Some of you may have noticed that a new element recently debuted in the sidebar: The cover art for my upcoming book, Spam Nation, due to hit bookshelves (physical and virtual) November 18, 2014. Please allow me a few moments to explain what this book is about, and why you should pre-order it today.
The back of Spam Nation. Click to enlarge.
Spam Nation delves deeper than perhaps any other publication into the workings of the cybercrime underground, giving readers unprecedented access to a well-hidden world that few outside of these communities have seen up close.
Update, Dec. 9, 2014: Spam Nation has just landed on the New York Times bestseller list!
Original post:
The backdrop of the story is a long-running turf war between two of the largest sponsors of spam. A true-crime tale of political corruption and ill-fated alliances, tragedy, murder and betrayal, this book explains how the conditions that gave rise to this pernicious industry still remain and are grooming a new class of cybercriminals.
But Spam Nation isn’t just about junk email; most of the entrepreneurs building and managing large-scale spam operations are involved in virtually every aspect of cybercrime for which there is a classification, including malware development, denial-of-service attacks, identity theft, credit card fraud, money laundering, commercial data breaches and extortion.
Spam Nation looks at the crucial role played by cybercrime forums, and how these communities simultaneously weave the social fabric of the underground while protecting scam artists from getting scammed.
The book also includes a detailed history of the Russian Business Network (RBN); how it became the virtual boogeyman of the Internet and prefigured an entire industry of “bulletproof” hosting providers.
Along the way, we meet numerous buyers who explain what motivated them to respond to spam and ingest pills ordered from shadowy online marketers. In the chapter “Meet the Spammers,” readers get a closer look at the junk emailers responsible for running the world’s largest botnets.
In addition, Spam Nation includes first-hand accounts of efforts by vigilante groups to dismantle spam and malware operations, and the vicious counterattacks that these campaigns provoked from the spam community.
Now, here’s the important bit: Anyone who pre-orders the book and emails their proof-of-purchase to this address before Nov. 18, 2014 will receive a signed copy. This extends even to those who opt for a digital copy of the book. That’s because the signature will come on a bookplate, which is simply a decorative label that is affixed to the inside front cover. Bookplates allow my publisher Sourcebooks to distribute signed copies of Spam Nation without having to constantly ship me very heavy truckloads of books to sign and then ship back again for reshipment.
The pre-order link for Amazon is here; readers who wish to purchase the book from Barnes & Noble can do so here. Fans of the Washington D.C. literary landmark Politics and Prose can pre-order the book from them at this link. Forward your emailed proof-of-purchase, or a scan/photo of your receipt. Basically anything that says you purchased the book, the quantity purchased, as well as your name and mailing address.
Judging from the thousands of longtime subscribers to my email list (no spam there!) and from the community that has built up around this blog, many of you have been faithful readers and contributors since I started this blog after leaving The Washington Post way back in 2009. And that’s about how long I have been working on this book!
If just a fraction of the incredible community here pre-orders the book, Spam Nation should emerge the week of Nov. 18 as a top contender in the non-fiction space. More importantly, readers of this book will almost certainly come away far more worldly and aware of their own crucial role in combating cybercrime.
Whether or not you decide to buy the book, I can’t say this enough: Thank you all for your continued readership, encouragement and support!
Looks interesting. Terrible title, but it won’t stop me from reading it 🙂
Thanks. The title is a reference to the sad reality that at least part of the spam problem is rooted in the demand for spam advertised goods, a demand which principally comes from the United States and shows little sign of abating. And that demand is one aspect of the spam problem that this book examines, with (I believe) some surprising conclusions.
I assumed the title was a pun on “Damnation”.
You don’t like Spam?
(cue flying circus skit)
Spam is ok — if you liked chopped and formed meat.
On the other hand, spam drains Internet resources and makes people waste their time clearing it from their e-mail
Movie???
Can i play the guy in the glasses?
Heh. Do you mean like Malvin from War Games? “Mister Potato Head! Mr. Potato Head!”
I just pre-ordered it. But my question is, what constitutes proof of purchase?
Forward your emailed proof-of-purchase, or a scan/photo of your print receipt
Basically anything that says you purchased the book, the quantity purchased and your name and mailing address.
Looking forward to this, hard to wait until November (but I guess I’ll have to).
$14.99 a bit steep for an eBook when hardback is what $3.62 more….? I will have to wait
Love the blog
I can’t wait to read it!
Are signed copies also available for people in Europe?
I sure hope so, but would love to have confirmation as well.
hi, the amazon option have shipping to colombia?
i will buy this amazing book!!!
So….if I buy a digital copy your publisher will ship me a signed copy for free or will they just send me a book plate?
It’s not a two-for-one deal. If you just ordered the digital copy, you will get a signed book plate (and the digital copy, of course).
Thanks for the response!
very nice cover art!
Will it come out as an audiobook (Audible.com preferred)? Looking forward to it.
Great idea! I like audio books for the daily commute. Maybe the same actor that plays Brian in the upcoming movie can also be the narrator for the book!?
read by James Earl Jones 😉
‘Thank you, your order has been placed.’
least we can do! looking forward to it.
With proof of purchase of multiple copies, are you willing to provide a bookplate for each copy?
I think your book sounds like it’s going to be so technical and will be over my learning curve. If Amazon has it on sale I will buy it to support you. You have put so much time and effort into your website and blogs and you are way ahead of anyone else on breeches and security risks. Thanks!
Buying it out of support is a great thing, but I think you will be pleasantly surprised. The beauty of Brian’s blog for me is that he is able to communicate all of these technical things so simply and directly that even non-techies like I can understand most of it. I expect that this book will be written in the same way, not in a textbook-dry but journalistic manner. I’m really looking forward to a lot of information he has probably had to edit it out of the blog for the sake of space and time.
Mark, the book is meant to be read by people who really don’t have a strong grasp of technology or security. That’s not to say that people who crave more technical details won’t find what they’re looking for here as well.
For example, just the details about how the spammers set up their networks, managed support and staff to handle all that is fascinating because it speaks to these criminal enterprises as businesses that have to deal with the same challenges facing IT managers at regular enterprises that are trying to deflect this junk.
You have sold me on the book. I just pre-ordered it. I wish it was coming out sooner.
Oh my. I didn’t think about the e-book when I pre-ordered. (I’m about 50/50 with e versus paper these days.) Now I can’t decide whether to see if I can cancel and switch to the e-book, or if I really do want the hardcover. I hate it when I can’t make a decision.
Does the book go into technical details? The human story is nice, but I’m also quite interested in how this works technically, and how to better defend against spam. I.e. things like postgrey/spf/opendkim, do they make any difference? But adding lots of technical details may not work in a single book.
@Berend de Boer
At a Fundamental Architectural level, unless you institute totalitarianism, you will always have Spam.
Make a list of existing and theoretical communications methods, direct exploits, and a list of bypass methods; meditate deeply on this, then add exponential increases in computational power to the equation and how they change the mix.
Understanding the Human element is probably the more important story to this, because it puts a cost on what is, to most, an annoyance. With Proper Application of knowledge; what you say to one end user is repeated a hundred times. That, in turn, has real potential to do damage.
@Krebs
http://www.amazon.com/SPAM-Single-Classic-3-Ounce-Pouches/dp/B000FIZW00
Call up Hormel and see if they want to do an advertising deal with you. : – ) Costs you what, an hour of hunting and calling?
On a serious note; we are very much moving towards an IT-related Red Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Moment. It’s Sad a few thousand people will need to die for the public to understand security is important but ultimately, until some basic coding regulations are instituted, we will have systems built by slaves who care as much for themselves and their work as their bosses do, that resemble 1800’s structures. Either it’s built to stand 1000 years, or it’s a shack.
I look forward to reading your latest novel.
The Temptation to edit a screenshot of my checkout to
redirect the shipment to the boss of a previous employer who has no clue but who’s lack of understanding could harm a lot of people is extreme in this instance….
Securus Vigilare Insanus & Godspeed Sir.
@Bobinator, there would be no spam if every email cost 1 cent to sent. The the economics wouldn’t work.
I think that if you offered a coupon for a can of quality SPAM with each book, you would sell millions. You can’t beat a fried SPAM sandwich with some hot sauce on it. Droooooooool.
Hrm. Food for thought. I like that.
Isn’t “quality SPAM” an oxymoron? Then again, some people think that “computer security” is an oxymoron.
PS. Ordered a while ago! Thanks for the bookplate offer, I’m really psyched to read this!!!
PS. Ordered already, a while ago! Thanks so much for the bookplate offer. I am really psyched to read this book!!!
Good Luck, Brian, I’ll definitely be ordering this before the publication date.
I appreciate your generous offer of signed copies, but I think I’ll be happy with the book itself.
I hope it rides atop the best sellers list for as long as Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon” was on the Billboard charts…
Pre-Ordered! Can’t wait! Awesome Brian!!
You can read Brian’s book and then share it with your community by sending a Material Request Form to your local library. The library will purchase the book and then notify you when the book becomes available. Doing so will make the book available to those who cannot afford the book.
Since hearing Brian on NPR’s Fresh Air, I must purchase his book. If you missed his interivew – encourage you to listen.
Done! I’ve preordered and am looking forward to reading it. Happy to support your efforts and all that you do to educate the public and expose the bad guys.
I wish you every success with the book and hope it’s as entertaining as reading the blog is.
Amazon insists that I enter a credit card and won’t take gift card balances for pre-orders of the kindle version (only the book version). To quote Monty Python, “silly asses”. I will either go home and create my normal tied-to-a-vendor temp card or wait for the book to come out. As an author, maybe you can help convince them to come into the 21st century. I would have been completely ok to pay ahead of time but they insist on only charging once the book is delivered in November, and so only a credit card will do according their support folk. I, on the other hand, never shop with a “real” credit card that could be stolen and used somewhere else.
Want to pre-order, unfortunately homeless at the moment. I have a computer for the digital version but prefer a hard copy.
Preordered. 😉
Looking forward to reading it.
from Korea
Fired up my Kindle.
Second book in the Recommended for You section was Spam Nation.
Touch, touch, ordered.
Or should that be “press, press”?
Brilliant blog, Brian – it’s compulsory reading here. Good luck with the book.
Awesome! Will have to look at this. I’m a cybercrime researcher and have been researching English forums for quite some time. The majority of spam activities appear to be found on Russian sites.
Can’t wait until November. Would like to see a Krebs recommended reading list for the wait. Technical and non-technical stuff.