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

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

MARC GOODMAN has spent a career in law enforcement and technology. He was appointed futurist-in-residence with the FBI, worked as a senior adviser to Interpol, and served as a street police officer. As the founder of the Future Crimes Institute and the Chair for Policy, Law, and Ethics at Silicon Valley’s Singularity University, he continues to investigate the intriguing and often terrifying intersection of science and security, uncovering nascent threats and combating the darker sides of technology.