“If you bank or manage your stocks online, you have to read this book. Cyberspace is making all sorts of things possible. Unfortunately, among them are fraud, theft, and espionage—all of which can directly impact you.”--Richard Clarke, noted counterterrorism expert and bestselling author of Against All Enemies

A white-collar true-crime story, Zero Day Threat is a powerful investigative expose on bank and lending policies that actually facilitate ID theft and fraud. USA Today reporters Acohido and Swartz reveal the many ways that established corporations and technology giants (including Bank of America, Microsoft, and Google) have fixated on the Internet to maximize their profits, heedless of increased risks to customers. While examining the exploding range of hidden Internet hazards, they reveal the ways in which cyber crooks nab identity data--such as Dumpster diving for bountiful paper trash that offers account user names, passwords and  Social Security numbers--and then exploit that information through channels opened up by careless corporate policies.  

 Using real-life examples of those who have endured the nightmare of a stolen identity, Zero Day Threat organizes its narrative around three central archetypes:

• Intended not merely to alarm, but to illuminate, Zero Day Threat exposes how lawbreakers do their dirty work, and how corporations help them do it.