Spam Nation

August 25, 2014
In an exposé delving into a dark side of the online world, Krebs, a former Washington Post journalist and cybersecurity expert, pulls back the digital curtain to reveal the secrets behind email spam, botnets, rogue pharmacies, and other Internet threats. Armed with reams of information sent to him by feuding hackers and cybercrooks, Krebs explores just how and why these spammers get away with so much—how they make millions by flooding our email in-boxes with ads for cheap (and often unreliable, dangerous, or illegal) drugs, and how they stay one step ahead of the authorities. He traces many of them back to cabals taking refuge in the relatively laissez-faire former Soviet states, where the so-called Russian Business Network flourishes somewhat openly. Krebs plays the role of fearless crusader and hard-nosed investigative journalist, his crusade costing him his job at the Washington Post and his curiosity taking him to meet Russian spamlords face-to-face. By exposing our digital weaknesses and following the money, he presents a fascinating and entertaining cautionary tale. Krebs’s work is timely, informative, and sadly relevant in our cyber-dependent age. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

October 15, 2014
How once-harmless Internet advertising developed into the dangerously intrusive inbox enemy it is today. Former Washington Post reporter and current Web security analyst Krebs addresses the threat of email spam as much more than simply an online nuisance; rather, it's the byproduct of fully functioning "virtual pirate coves of the Internet" trafficking illegal goods and services to unsuspecting users. His nuanced detective work uncovered corrupt business practices at rogue pharmaceutical sites (an industry which a large portion of email spam promotes). Digging deeper, he discovered a global conspiracy targeting just about anyone with an email address. Krebs' guided tour of the cybercriminal underworld is a cautionary tale about menacing cultures of hackers, spammers and duplicitous digital network "cybercrooks"-e.g., shifty Russian e-commerce mogul Pavel Vrublevsky, whom the author surprised with a perilous, impromptu in-person meeting at his home in Moscow. Krebs' background in cybersleuthing (he broke the story on the late-2013 Target credit-card database breach) is maximally utilized in chapters covering how "bulletproof hosting networks" and their integrated, parasitic "botnets" disseminate spam across scores of email addresses while frenetic anti-spam groups deploy ingenious counteroffensive tactics. The author analyzes how and why spammers become lucrative by tracing e-payment brokers directly to the illegal online pharmacy websites they contract with and expanding outward to the covert spamming networks like the notorious Russian Business Network and other underground factions based in the former Soviet states. Krebs admits it was his vigilante investigations into these types of criminals that sabotaged his 14-year tenure with the Post. For lay readers, an effectively revealing closing chapter offers tips on how anyone can safeguard their personal online information from hacker infiltration. An eye-opening, immensely distressing expose on the current state of organized cyberspammers.

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