The development of the IT industry has transformed modern reality over several decades. We now live and work in a digital world, and leading IT companies own more personal data than any government on the planet. The ability to collect and process huge amounts of information has become a powerful tool of progress and a formidable weapon at the same time. But who really controls it?

The authors of this book, executives of Microsoft, reveal to readers the most pressing problems facing IT companies and talk about their path to solving them. How do we find the right balance of public safety and privacy in this new era? How to protect yourself from attackers who use new technologies to launch cyberattacks on entire countries, corporations or the private lives of citizens? Will we be able to create a world where our children can find work? Will we even be able to control the emerging new world?

The ability to collect huge amounts of data about users is a double-edged sword. And the structure of the world in which we have to live depends on how IT companies solve complex ethical problems.