The Termination Node — Lois H. Gresh

You step up to the ATM machine, type in your PIN number. A pause. Then the screen reveals the last thing you would have expected--that someone has electronically drained your account. You've been left with a balance of zero.

It can happen. In a world online, no one is safe, nothing is private, no transaction is secure. This frighteningly plausible scenario is unveiled in The Termination Node, an electrifying new novel coauthored by top internet security specialist Lois H. Gresh. Grounded in fact and substantiated by astounding expertise, The Termination Node will blast you awake, revealing the sheer vulnerability we all face, today and in the future. Gresh has seen it all, and she baits our unease with informed--and shocking--possibilities.

Judy Carmody is a total hacker, a free-wheeling California freelancer who, at twenty-something, is the best in the business of Internet security. But even Judy has never seen anything like the cyber-heist that instantly vaporizes the assets of a major bank. Penetrating all state-of-the-art defenses in the dead of night, someone is using a mysterious new code to empty accounts. And they're getting away with it, leaving no trace. The masterminds have thought of everything--including the elimination of every hacker who might be able to stop them.

Forced into hiding, Judy disappears into the bizarre underground of California hacker culture. As she desperately hurries to crack the deadly code, she uncovers secrets that reach the highest levels of power--secrets that jeopardize the security and privacy of every citizen. For today, computers are everywhere.

Totally terrifying, completely original, The Termination Node is a spellbinding novel revealing dangers you never thought possible. Until now.