A straightforward guide to cybercrime

Jessica Barker has written a book on cyber crime that tells it as it is. This is the first book on this subject that I’ve found easy to read and digest.

Being fully aware of the importance of the information she’s sharing and the aims of her book she doesn’t bamboozle us with jargon and acronyms. She writes in clear language thot helps readers to understand what cybercrime is, the tricks criminals use to hoodwink us, the things to be aware of and look out for and what we can do do to protect ourselves.

The lengths criminals will go to can be extreme so we all need to look out for ourselves and those close to us. The book left me with a clearer understanding of the nature of cybercrime, feeling much better equipped and more proactive about keeping data safe from those who would abuse and mis-use it.

A very clear and practical book on this constantly expanding field.

I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.

Once upon a time there were emails from officials in far off places, telling us that all sorts of riches were ours for the taking, if we’d just email back. Boutros Boutros-Ghali contacted me several times, pleading for help moving a shipment of gold, with my name on it. These days, there are text messages for parcels I didn’t order, funds at risk in bank accounts I don’t have, and even Taylor Swift tickets in local Facebook groups that will go at face value. I get regularly phished at work, my IT buddies sending out spoof after spoof to keep me on my toes.

And I never fell for one of them, until I did. A mail from a name I recognised, that I’d talked to a day or so before, asking me to check a list. They got me. An endless merry-go-round of IT “refresher” courses followed. None as insightful as reading “Hacked”.

“Hacked” walks readers through a cornucopia of online evils, from phishing to malware, spyware to deepfakes. There’s plenty of statistics, some sobering stories and lots of sensible advice. Barker details how giants like Facebook and Google have been phished, and how even the MGM chain had data encrypted as after an attack by a ransomware as a service group – where criminals rent easy to use kits that take all the technical difficultly of extortion. Worse, even LastPass, makers of password keeping software have been knobbled. Everyone is vulnerable to getting hacked of phished. It just takes the right attempt at the wrong time – online criminals can pump out billions of hacks and need to get lucky just once.

Barker reveals that back in the 1970’s the launch codes for missiles were set to 00000000. Worries about illegitimate use were er… trumped by worries about speed to launch. And that later both Carter and Reagan left codes in cast off clothing. One of the most interesting sections relates to passwords, and how things like dictionary attacks (throwing every word in a dictionary at a locked site) works around 80% of the time. There’s some useful advice on how to make passwords difficult to crack without being impossible to remember and way multi factor authentication (i.e. a password plus a code on your phone) is increasingly important.

As books go, it’s subject matter is inevitably rather dry, and in order to cover as much ground as possible, there’s not a lot of colour or depth added to the examples used. But with the scope of the book so wide, there was going to have to be a trade off between depth and pace, and generally it works very well.

Social media scams are endemic, and Barker provides a closer look whether it’s an Elon Musk fake video pimping cryptocurrency (Martin Lewis sued Facebook for not taking down a similar deepfake video) or the real ex NFL quarterback Tom Brady taking $30m for pushing the now busted FTX crypto company. The power of social media is neatly summed up when Barker describes how conspiracy theories about 5G lead to phone mast attacks in Bolivia. Where there is no 5G.

By the end I knew the difference between spray and pay, vishing and RaaS attacks, and how smart devices like doorbells and thermostats were weaponised to try and take down websites. As Shaw Taylor never actually used to say – “Keep virtually ‘em peeled”.

This book provides a great insight into what can happen and makes you more aware whilst you are using your devices.

A very good depiction of the variety of threats, what they are, how they work, and how to protect your self against them.

This insight into the world of cyber crime is a great read for a novice in cyber security or someone more adverse.

This was such an interesting read, It was educational, fascinating, scary & thought-provoking all at the same time. This would be an extremely eye opening read for anyone who has no day to day knowledge or experience in the Cyber world and its dark aspects.

This is an interesting book about Hacking and all its various forms and how it has evolved over the last couple of decades. From the early days of worms and trojan horses to the more recent phenomenon of romance scams and AI manipulation.

While the content is very detailed and the chapters allow you to jump in and out in any order, often linking you to more relevant information in other chapters, the read is a little dry. At times I felt like I was reading a thesis paper rather than something for the general public that could be used to help people to better protect themselves and their data.

There are tips at the end of each chapter and the book does have some good advice, but there were whole sections that just went over my head and that I struggled to get a grasp on.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fascinating and some very useful information. A book for our times, certainly. To be recommended to many. keeping safe on internet is no easy task

There’s so many words you can use to describe this book - enlightening, scary, fascinating and even worrying! It was interesting to read how many ways people/companies can be taken advantage of some by very elaborate was, others by being fooled or equally by being daft!

I am the first to admit I don't know a huge amount about computers or how they can be used for hacking. When I saw this book I decided to give it a go and see if I could increase my knowledge so that I could understand more. I am aware of having strong passwords, not opening links in emails, if something is too good to be true then it is, and never giving details of PINs. As I said all very basic.

This book was ideal for me as it gave the information and the facts in a basic way. I wasn't left scratching my head and wondering what this was all about and feeling lost. The author gives the facts in a way that makes sense. So, yes, this is definitely aimed at the lower end of the tech-head ladder.

The author takes the reader through various things such as phishing, trojans, ransomware, worms, malware, cyber-attacks and a lot more. When she started to give numbers that were in the billions of dollars and how large companies could be held to ransom it was shocking.

From the very first bug to the latest attacks, the author explains the most significant ones and tells how criminals were able to get into systems. With the emergence of Bitcoin, this is a way of keeping things hidden.

The author has a great way of explaining her findings and the data citing various papers and articles all the way. This was an an eye-opener for sure and one that I also actually, really enjoyed reading.

If you have an interest in technology and how it can be misused and you don't really have a tech background or understanding then this is one you may find useful I certainly did. Interesting and quite addictive, one I would happily recommend.

Hacked is a great resource for those who do not come across cyber security in their day to day lives. I have worked in IT for many years so not much new for me. There are so many good human interest examples and the way Jessica explains everything is really straight forward which is fabulous for someone who isn't a techy. Even the vast amount of data she presents is non technical which is great. I'd have no problem recommending this book to my friends who aren't as tech savvy.

There was very little new to me in this book but then I've worked in IT for a looooong time and seen too many systems implemented where security was an afterthought.

The human interest stories used to illustrate how easily even aware people can be fooled were interesting and this should be compulsory reading for our "wonderful" political classes and civil servants , most of whom know far too little about the misery caused by all these scams and are still doing too little to hold the social media giants in particular, liable for permitting these scams to originate on their platforms.

The only real negative I found with this was as I was reading this on a kindle rather than a hardcopy book, the many notes at the end of each chapter were a nuisance. If it had been possible to link to these at the relevant point, it would have been far more useful and relevant. Digital books don't make it easy to flick to notes and back to the reading place.

So this isn’t something I would usually read but wow I love it. It was so insightful without being patronising and you could tell the author knew what they were talking about

A must read book
This book is packed with information about the many scams carried out by various electronic means including telephone as well. At first I thought this would depress me, but it did not as there is also much coverage of the ways such frauds are being compared and those responsible caught and punished. It is though an on going battle and is in the best interests of all of us,particularly when using the Internet.
Jessica Barker is renown in working to combat these scammers and manages to cram details of the many types of scams from the earliest ones right up to the present day. Each type is covered in great detail and there are comprehensive references for further reading at the end of each chapter.
Don't miss it or you may be caught out!

In this book I found lots of interesting information about cyber attacks and cybersecurity with tips and strategies to help you stay secure and keep your information safe.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kogan Page Ltd for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is an excellent resource for anyone looking to delve into the world of cybersecurity and cyberattacks. It presents the information in an approachable manner, making it easy to understand even for beginners. Although the topic is not new, the author has done an excellent job of simplifying it, making it an informative and educational read.

The topic is highly relevant as cybercrime and identity theft continue to be on the rise, and is projected to only get worse.

However, I'm not sure whether a lengthy book on this topic is the best medium for raising awareness of it among the general populace, and the book is arguably not revealing "secrets" as the title suggests. There are already many videos on the likes of YouTube that show different types of online scamming attemts in action. Being able to present the faces and voices of real humans in those videos creates a very powerful and memorable effect, and makes it easier to educate more vulnerable members of the family in particular.

Perhaps the merits of this book is that the author explains terms very clearly and supports points with lots of statistics and research. That the book is rigorously filled with data and case examples therefore makes the book highly suited to students starting out in cybercrime studies or commercial fraud issues, while at the same time still being accessible enough for the average joe reader who just wants to understand a bit more about the fundamentals of cybercrime. To increase readership among the general public, it could have been an idea to have included a few diagrammatic visuals to illustrate/consolidate cybercrime pathways discussed in the book in order to facilitate grasping the "big picture" elements. Otherwise, I would struggle somewhat to identify a broader readership.

The book is essentially a formalized thorough introduction to a range of cybercrimes. Just don't read it before bedtime if you want to sleep soundly!