The world of online crime is vast, dark and ever-increasing. In his new book, author Misha Glenny outlines three levels of digital threat – cybercrime, cyberwarfare and cyberindustrial espionage.
Cybercrime is the least threatening, writes Glenny, and it consists of identity theft and fraudulent credit card usage. And cyberwarfare is ranked as the most dangerous of cyber attacks. Where did this digitally-based aggression originate? Apparently in Russia, according to Glenny. One of the first Russian scam groups – Shadowscrew – lasted from 2002 to 2004. In two years, a number of men from that group turned into multimillionaires by phishing or withdrawing money on stolen pin numbers.
This kind of digital scamming rapidly spread to Britain and the United States. In his book, Glenny interviews major players in this illicit digital frontier – the criminals, the geeks, the police, secret service agents, undercover FBI agents and the victims. He strings in politics, economics and history into the mix.
Glenny’s quest to start writing his book began with examining DarkMarket – a criminal website that was infiltrated by an undercover FBI agent. He uses the rise and fall of DarkMarket as a springboard to tell the larger story of online crime in the past two decades.
WEIGH IN:
Who are these hackers? How are they able to penetrate complex security systems? Who is most at risk of getting hacked? What are the hidden costs of electronic fraud?
Guest:
Misha Glenny, author of “McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld," “The Balkans," “The Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia," and “The Rebirth of History: Eastern Europe in the Age of Democracy."
There will be a Q&A and book signing with Misha Glenny tonight, Monday, Oct. 24 at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica.