Gray Day: My Undercover Mission to Expose America's First Cyber Spy

About this book

A cybersecurity expert and former FBI ghost tells the thrilling story of how he helped take down notorious FBI mole Robert Hanssen the first Russian cyber spy. Both a real-life tension-packed thriller and a persuasive argument for traditional intelligence work in the information age.Bruce Schneier New York Times bestselling author of Data and Goliath and Click Here to Kill Everybody Eric ONeill was only twenty-six when he was tapped for the case of a lifetime: a one-on-one undercover investigation of the FBIs top target a man suspected of spying for the Russians for nearly two decades giving up nuclear secrets compromising intelligence and betraying US assets. With zero training in face-to-face investigation ONeill found himself in a windowless high-security office in the newly formed Information Assurance Section tasked officially with helping the FBI secure its outdated computer system against hackers and spiesand unofficially with collecting evidence against his new boss Robert Hanssen an exacting and rage-prone veteran agent with a fondness for handguns. In the months that follow ONeills self-esteem and young marriage unravel under the pressure of life in Room 9930 and he questions the very purpose of his mission. But as Hanssen outmaneuvers an intelligence community struggling to keep up with the new reality of cybersecurity he also teaches ONeill the game of spycraft. The student will just have to learn to outplay his teacher if he wants to win. A tension-packed stew of power paranoia and psychological manipulation Gray Day is also a cautionary tale of how the United States allowed Russia to become dominant in cyberespionageand how we might begin to catch up.