

times even hide the book, so that I get rid of it and study my course‘s text

books!


What I appreciate most of this book: < Personal Views>

The writing style of Dan Brown.

It is an easy to read and understandable format.

One can actually visualize the characters and the events happening in the

book, thanks to the author‘s eye to details.

The way the chapters are linked to each other as the real suspense of the

code comes along in the past, making sense to all the previous chapters.

The book is a perfect mix of :

Fast paced techno thrill

Technology

Romance

Action

Secret intelligence organizations

Responsibility and accountability in an organization

The way the context is described, that even a newbie can understand

inspite of being a bit technical context.

What I disliked about the book: < Personal Views>

The chapters of the book go parallel with different stories of their own, so

this in a way creates a disconnect while reading the book in a flow. This is

basically done to delay the suspense but it could have been done in a better

way may be.

The suspense of the book i.e. the code to save the NSA finally, was a bit

predictable in the last few pages. It was not that much difficult in the end

to crack by such high IQ employees of the NSA, so it was a bit

exaggerated.

It lagged the momentum of the story in a few places in the middle and was

a bit boring and then after a few chapters it again gained its pace. So there

were ups and downs in the pace of the story of the book.


Conclusion The book ‗Digital Fortress‘ is really a masterpiece by Dan Brown and I definitely thoroughly

enjoyed it reading again and again making it my favourite book. I would recommend this

book for a read to all.

Sources: http://www.danbrown.com/

http://www.danbrown.com/digital-fortress/

digital fortress- book review_shubham

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