Breaking Backbones: Information Is Power

by Deb Radcliff

A hacker war seventeen years in the making erupts after GlobeCom takes over the world through human chip implants.

As dozens of hacker strike teams around the world attempt to relieve GlobeCom of its iron grip on humanity through a coordinated attack on its data centers, Cy is gravely injured and her husband is killed in the attack.

At his funeral, Cy learns the hacker clans are now going after her secret spouse, a chief security officer from GlobeCom's China hub who has been anonymously feeding the clans inside information to aid their cause. Without any idea the China hub's CSO is their secret source of information, the hackers leave in the middle of the night to intercept him at the DC hub. Cy realizes they are most likely walking into a turf war between global powers with deep resources and state-of-the-art weaponry. With time running out, Cy must dispatch another team to rescue her secret husband and the clan members converging in DC before she loses nearly everyone she holds dear.

In this exciting cyberthriller, investigative reporter Deb Radcliff tells a gripping story that raises important questions around invasions of privacy in a global bid for power through the use of technology.

Genres: Fiction

194 pages, Paperback

Published March 31, 2021

About the author

Deb Radcliff’s award-winning books are penned from her decades of experience as a cybercrime reporter. Now considered a thought leader, she is a speaker, analyst and writer covering the impact of cyber on security and privacy and following new trends such as AI, deep fakes, metaverses, neural networks, and quantum computing. Tech always evolves and so must we.

Reviews

[Jeff Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Excellent, excellent Sci-Fi. And what makes it all the enjoyable is that the story could be real and part of todays’ news. The computer backbone, a network to which multiple networks are connected. The total always being more powerful that the component parts. Chillingly real. Breaking Backbone, Information Is Power, for me, was a mash-up of Sandra Bullock's, The Net and The Terminator. I read book two of the series (Breaking Backbones Information should be free) first and liked it so much that I decided to digress and read book one of the series. The books can be independent reads or read in series. There is a bit of carryover. I also liked the richness and diversity of the characters. The heros are just common people waging a huge cyber war. Excellent, excellent, highly recommended.

[David Strom · Rating 5 out of 5]

The end of Skynet updated for the modern Internet era

While not quite the same kind of Skynet made popular by the Terminator series, this is more of a Skynet envisioned by someone who has a computer security degree. (The author is an IT security instructor IRL.) The global communications monopoly called GlobeCom has taken over everything, and is now being run by some Russian mobster. But a dedicated band of hackers has a plan to fight back and reclaim the planet and make it safe once again for humans. Instead of killer robots (for the most part) there are hackers with l33t skillz, and some cool drones too. Oh, and everyone has to be microchipped for their identity with technology that can be hacked for both the good and bad guys. It is a fun read, with lots of realistic tech that is just quite possible in the near future. Highly recommended.

[Linda Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a debut novel, Deb Radcliff has a winner. This fast-paced, quick read is thrilling, edge-of-your-seat intriguing. There's something for everyone in Breaking Backbones - a bit of sexy romance, a bit of the survivalist culture, a bit of sci-fi, and most of all, an abundance of action. There's a lot of techie terminology here that Ms. Radcliff brings to the story from her personal knowledge of the hacker world. I love the characters and am really eager to read book 2, because I'm hoping Cy returns. If you like futuristic thrillers, Breaking Backbones should be at the top of your must read list.

[Richard Thieme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cyber conflict" is a genre now with a rich history of narratives. They vary from action-packed to social commentary to predictions of (usually) dystopian futures. Deb Radcliff's Breaking Backbones hits all the marks of the genre and does justice to them all. The battle against an evil corporation is waged by a band of savvy hackers who are drawn with more than the usual broad brushstrokes. They come alive in your imagination as well as in the pages of this novel, the first book in a trilogy. They elicit sympathy and support for their mission, and a tear now and then along the way.

Radcliff knows what she's talking about. A journalist who has penetrated deeply into these virtual thickets and written about them for years, she extrapolates from her experience to create a near-future landscape filled with clever inventions, all of which are plausible. She leaves you wanting more, and I have signed up for the next installment, and the next. Breaking Backbones is a fast-paced read, sometimes exciting and sometimes just really really interesting. I strongly recommend it.