This gripping espionage tale penetrates the network of international mobsters and hackers who use the Internet to extort money from businesses, steal from tens of millions of consumers and attack government networks. In this disquieting cyber thriller, Joseph Menn takes readers into the murky hacker underground, travelling the globe from San Francisco to Costa Rica and London to Russia. His guides are California surfer and computer whiz Barrett Lyon and a fearless British high-tech agent. Through these heroes, Menn shows the evolution of cyber-crime from small-time thieving to sophisticated, organised gangs, who began by attacking corporate websites but increasingly steal financial data from consumers and defence secrets from governments. Using unprecedented access to Mob businesses and Russian officials, the book reveals how top criminals earned protection from the Russian government. "Fatal System Error" penetrates both the Russian cyber-mob and Cosa Nostra as the two fight over the Internet's massive spoils. The cloak-and-dagger adventure shows why cyber-crime is much worse than you thought - and why the Internet might not survive.
Fatal System Error
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"(A)gripping book that show(s) how the authorities often find themselves out of their depth when criminals get to grips with doing 'business" Internet style." --New Scientist, 30 January 2010 "FT business reporter Menn spins racy tales of true-life cybercrime. An American whiz-kid protects American online-betting businesses run out of Costa Rica from a gang of Russian hacker-extortionists, who aer soon also being chased down by a British agent of the Hi-Tech Crime Unit (as was), who on the way has a vodka-fuelled picnic punchup with his investigative ally, a Russian colonel. The villains glory in handles such as "Bra1n", and the heroes are portrayed respectively as Matthew Broderick from Wargames and Daniel Craig's Bond, but the narrative glitter is sprinkled on top of serious and thorough reporting." --The Guardian, February 20, 2010"
About the Author
Joseph Menn covers cyber-crime and other technology issues for the Financial Times, after a decade on teh beat for the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of two previous books, and a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award, the top prize for business reporting.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By G. Cooper
Format:Kindle Edition
This book was recommended by award-winning IT journalist Davey Winder, whose columns I have read for many years. It's very interesting but the writing was a little disappointing, it jumped around a lot in an attempt to keep things moving but just felt disjointed.
What bugged me most about the Kindle edition was the formatting. I imagine that the paper version includes footnotes within the text - the Kindle version does not. I got about 80% through and found the book ended and the remainder was made up of notes. Without much in the way of context, these were of minimal value.
Worse still was the index - it's just a list of entries without page numbers or hyperlinks. Completely useless.
What bugged me most about the Kindle edition was the formatting. I imagine that the paper version includes footnotes within the text - the Kindle version does not. I got about 80% through and found the book ended and the remainder was made up of notes. Without much in the way of context, these were of minimal value.
Worse still was the index - it's just a list of entries without page numbers or hyperlinks. Completely useless.
By Augustine
Format:Hardcover
I recommend this book to anyone interested in Cyber crime to read it. It will give you insight to the growing and trend of cyber crime.
Format:Hardcover
Hmm - well it wasn't what I was expecting. It was a rather pedestrian tale - but nonetheless interesting for being a factual account. I was very interested as all the anti-hacker stuff was rather close to home - but the various strands of the story didn't quite gel that well. They tended to leap about a bit from time period to time period. All very frustrating as I guess the real world is - in reality months go by and nothing happens.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant!
Have just finished reading Fatal System Error, and all I can say is, "Brilliant".
From the beginning dicussion of DDOS attacks, to Mafia run gambling websites all the... Read more
From the beginning dicussion of DDOS attacks, to Mafia run gambling websites all the... Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2010 by A. Limont-brown
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating, disturbing report on online crime
The Internet has become the ultimate mob hangout, a dangerous venue where U.S. Mafiosi, vicious Russian gang members and illegal hackers from many nations, especially from Eastern... Read more
Published on 3 May 2010 by Rolf Dobelli
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting for an it security professional
As an it professional interested in security and a FT reader I find the book to a certain degree interesting, that counts for 4-stars. Read more
Published on 4 April 2010 by Niels Norgaard
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