Anja Shortland – författare

Cybercrime is everywhere. A multibillion-pound industry run by wily hackers and fraudsters bankrupting businesses, stalling governments, stealing sensitive data. You could be next. Are you ready?'Brilliant, original and authoritative. An extraordinary book that will change the way you think about ransomware and the digital ecosystems that surround us' PETER FRANKOPAN, bestselling author of THE SILK ROADS 'A fascinating book about one of the great scourges of the modern world' OLIVER BULLOUGH, bestselling author of MONEYLAND'The history is fascinating... Shortland describes brilliantly the battle between the black hat - bad - and white hat - good - hackers... The revelations are so good' SUNDAY TIMESYou've heard the stories. Frozen IT systems, error codes everywhere, a pulsating pop-up threat: pay up, or lose everything. With new attacks hitting the headlines every day, ransomware is recognised as a serious threat to global security and the economy, yet it remains a slippery and little understood phenomenon. From a leading expert in illicit trading, We Know You Can Pay a Million spotlights the criminal underworld where organised groups trade stolen information and cryptocurrencies, and reveals the fascinating hidden histories of the superhackers whose activities have potentially catastrophic consequences for us all.

Cybercrime is everywhere. A multibillion-pound industry run by wily hackers and fraudsters bankrupting businesses, stalling governments, stealing sensitive data. You could be next. Are you ready?'Brilliant, original and authoritative. An extraordinary book that will change the way you think about ransomware and the digital ecosystems that surround us' PETER FRANKOPAN, bestselling author of THE SILK ROADS 'A fascinating book about one of the great scourges of the modern world' OLIVER BULLOUGH, bestselling author of MONEYLAND'The history is fascinating... Shortland describes brilliantly the battle between the black hat - bad - and white hat - good - hackers... The revelations are so good' SUNDAY TIMESYou've heard the stories. Frozen IT systems, error codes everywhere, a pulsating pop-up threat: pay up, or lose everything. With new attacks hitting the headlines every day, ransomware is recognised as a serious threat to global security and the economy, yet it remains a slippery and little understood phenomenon. From a leading expert in illicit trading, We Know You Can Pay a Million spotlights the criminal underworld where organised groups trade stolen information and cryptocurrencies, and reveals the fascinating hidden histories of the superhackers whose activities have potentially catastrophic consequences for us all.

Kidnap for ransom is a lucrative but tricky business. Millions of people live, travel, and work in areas with significant kidnap risks, yet kidnaps of foreign workers, local VIPs, and tourists are surprisingly rare and the vast majority of abductions are peacefully resolved - often for remarkably low ransoms. In fact, the market for hostages is so well ordered that the crime is insurable. This is a puzzle: ransoming a hostage is the world's most precarious trade. What would be the "right" price for your loved one - and can you avoid putting others at risk by paying it? What prevents criminals from maltreating hostages? How do you (safely) pay a ransom? And why would kidnappers release a potential future witness after receiving their money? Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business uncovers how a group of insurers at Lloyd's of London have solved these thorny problems for their customers. Based on interviews with industry insiders (from both sides), as well as hostage stakeholders, it uncovers an intricate and powerful private governance system ordering transactions between the legal and the criminal economies.