This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends

What Hacker News says

1. chc4Feb 2026
   I don't think you know anything about how these industries work and should probably read some of the published books about them, like "This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends", instead of speculating in a way that will mislead people. Most purchasers of browser exploits are nation-state groups ("gray market") who are heavily incentivized not to screw the seller and would just wire some money directly, not black market sales.
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2. azemetreDec 2025
   The book "This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends" by Nicole Perlroth, while it's about the history of cyberweapons it does a very good job detailing the late 90s to early 2010s exploit market.

   I don't have it in front of me, but I'm talking about the "nobody but us" era of exploit markets:

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOBUS

   Where the NSA seemingly was buying anything, even if not worthwhile, as a form of "munitions collection" to be used for the future attacks.

   edit: this mostly ended in the US because other nations started paying more, add in more regulations (only a handful companies are allowed to sell these exploits internationally) and software companies starting to do basic security practices (along with ruling out their own bug bounties), it just mostly whimpered away.

   Also relevant to the discussion, the book discusses how the public exploit markets are exploitive to the workers themselves (low payouts when state actors would pay more) and there are periods of times where there would be open revolts too (see 2009 "No More Free Bugs" movement, also discussed in the book).

   Definitely worth it if you aren't aware of this history, I wasn't.

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3. robotnikmanAug 2025
   >The NSA used to play defence and offence, and has gone full-offence for a generation.

   And IIRC most of those people who used to work for the NSA now work at private firms like the NSO group, which is pretty scary when you think about it. It's hard to blame them though, if I was being offered the amount of money they were given, I would probably take it as well.

   I recommend the book 'This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends' by Nicole Perlroth, it gives some good insights into what is going on behind the scenes (though with some of the major events which have happened since it was published some things may be outdated. Either way it's a good read.)

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4. Jesus_pieceDec 2024
   Reminds me of the book “this is how they tell me the world ends” - a history on cyber weapons. It’s written from the perspective of a journalist without a comp sci background but delves deeply into the topic of how cyber weapons are procured, priced, and sold to multiple agencies in the same government. It’s unfortunate these are used for exploits and not for reporting bugs or vulnerabilities. Stockpiling exploits only makes everyone less safe
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5. DLANov 2024
   The Perfect Weapon

   We Are All Targets

   Countdown to Zero Day

   This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends (about the Zero Day market)

   Cyber Warfare - Truth, Tactics, and Strategies

   The Art of Cyberwarfare: An Investigator's Guide to Espionage, Ransomware, and Organized Cybercrime

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6. robotnikmanApr 2024
   Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry by Jacquie McNish

   This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth

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