Mark Russinovich's "Zero Day"

In cybersecurity circles, Mark Russinovich, the top technical gun in Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud platform group, is a pretty famous guy. In 2005 he discovered a program that Sony deployed secretly to prevent users from copying its CDs. Unfortunately, the program contained a vulnerability that welcomed hackers into every computer into which a Sony disk was inserted, and Sony ultimately had to recall all those tainted CDs. A year later, Russinovich found a similar type of program — a so-called rootkit, which both opens an invisible door to a computer's operating system and hides the malware that hackers can insert through it — in a Symantec antivirus tool.

Russinovich is to rootkits as Edison was to electricity, so it's no surprise that a rootkit virus is the villain — along with Islamist jihadists, U.S. government bureaucrats, and Russian hackers — of his first novel, Zero Day. A thriller in which the hero is handsome, the villains slimy, and the women gorgeous, Zero Day is notable for its vision of a world brought to the eve of destruction due to its dependence on computers and the Internet. Russinovich says he was inspired by all the viruses and worms unleashed by "kids in their parents' basements" and wondered what might happen if someone, or some group, actually wanted to cause serious harm. CFO spoke with Russinovich to ask how closely he believes his scenario mirrors reality.

The Internet make the world a more dangerous place?

Does the Internet make the world a more dangerous place?It's the complete dependence on the Internet. Even small businesses. Think about it. You go to your doctor or your dentist. What would happen if their computer wasn't working? What would happen if their data was destroyed? They'd be out of business.