Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The men were recruited to hit as many ATMs as possible in the Indian city of Kolhapur, and they did. By 10 p. m. , the operation was over. They handed the cash to their bosses and pocketed their share. They were paid up to $500. #2 The Lazarus Group, a hacking unit, is believed to be behind the August heist. They have co-ordinated attacks on international banking systems with breath-taking efficiency. North Korea’s government hackers have become some of the most effective and dangerous on the planet. #3 North Korea’s financial situation has become increasingly dire since the 1990s, when the country began developing nuclear weapons. The country has little chance of making money legitimately, so it has turned to crime to fund itself. #4 The hackers accessed the bank’s ATM withdrawals system, and began to send staccato messages across the globe to make sure that the right person was getting the right amount of money. This system is the reason why you can visit any ATM in the world and receive cash, even if the ATM isn’t run by the bank where you have your account.

BASED ON THE NO 1 HIT PODCAST 'The Lazarus Heist' 'You'll never see North Korea the same way again' Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland 'One of the most incredible cyber-espionage stories I've ever heard, told by one of the UK's best tech journalists' Jamie Bartlett, author of The Missing Crypto Queen 'Pacy and eye-popping, this book shows us what happens when the world of Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy meets the world of Misha Glenny's McMafia' - Tom Burgis, author of Kleptopia Meet the Lazarus Group, a shadowy cabal of hackers accused of working on behalf of the North Korean state. It's claimed that they form one of the most dangerous criminal enterprises on the planet, having stolen more than $1bn in an international crime spree. Their targets allegedly include central banks, Hollywood film studios and even the British National Health Service. North Korea denies the allegations, saying the accusations are American attempts to tarnish its image. In this staggering, global investigation, award-winning journalist Geoff White examines how the hackers have harnessed cutting-edge technology to launch a decade-long campaign of brazen and merciless raids on its richer, more powerful adversaries. It's not just money they're after. The Lazarus Group's tactics have been used to threaten democracies, gag North Korea's critics and destabilize global peace. From the bustling streets of Dhaka, to the glamorous studios of Hollywood, to the glittering casinos of Macau and the secretive dynastic court of Pyongyang, this shocking story uncovers the secret world of the Lazarus Group, their victims and the people who have tried - and ultimately, so far failed - to stop them. 'Madly intriguing' Guardian 'Cyber warfare and criminal hacking has never been more pertinent. This a must read to understand the threats currently facing all of us globally' Annie Machon, author of Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers

From Anonymous to the Dark Web, a dizzying account of hacking—past, present, and future. “Brilliantly researched and written.”—Jon Snow, Channel 4 News “A comprehensive and intelligible account of the elusive world of hacking and cybercrime over the last two decades. . . . Lively, insightful, and, often, alarming.”—Ewen MacAskill, Guardian On May 4, 2000, an email that read “kindly check the attached LOVELETTER” was sent from a computer in the Philippines. Attached was a virus, the Love Bug, and within days it had been circulated across the globe, paralyzing banks, broadcasters, and businesses in its wake, and extending as far as the UK Parliament and, reportedly, the Pentagon. The outbreak presaged a new era of online mayhem: the age of Crime Dot Com. In this book, investigative journalist Geoff White charts the astonishing development of hacking, from its conception in the United States’ hippy tech community in the 1970s, through its childhood among the ruins of the Eastern Bloc, to its coming of age as one of the most dangerous and pervasive threats to our connected world. He takes us inside the workings of real-life cybercrimes, drawing on interviews with those behind the most devastating hacks and revealing how the tactics employed by high-tech crooks to make millions are being harnessed by nation states to target voters, cripple power networks, and even prepare for cyber-war. From Anonymous to the Dark Web, Ashley Madison to election rigging, Crime Dot Com is a thrilling, dizzying, and terrifying account of hacking, past and present, what the future has in store, and how we might protect ourselves from it.

BASED ON THE NO 1 HIT PODCAST 'The Lazarus Heist' 'You'll never see North Korea the same way again' Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland 'One of the most incredible cyber-espionage stories I've ever heard' Jamie Bartlett, author of The Missing Crypto Queen 'Pacy and eye-popping' - Tom Burgis, author of Kleptopia They have been accused of causing mayhem in Hollywood with 2014's infamous Sony hack. They're allegedly behind WannaCry, a cyber-attack which brought NHS hospitals to a dangerous standstill. And it has been claimed that they have stolen more than $ 1bn in an international crime spree. They are the Lazarus Group, a shadowy cabal of hackers accused of working on behalf of the North Korean state. From the streets of Dhaka to the casinos of Macau to the secretive capital of Pyongyang, this shocking story uncovers the secret world of the Lazarus Group, their victims and those who have tried - and so far, failed - to stop them. 'Madly intriguing' Guardian

From the award-winning author of Sandworm comes the propulsive story of a new breed of investigators who have cracked the Bitcoin blockchain, exposing once-anonymous realms of money, drugs, and violence. “I love the book… It reads like a thriller… These stories are amazing.” (Michael Lewis) Over the last decade, a single innovation has massively fueled digital black markets: cryptocurrency. Crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely—whether in drug dealing, money laundering, or human trafficking—than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of. By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in currencies with anonymous ledgers, overseen by no government, beholden to no bankers, these black marketeers have sought to rob law enforcement of their chief method of cracking down on illicit finance: following the money. But what if the centerpiece of this dark economy held a secret, fatal flaw? What if their currency wasn’t so cryptic after all? An investigator using the right mixture of technical wizardry, financial forensics, and old-fashioned persistence could uncover an entire world of wrongdoing. Tracers in the Dark is a story of crime and pursuit unlike any other. With unprecedented access to the major players in federal law enforcement and private industry, veteran cybersecurity reporter Andy Greenberg tells an astonishing saga of criminal empires built and destroyed. He introduces an IRS agent with a defiant streak, a Bitcoin-tracing Danish entrepreneur, and a colorful ensemble of hardboiled agents and prosecutors as they delve deep into the crypto-underworld. The result is a thrilling, globe-spanning story of dirty cops, drug bazaars, trafficking rings, and the biggest takedown of an online narcotics market in the history of the Internet. Utterly of our time, Tracers in the Dark is a cat-and-mouse story and a tale of a technological one-upmanship. Filled with canny maneuvering and shocking twists, it answers a provocative question: How would some of the world’s most brazen criminals behave if they were sure they could never get caught?

“A must-read...It reveals important truths.” —Vint Cerf, Internet pioneer “One of the finest books on information security published so far in this century—easily accessible, tightly argued, superbly well-sourced, intimidatingly perceptive.” —Thomas Rid, author of Active Measures Cyber attacks are less destructive than we thought they would be—but they are more pervasive, and much harder to prevent. With little fanfare and only occasional scrutiny, they target our banks, our tech and health systems, our democracy, and impact every aspect of our lives. Packed with insider information based on interviews with key players in defense and cyber security, declassified files, and forensic analysis of company reports, The Hacker and the State explores the real geopolitical competition of the digital age and reveals little-known details of how China, Russia, North Korea, Britain, and the United States hack one another in a relentless struggle for dominance. It moves deftly from underseas cable taps to underground nuclear sabotage, from blackouts and data breaches to election interference and billion-dollar heists. Ben Buchanan brings to life this continuous cycle of espionage and deception, attack and counterattack, destabilization and retaliation. Quietly, insidiously, cyber attacks have reshaped our national-security priorities and transformed spycraft and statecraft. The United States and its allies can no longer dominate the way they once did. From now on, the nation that hacks best will triumph. “A helpful reminder...of the sheer diligence and seriousness of purpose exhibited by the Russians in their mission.” —Jonathan Freedland, New York Review of Books “The best examination I have read of how increasingly dramatic developments in cyberspace are defining the ‘new normal’ of geopolitics in the digital age.” —General David Petraeus, former Director of the CIA “Fundamentally changes the way we think about cyber operations from ‘war’ to something of significant import that is not war—what Buchanan refers to as ‘real geopolitical competition.’” —Richard Harknett, former Scholar-in-Residence at United States Cyber Command

175 countries, four billion dollars, one scam: the thrilling rise and fall of the biggest cryptocurrency con in history and the woman behind it all In 2016, on stage at Wembley Arena in front of thousands of adoring fans, Dr. Ruja Ignatova promised her followers a financial revolution. The future, she said, belonged to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. And the Oxford-educated, self-styled cryptoqueen vowed that she had invented the Bitcoin Killer. OneCoin would not only earn its investors untold fortunes; it would change the world. By March 2017, more than $4 billion had been invested in OneCoin in countries all around the world. But by October 2017, Ruja Ignatova had disappeared, and it slowly became clear that her revolutionary cryptocurrency was not all it seemed. Fortune was left asking, “Is OneCoin the biggest financial fraud in history?” In The Missing Cryptoqueen, acclaimed tech journalist Jamie Bartlett tells the story he began in his smash hit BBC podcast, entering the murky worlds of little-regulated cryptocurrencies and multilevel marketing schemes. Through a globe-crossing investigation into the criminal underworlds, corrupt governments, and the super-rich, he reveals a very modern tale of intrigue, techno-hype and herd madness that allowed OneCoin to become a million-person pyramid scheme—where, at the top, investors were making millions and, at the bottom, people were putting their livelihoods at risk. It’s the inside story of the smartest and biggest scam of the 21st Century—and the genius behind it, who is still on the run.