Dark Screens
Hackers and Heroes in the Shadowy World of Ransomware
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
A riveting account of major ransomware attacks and their devastating consequences, revealing how exposed we really are—and how we can protect ourselves
“Fascinating and forensic.” —The Wall Street Journal
Imagine opening your computer only to find every document and every program locked. All you can see is a red screen with a countdown timer, urging you to pay a ransom within seventy-two hours or lose access forever. For more than a decade, hackers have been extorting billions of dollars from businesses, governments, and individuals with ever more sophisticated variations on this simple scheme.
Dark Screens offers a ringside seat to the most notorious ransomware attacks of the twenty-first century. It sheds light on the inner workings of criminal gangs that target hospitals, public infrastructure, and vulnerable companies—as well as the individuals and organizations trying to stop them. It tracks how ransomware could become a weapon of cyberwar, as shown by the Russian NotPetya attack and the worldwide WannaCry cyberattack by North Korea. Ransomware expert Anja Shortland shares these stories to sound the alarm about how vulnerable we are to cyberattacks and highlight best practices from cybersecurity and crisis management to law enforcement and public policy.
Dark Screens shines a light on the fascinating underworld of superhackers whose activities have potentially catastrophic implications for us all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ransomware attacks are a surreal hybrid of criminal endeavor and legitimate business pursuit, according to this intricate exposé. Economist Shortland (Kidnap) traces the rise of such virtual heists, wherein hackers remotely take over computers, encrypt their data, and demand a ransom for a decryption key to unlock the system (or, sometimes, to refrain from publishing sensitive information gleaned from the computer files). Shortland explores the clever ways hackers have innovated their work, such as automating the attacks on a massive scale or franchising them to hundreds of "affiliates," as well as the odd challenges they face: the hackers often have to teach their victims how to use cryptocurrency to pay the ransom; guide them through decrypting and rebooting their own systems; and, ironically, build up a reputation for honesty and integrity, so that businesses believe their ransoms will buy decryption keys that actually restore their computers. Shortland also profiles the cottage industry of "crisis responders" that has grown up to negotiate these agreements, not all of whom are white knights. Some companies, she notes, promise to decrypt computers without paying ransom, then pay the ransom out of their fee—and get a discount from the criminals. Throughout, Shortland teases out these convoluted developments—part cops vs. robbers arms race, part host-parasite symbiosis—in lucid, entertaining prose. It's an eye-opening look at a shadowy underworld.
