Spies among Us: How to Stop the Spies, Terrorists, Hackers, and Criminals You Don't Even Know You Encounter Every Day

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Overview

"Spies Among Us reads like a Robert Ludlum novel, [and] it's riveting because it's all true. If you've got a social security number, you need to read this book whether you're a CEO or a grandmother. Winkler reveals the top threats to our personal and national security, with lots of straightforward advice on how to protect yourself."
—Soledad O'Brien, CNN

Relax—it's not terrorism. But does that mean it's okay?

Has our national obsession with terrorism created a cloak of safety for the everyday criminal? In this chilling exposé of real-life spy tactics and how to combat them, international espionage and security expert Ira Winkler shows you exactly how the harmless-looking new guy at the office may be doing your organization—or your credit rating—infinitely more damage than that machine guntoting fellow on the evening news.

Editorial Reviews

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The Barnes & Noble Review
Very quietly, in the shadows, a new generation of infocriminals is attacking you. What do they want? Your identity is only the beginning. They want your company’s prize jewels, too...and chances are, they’ll get them. Former NSA agent Ira Winkler knows more about them than just about anyone. In Spies Around Us, he pulls the covers off this secret world, showing you what’s really going on -- and how to protect yourself.

Among other things, Winkler is one of the world’s leading penetration testers, regularly “stealing” billions of dollars from his clients. (Forty percent of the time, when he attacks a company, he uncovers proof that the real bad guys have been there first.) He has some hair-raising stories to tell. (For instance, there’s the time his team stole multibillion-dollar proposals, detailed nuclear reactor designs, and not-yet-commercialized nuclear technologies, all in a half day’s work.)

Scattered through, you’ll even find some tips for budding spies: how to tell if you’re being followed, when to use a dead drop. But most of us aren’t spies -- we just want to know how to stay safe. Winkler offers practical countermeasures at the end of every case study, then presents a more systematic “anti-spy” primer for both individuals and businesses.

Winkler answers questions like: How do you restrict access to sensitive data, without setting up unacceptable obstacles to getting the job done? How do you make sure everyone knows what to do if they may have encountered a social engineering attack? How do you limit the risk of security breaches arising from layoffs? Follow his advice. Don’t become his next case study. Bill Camarda, from the June 2005 Read Only

Publishers Weekly

Those who are already paranoid about information theft, both personal and professional, should take a muscle relaxant before reading this eye-opening survey of the many holes that exist in our security and intelligence systems. Author Winkler (Corporate Espionage) began his career at the National Security Agency, and his exploits in the private sector, testing security systems by breaking into banks and high-profile companies, have earned him a place in the Information Systems Security Association Hall of Fame. Winkler s background not only lends his book an authoritative voice, but embellishes his nuts-and-bolts material with rich references to intriguing cases in which he s been involved. The book kicks off provocatively, explaining why James Bond and Sydney Bristow from the TV show Alias suck as spies and detailing what spies at various levels actually do. He then goes on to explain how spies and/or their friends (i.e., hackers, identity thieves, spammers, etc.) can get at an organization. Although the book will interest security professionals more than consumers, there s some choice bits here for readers captivated by cloak-and-dagger endeavors. Winkler s chapter on How to Be a Spy shines as a concise tutorial on how genuine spooks operate, and his case studies, which make up the middle of the book, fascinate as examples of how easy it can be to compromise the security systems of high visibility companies even post 9/11. Overall, this is a thorough, at times absorbing, cautionary tale for any company or person who subscribes to the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared. (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780764584688
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Publication date: 3/25/2005
Pages: 352
Sales rank: 249,531
Product dimensions: 6.00 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 0.94 (d)

Meet the Author

Ira Winkler, dubbed a modern-day James Bond, began his career with the super-secret National Security Agency as an undercover security analyst. Since then he has assisted various agencies of the United States and other governments, as well as major corporations, in their battle against the technological underworld. Relentless in his dedication to sealing security breaches, he has "stolen" billions of dollars from huge corporations, lifted nuclear reactor designs in less than four hours, and hacked into multinational networks. In a single day, he siphoned off a billion dollars' worth of information from a leading corporation, exposing a potentially disastrous security gap. Along with espionage simulations and penetration testing, he also investigates cybercrime. Visit his Web site at www.irawinkler.com

Pt. I	Espionage concepts	1
1	How to be a spy	3
2	Why you can never be secure	30
3	Death by 1,000 cuts	40
4	Spies and their friends	52
5	How the spies really get you	106
Pt. II	Case studies	153
6	Spy vs. spy	155
7	Nuclear meltdown	171
8	Fill 'er up!	180
9	The entrepreneur	189
10	The criminal face of the Internet age	200
11	Crimes against individuals	214
Pt. III	Stopping the spies	229
12	Taking control	231
13	Taking action	294

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Spies among Us: How to Stop the Spies, Terrorists, Hackers, and Criminals You Don't Even Know You Encounter Every Day

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