Customer Reviews

Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who are Bringing Down the Internet

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Joseph Menn has cracked open the inside workings of cyber crime bosses with his book Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who are Bringing Down the Internet . I packed the book with me this past week as I retired to a rustic cabin in Northern Michigan. Menn's book made for enthralling reading by light of a butane camp lantern. In addition to telling the story of Barrett Lyon, entrepreneur and cyber crime fighter who founded Prolexic, BitGravity and 3Crowd, Menn follows through to recount the dark world of Russian crime figures as explored by Andy Crocker, on assignment from the UK National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU). Andy finally convicts three DDoS extortionists in Russian who are serving sentences of eight years hard labor.
I met Barrett in 2004 when he was still immersed in getting Prolexic off the ground. I was at Gartner and looking for something new to get involved in. Barrett's network defenses against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks was the most exciting thing I had encountered. Barrett thought I was joking when I asked him if I could send him my resume. I was completely serious until I met his business partner Mickey Flynn in a hotel bar in Chicago. Mickey ran BetCRIS, one of the key sports book making and online gaming organizations in Costa Rica. For once in my career my spidey sense served me well. Mickey seemed like a great guy but it was the first time I had ever met anyone accompanied by two big body guards wearing sports coats and obviously packing. As Barrett's adventure unfolded I saw bits and pieces of it but I had no idea just how deeply entrenched Barrett had become in the workings of an international crime ring, one that had its own problems with cyber criminals in Russia. Thanks to Joseph Menn I now know the story.
At his wedding in San Francisco Barrett seemed as light hearted and happy as any groom should. It is hard to believe upon reading Menn's account that the night before Barrett had excused himself from the rehearsal dinner to secretly pass off a key fob with a digital audio recorder that he had used to capture a day's worth of conversation with one of the Prolexic partners to an FBI agent waiting around the corner in a dark sedan.
To research his book Menn traveled to Russia with Barrett and the other hero of his book, Andy Crocker. The picture he paints of a corrupt justice and law enforcement system in Russia is chilling. Andy spent three years in Russia tracking down the ring of extortionists that Barrett had uncovered. Andy and Barrett did not even speak directly to each other until the night after Andy obtained convictions against three of the bad guys.


Not since Cliff Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage has there been a book that delves as deeply into the workings of criminal hackers. This book will be widely read by law enforcement, policy makers, and IT security professionals. Like Stoll's book I predict it will inspire a generation of technologists to join the battle against cyber criminals.

If you're already worried about computer crime and identity theft, you'll be wracked with fear if you read this troubling new account of the subject by a Los Angeles Times reporter specializing in Internet security. Joseph Menn's "Fatal System Error" is aptly subtitled "The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who Are Bringing Down the Internet." By focusing on two heroes of the underpowered movement to combat Internet crime, Menn brings this complex and terrifying reality into high relief. The book is largely devoted to the efforts of Barrett Lyon, a California surfer self-taught to become one of the world's leading Internet security experts, and Andy Crocker, a courageous British policeman, and their collaborative work to identify the criminals responsible for the now all-too-familiar viruses, worms, Trojans, and denial-of-service attacks that have infiltrated millions of computers and disabled thousands of Web sites.

It's disturbing enough to learn that criminals siphoned off [...] trillion from computer fraud in 2009 alone, and to know that a huge proportion of that money went into the pockets of the American mafia and the Russian mob. Even more disquieting, though, is to learn about how both the Russian and Chinese governments are protecting Internet criminals because they have enlisted them in building offensive cyberwar weapons. What we all learned recently about Chinese hackers' attacks on Google and other U.S. companies invested in China is just a hint of the breadth and depth of that government's efforts to gain ascendancy over the West by building the capacity to bring down our economies in the event of a future conflict.

(From Mal Warwick's Blog on Books)

Working in the computer security industry we see these type of criminal acts on a daily basis. However, what we see is a microcosm of what Mr. Menn writes about in this great work. Tying all the ends together into a readable format that is literally a international crime thriller brings to light the vast dangers to our financial data and it's uses.

I'd recommend this book for ANYONE that uses the internet.

When Mikko Hyponnen (of F-Secure fame) posted about this book on Twitter, I immediately pre-ordered the book. I got it two days later. (I was only one-day advanced on the pre-order, it seems.) I wasn't quite sure what to expect exactly, only I knew it had to do with cyber-security, so I was intrigued.

What I got was a fascinating book with two main stories told from the perspectives of the good guys. The first was a story of how a young dyslexic man struggled against the odds to become one of the best people around at defeating Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDOS) attacks. His story, which spans at least two continents and his unwitting participation with some of the internet's shadier characters, is a fascinating one. That story comprises part one of the book, and ties into part two quite neatly. Part two is the story of a British detective and his exploits in foreign countries (particularly Russia) in his efforts to find and eventually catch several of the same cyber-criminals from part one. While it has the tempo of a fictional "cyber-thriller", this book is non-fiction and is based on the very thorough work of Joseph Menn, a reporter for the Financial Times (previously of the LA Times). The overall theme is that of the war that is taking place using the world's computers and networks as a battleground. Despite the chronicled successes outlined in these two stories, it's a war that's very quickly being lost.

I've been working in the cyber-security industry for a while now, so I'm not entirely unfamiliar with some of the more sinister aspects of what happens on the internet. However, I think for the "layman" or someone who doesn't work with technology and/or cyber-security, this book will be a really good look into a world that you don't ordinarily see, replete with real heroes, real villains, and real consequences to real people. Most people will understand some of the consequences from the flood of spam that they're used to getting; for the unlucky few, identity theft will bring the stories even closer to home. Even if you're fortunate enough to have never experienced any of those consequences yourself, you may have recently heard of the attacks on Google and several other companies. The war taking place in cyberspace is all too real, and while I would hope that most people never have to be involved, the opposite is likely the case. It is escalating, and there need to be more stories like the ones in this book if we ever hope to win.

I first saw this book a day or two after it came out and I must admit that I was quite turned off due to the title. At the time there were no reviews, so I decided to go on chance and pick up a copy for my Kindle. I think all in all I ended up reading the book in a solid 2-3 days. This wasn't because I was eager to finish the book to review it, but rather because I found it interesting. I have been working in this field for close to 6 years now and details like this aren't always covered to the extent that they should be. I think the book was a great overview of how hackers (some, certainly not all) operate, but far from a comprehensive piece of work on cybercrime (wasn't meant to be that anyway).

To keep it short and sweet:
If you enjoy hearing about cybercrime stories and justice being served then this book is a good one to add to your collection. I would almost compare it to SPAM kings in regards to the level of detail and technical knowledge needed to understand the whole subject. Don't expect to learn any new techniques or new attack methods that hackers are using, but do expect to walk away with a story of cybercrime with some pretty detailed (almost too detailed at times) highlights.

This was an interesting story that took me inside the struggle to keep ahead of hackers. I remember when some of the viruses referenced in the book came out. This story told me about why those viruses were written and how they were used for more than just slowing down my PC. Very interesting, but disturbing.

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 Europe, ply their dirty deeds. Cybersecurity reporter Joseph Menn examines cybercrime, exposing the bad guys while telling exciting stories about two intrepid investigators - Barrett Lyon, a U.S.-based "white hat" security hacker, and Andy Crocker, a British cybersecurity agent - who have successfully waged war against cybercriminals. Menn's book is both fascinating and disturbing, with its discussion of "zombie armies" of computers, and its exotically named online desperadoes, like CumbaJohnny. getAbstract recommends this gripping saga to those who want to protect themselves from cybercrime. This outstanding book's only deficiency is, ironically, its remarkable, overwhelming abundance of complex detail. If you think you need a cast list, tech manual and dictionary of arcane online terms, never mind; just hang on for a scary, revealing ride.

Flow is a little disjointed and seems a little rushed in places, but it's definitely an interesting read, especially after having brushes with some of the mentioned people/groups. Puts things in a little better perspective and definitely opened the eyes of some of my friends.

From a non-geek, I heard Menn's interview on NPR, got the book at the library the next day. It was on limited lend because of high demand. I thought it might be full of technical jargon but was surprised how interesting and compelling it was.

To those cheapskates who complain about price, get a life. And a library card.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but read it based on reviews. I'm aware that I am bucking the trend here, but I didn't much care for this book.

First of all, the book desperately needed a technical editor. The author used an extensive technical vocabulary, but frequently misused terms. As one who works with technology, I found this distracting. I wasn't expecting a technical manual, but did expect the book to be accurate.

More importantly, however, the author failed to capture the excitement of the stories he told. This is not to say that the stories are not interesting (in fact they are), just that Menn's rendition of them is not interesting. This book covered some extremely interesting, creepy, frightening, and heroic personalities. Menn's depiction of them felt as superficial and stereotypical as a low-budget miniseries.

I actually agree with those reviews that say this book reads like thriller fiction, and not non-fiction. Stylisticly, it is certainly more John Grisham than Thomas Friedman. Somehow, Menn captured the worst of both genre's here.