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Cyberjutsu: Cybersecurity for the Modern Ninja

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Loved it! 😍

A study contrasting NIST cybersecurity standards and Ninjutsu, by a US cyberwarfare specialist highlighting recommendations for enhancement.

Cybersecurity has become a pillar of the world economy in the digital age we live in. This is because the lion’s share of commerce, business, and banking transactions happen today via the Internet. Transactions worth several trillions of dollars (1 trillion=a million-million) take place on it every year. Cybersecurity has to do with the preeminent function of guarding computers and the info they process (either operating standalone or as network members) from fraudulent access/modification so criminals don’t steal money and/or data.


We know that in the universe, we can never separate good and evil: they must necessarily coexist! The same is true of the Internet. As business/commerce has boomed on the Internet, so has crime. Major criminal activity has migrated to the Internet. Most criminals today operate in whole or in part using it. As a result, cyber-crime has grown into a global “cops and robbers game,” played all across the Internet. The defenders and the adversaries use digital weapons in this battle—there’s little other difference! Enter cybersecurity (and this book). The resemblance with war makes the strategies, tactics, and skills used by top militaries in history eminent choices for cybersecurity as well. Thus, ninjutsu, the top espionage/reconnaissance discipline developed and used by the medieval Japanese ninjas, comes into focusIn this topical book, Cyberjutsu: Cybersecurity for the Modern Ninja, author Ben McCarty examines important parallels between the NIST 800 series of cybersecurity standards and ninjutsu and recommends upgrades to the former for best performance.


This book has a highly practical flavor. It attempts to be solid and thorough. Each chapter ends with a “Castle Theory Thought Exercise” and a “Debrief.” The castle parallels a computer network, and the cybersecurity manager (or the book’s reader) takes the place of the castle’s ruler. Scenarios embodying major threats that were discussed in a specific chapter form exercises for the reader. The exercises are of a kind that would deeply kindle readers’ interest and spur them on to intense problem-solving activity as well as hands-on experimentation in a naturally appealing manner, particularly if you grew up loving adventure/mystery stories involving castles, kings, and queens. This is what I liked most about the book.


This book is so technical that I’m convinced that you must be a geek or at least an IT pro to digest it properly. But if you satisfy that requirement, you’ll find it highly enjoyable and challenging! Therefore, I recommend it to cybersecurity pros, IT pros, ethical hackers, students of computer science and allied disciplines, and especially all pros/students preparing for the NIST 800-53 series of certification tests/examinations.

Reviewed by

An engineer and part-time IT Consultant based in Bangalore, India. Part-time copy editor/reviewer. An IEEE Senior Member. Deep thinker and innovator. Highly analytical, clear, accurate, and thorough. Over 90 book reviews published to date-70 on Reedsy and 22 on Online BookClub.

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About the author

American author, veteran, inventor and cybersecurity professional. He is a former cyber capability developer with the National Security Agency (NSA) and served as a cyber warfare specialist in the U.S. Army. He has multiple security certifications, patents and years of security experience. view profile

Published on April 06, 2021

Published by No Starch Press

60000 words

Genre: Computers & Internet

Reviewed by