Future Crimes: Inside the Digital Underground and the Battle for Our Connected World

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NEW YORK TIMES and WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER

Technological advances have benefited our world in immeasurable ways, but there is an ominous flip side: our technology can be turned against us. And just over the horizon is a tidal wave of scientific progress that will leave our heads spinning—from implantable medical devices to drones and 3-D printers, all of which can be hacked, with disastrous consequences.

With explosive insights based on a career in law enforcement and counterterrorism, leading authority on global security Marc Goodman takes readers on a vivid journey through the darkest recesses of the Internet. He explores how bad actors are primed to hijack the technologies of tomorrow. Provocative, thrilling, and ultimately empowering, Future Crimes will serve as an urgent call to action that shows how we can take back control of our own devices and harness technology’s tremendous power for the betterment of humanity—before it’s too late.

An Amazon Best Book of the Month for March 2015: It won’t surprise many people to read that computers, networks, and personal information are under constant attack. Most of us install a commonly available anti-virus program, mind our clicks, and hope for the best. More than that seems like work, and stories of data theft have become so ubiquitous that a certain amount of desensitization is probably inevitable. Well, Goodman’s book should take care of that. When your C.V. includes titles like “futurist-in-residence with the FBI,” you’ve seen who’s creeping through those internet pipes, and it’s harrowing; his litany of cyber criminals and their multitudinous misdeeds are often shocking in their inventiveness and audacity, and Goodman brings the nightmares one after another at an almost breathless pace. But not all is hopeless–Goodman aims to educate, offering from high-level policy to practical layman’s advice for buttoning down your own data. Despite the scare factor, it’s a fun, fast, and fascinating 400 pages. My only quibble is with the title, which implies a coming threat. The threat is here, and the future is now. —Jon Foro