Kingpin

Executive Summary: A fascinating and terrifying look at the darker underbelly of the internet and identity theft.Full ReviewI consider myself fairly knowledgeable about computers and the internet. Computer Security has never really been my thing though. Yet for whatever reason I find reading books about computer crime fascinating.This book is no different. Kevin Poulsen has turned himself from one-time hacker into a leader in covering computer security. I occasionally read some of his articles on Wired. I like getting the take of someone whose been there before on things. It seems like he's good about not just presenting the facts, but the reasons behind them. He really gets into Max Butler's head a little and presents a more complete picture than you might get from a different author.I had read a little here and there about carding over the years, and I had vague recollections about the Dark Market, but I never really knew any of the details behind that bust. When comparing law enforcement in this book to that of [b:The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage 18154 The Cuckoo's Egg Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage Clifford Stoll https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1399480676s/18154.jpg 19611] it's like night and day. Of course 20 years have passed, but they really had some clever approaches to tracking and eventually capturing some big players in the cyber crime world.It's scary to learn just how easy it was and continues to be for people to steal your credit card information, and that the credit industry in the US refuses to change magnetic strips simply because of the upfront cost to replace the machines is so high they prefer to deal with the cost associated with the theft instead. I don't know what it will take to finally force a change, but meanwhile innocent consumers continue to have their lives upended by it.I didn't find this book too technical, though given my background, I'm usually a bad judge of these things. I think anyone who understands the basics of the internet would be able to follow along. It's really more a character study of Max Butler and others than it is a detailed account of how he did it.Overall another fascinating read.