Blackhatonomics explains the basic economic truths of the underworld of hacking, and why people around the world devote tremendous resources to developing and implementing malware. The book provides an economic view of the evolving business of cybercrime, showing the methods and motivations behind organized cybercrime attacks, and the changing tendencies towards cyber-warfare. Written by an exceptional author team of Will Gragido, Daniel J Molina, John Pirc and Nick Selby, Blackhatonomics takes practical academic principles and backs them up with use cases and extensive interviews, placing you right into the mindset of the cyber criminal.
Historical perspectives of the development of malware as it evolved into a viable economic endeavour Country specific cyber-crime analysis of the United States, China, and Russia, as well as an analysis of the impact of Globalization on cyber-crime Presents the behind the scenes methods used to successfully execute financially motivated attacks in a globalized cybercrime economy Provides unique insights, analysis, and useful tools for justifying corporate information security budgets Provides multiple points of view, from pure research, to corporate, to academic, to law enforcement Includes real world cybercrime case studies and profiles of high-profile cybercriminals
This book is well worth the time and money for anyone other than seasoned info sec professionals or black hats.
What I didn't like: The editing for this book doesn't seem to be complete. There are still a few grammar/spelling errors as well as a couple of show-off words: punctilious and eleemosynary.
The macro organization of the book makes sense but the chapter names don't give you enough indication of the content, and the micro organization is somewhat scatter shot. There is some repetition and lack of internal consistency from chapter to chapter. It's as if there were four authors all working on the content of each chapter, each undoing, while trying to outdo the others. Alas, this scenario is admitted by the authors as reality in the book's foreword. To be fair, the authors did intend for the book to be used more as a reference, encyclopedic-style rather than be read cover to cover the way I (and many readers) did.
If the book was written to educate your average mid-level info sec professional, then the book misses the mark by being a bit too obvious and basic. No original research or academic treatments here.
What I liked: As a seasoned info sec pro I appreciate a few of the finer details stemming form the authors insights and deeper experience with particular topics. What is lacked in original research and data is made up for by the author's experience and insight.