Overview

Ctrl+Alt+Chaos is a gripping true crime narrative about the life and crimes of Julius Kivimaki, aka Zeekill, arguably the most hated hacker in history. Cyber correspondent Joe Tidy has investigated and interviewed the most infamous teenage hacker gangs of the past decade for the BBC, and previously for Sky News. Now he unveils the dark digital underbelly where teenage boys are reshaping cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, and organised crime under the noses of their parents. Kivimaki's journey from 12-year-old nuisance hacker to a Most Wanted cybercriminal culminated in his 2023 capture. In the cruellest hack in history, he blackmailed 30,000 Finnish psychotherapy patients with their stolen notes. Kivimaki's journey gives us vital insights into how hackers are created online. Joe tracks the rise and fall of groups LulzSec, HTP, UG Nazi, and Lizard Squad with exclusive interviews with the hackers who were there and the police officers trying to stop them. He also draws parallels with recent high-profile attacks from other teenage gangs and ask the question - how can we stop the cycle of teenage boys hijacking life online?

Full Product Details

9781783968787

Table of Contents

Reviews

‘Joe has a gift for uncovering stories others can’t and turning them into something unforgettable. This book doesn’t just tell a story. It grabs you, pulls you in, and doesn’t let go.’ Jack Rhysider, Darknet Diaries podcast  ‘A disturbing study investigates, and interviews, the depraved young hackers wreaking havoc online … An illuminating and often scary book’ The Daily Telegraph   ‘A wake-up call to governments, law enforcement, educators and parents about how teenage boys are being radicalised online to engage in cybercrime.’ Jamie MacColl, RUSI  ‘With a mix of interviews and research, Tidy gives us valuable insights into the mindsets behind and causes of this hacking activity - how teens get into it, how some manage to turn their lives around (often going into cybersecurity), while others become career criminals.’ Popular Science  ‘It is a dark story and an illustrative one. Tidy reveals, through blessedly uncomplicated prose, how hacking developed from being a relatively noble pursuit in the 1980s into something conducted by 21st-century sociopaths who want to “inflict hurt and harm for their amusement, pleasure and power”. Read it—and update your computer’s security settings.’ Prospect  

Author Information

Joe Tidy is the BBC’s first ever Cyber Correspondent and the foremost voice in the corporation on cybercrime and hacking. Over the past six years he has covered all major cyber-attacks for BBC TV, Radio, social media and website. He has made documentaries about cyber security travelling to the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Germany and Ukraine to track down stories and characters. Joe’s most high-profile news feature and documentary saw him travel to Russia in November 2021 in search of the world’s most wanted cyber-criminal. This hunt was read by 1m people, viewed across social media more than 2.4m times and translated into 30 different languages across the BBC network. His top six BBC News documentaries have garnered more than 7 million views including 2.2m for The Teenage Millionaire Hacker and 1.4m for The Russian Hackers – and he has recently hosted the popular Cyber Hack series in the feature Evil Corp. Before joining the BBC, he was a correspondent at Sky News where he regularly reported on technology and began his decade-long obsession with cybercrime after reporting on the infamous 2014 Christmas day Lizard Squad attack.

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