Code War

How Nations Hack, Spy, and Shape the Digital Battlefield

By: Allie Mellen

Narrated by: Frances Anderson

Cyberattacks are the ultimate geopolitical weapon of the twenty-first century. They are used to damage presidential campaigns, shut down electric grids, sway public sentiment, and cost businesses and governments alike billions of dollars.

Popular culture portrays cyberattacks as unstoppable and mysterious actions taken by shadowy, unpredictable forces.

Code War: How Nations Hack, Spy, and Shape the Digital Battlefield shatters this depiction, revealing nation-state cyberattacks for what they are: calculated, measured actions to achieve state objectives.

World-renowned cybersecurity expert Allie Mellen draws on her extensive experience with nation-state cyberattacks and AI threats to break down how and why nations deploy cyberattacks in their own unique ways, driven by their military doctrine, national history, and, most importantly, geopolitical strategy.

Mellen deconstructs the most infamous cyberattacks of our time to reveal how and why attacks like Stuxnet, WannaCry, NotPetya, and the Sony Pictures hack happened and how their success altered the international landscape.

Code War also demonstrates how individuals, business professionals, and government officials can use this knowledge to understand and respond to the practical realities of nation-state cyberattacks.

©2026 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Scary truth: tech's both wonderful & dangerous

This book is like listening to a college lecture. It is full of facts and frights, It delves into technology as both a blessing and a curse. it can and is a long, hard listen but it is also important and needs to be faced. If anything we need to deal with the message in a way we as a country, as a society, as busy people have not faced in a serious enough way. This goes to the heart of the dangers that come with our digital age. The same things addict us to our smart phone, computer, TV and other devices, also is a danger. The same tools that give us unlimited access to the worldwide spider web also give a lot of bad actors, crooks, con artists and dangerous governments access to us. This book step by step lays it out. It is not an American problem and danger. It is a global obsession that is a challenge as well as a wonder. The bad guys in China, Russia, North Korea and elsewhere us the same tools we love to play with and enjoy to steal our secrets, put us in danger and threaten our way of life. And this just gets worse day by day. So if you want to know in detail both why our new age opens windows to the world and why we need to be afraid of the things that can hurt us as much as help us, this is an important listen. I only wish it was an easier listen becaue a lot of those who are or will be victims just will not ever get though all of what this book has to teach. So by a buyer but also understand in the world today the term "buyer beware" has a. lot of new meaning. Listen to help yourself but be afraid, be very afraid, because it is only getting worse.