Digital Resilience: Book Review by Diana Chapman Walsh
Book Review | January 8, 2019
By Diana Chapman Walsh, 12th President of Wellesley College
Fascinating, compelling, a beautifully-written page turner that draws the reader in immediately. I learned a whole new vocabulary—new words to convey new concepts in paragraph after paragraph—introduced elegantly and seamlessly so as not to disrupt the flow of the intriguing story you were unfolding. Concepts like “preemptive mitigation of damage” to augment existing security measures aimed at preventing breaches, which are inevitable. And that because of the “frictionless vulnerability” that accompanies the much-desired ability to communicate without friction. The difference (in time and consequence) between infiltration of the network and “exfiltration” of the data. On and on like this.
A whole fascinating world that reads more like a John Grisham novel than a technical treatise. That’s my comment on the pleasure of reading it; masterfully crafted prose and structure. Beyond that, you make an iron-clad case that (1) cybersecurity is among the most important issues of our time and (2) the digital resilience you describe is indispensable and also possible if senior leadership will educate themselves, institute the changes you advocate, and pay attention. I loved your dark energy-dark matter analogy at the opening of Chapter 7.
