Kingpin
by Kevin Poulsen · first published 2010
68% recommend32% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Suspenseful, story-driven nonfiction on the early carding, spam and botnet forums and the e-crime underground, showing how attackers think; suits readers who like true hacker stories.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Former hacker Kevin Poulsen has, over the past decade, built a reputation as one of the top investigative reporters on the cybercrime beat. In Kingpin, he pours his unmatched access and expertise into book form for the first time, delivering a gripping cat-and-mouse narrative -- and an unprecedented view into the twenty-first century's signature form of organized crime. The word spread through the hacking underground like some unstoppable new virus: Someone -- some brilliant, audacious crook -- had just staged a hostile takeover of an online criminal network that siphoned billions of dollars f
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You might find this book interesting. http://www.amazon.com/Kingpin-Hacker-Billion-Dollar-Cybercri... I've read it and can confirm its a good read. I think this guy was arrested in 2005 or 2007 but that's going on memory from over a year ago.
on “Self-proclaimed LulzSec leader arrested” ↗I found "Ghost in the Wires" by Kevin Mitnick and "Kingpin" by Kevin Poulsen to be decent reads.
on “Evan Doorbell's Telephone Tapes” ↗…its in lightweight detail, the aim of the book is more to give an insight into how an attacker thinks. It's quite an enjoyable read too. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stealing-Network-How-Own-Cyber-Ficti... Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground by Kevin Poulsen. This one's a true story. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingpin-Hacker-Billion-Dollar-Cyberc... Code: The Hidden Language…
on “Ask HN: What are some good, lightweight reads on computing?” ↗…interested in stories which are based on non-fiction, but are written in a story telling kind of way, greatly adding to suspense. In that category I read the books Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick and Kingpin by Kevin Poulsen [1]. If you're interested in following a suspenseful hacker story I can recommend them both. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13240924
on “Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction” ↗There's a good book by Kevin Poulsen called "The Kingpin: How one Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground" that is a bit out of date at this point (2011), but it goes into great length on all of the dynamics of the early forums where all…
on “Dark Web – Justice League” ↗I think you will enjoy Kingpin by Kevin Poulsen.
on “Ask HN: Recommendations of good cybercrime novels?” ↗If you liked that, you should also read Kevin Poulsen's Kingpin. Absolutely enticing story.
on “A Ukrainian Hacker Who Became the FBI’s Best Weapon and Worst Nightmare” ↗Another fantastic piece from Kevin Poulsen. I really enjoyed his book "Kingpin" and this article continues the tradition. If anyone wonders, how an editor at Wired manages to get all the technical details right, this Wikipedia article will help [1]. TLDR: Kevin is a former black…
on “A Ukrainian Hacker Who Became the FBI’s Best Weapon and Worst Nightmare” ↗…Beat the Government – Saving Privacy in the Digital Age MacCormick, John (2012) Nine Algorithms that Changed the Future Mitnick, Kevin and William Simon (2002) Art of Deception Poulsen, Kevin (2011) Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cyber-Crime Underworld Raymond, Eric (2003) Art of Unix Programming Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2005) Fooled by Randomness, 2E _________ (2010) Black Swan:…
on “Ask HN: Are there any books that inspire or highly influence the way you work?” ↗…crowd here, and for me, but quite good for newbie programmers. Note: Python 2.x; not 3.x!) Ghost in the Wires - Kevin Mitnick and William L. Simon (good humor, great suspense, likeable main character) Kingpin - Kevin Poulsen (a less likeable main character but nevertheless suspenseful) And a bunch of cookbooks which I won't bother you with, I didn't fully complete any of them either. I'm very happy that…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗…interested in stories which are based on non-fiction, but are written in a story telling kind of way, greatly adding to suspense. In that category I read the books Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick and Kingpin by Kevin Poulsen [1]. If you're interested in following a suspenseful hacker story I can recommend them both. Another excellent book along those lines is "The Cuckoos Egg" by Clifford Stoll. (And he's…
on “Ask HN: What are some great fiction reads for someone that reads non-fiction” ↗…Programmer MacCormick, John (2012) Nine Algorithms that Changed the Future McConnell, Steve (2004) Code Complete, 2nd ed. Mitnick, Kevin and William Simon (2002) Art of Deception Poulsen, Kevin (2011) Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cyber-Crime Underworld Raymond, Eric (2003) Art of Unix Programming Stone, Brad (2013) The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon Torvalds,…
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗…with the golden age of e-crime and carding truly is fascinating. BTW could someone of you recommend me the best books about that era of internet crime around 2005-2012 (or larger) ? I read Poulsen's Kingpin with a rare delight and would love to get more of that.
on “The Improbable Rise and Fall of E-Gold” ↗This reminds me of a very entertaining book - Kingpin by Kevin Poulsen. It vividly described aspects of that world, albeit from 10-15+ years ago and through the lens of a smaller more specific variety of real life characters. The level specialization only…
on “The Fraud Supply Chain” ↗…dark web marketplaces. if you're interested in learning more, here are a couple of books you might enjoy: "The Dark Net” – Jamie Bartlett “We Are Anonymous” – Parmy Olson “Future Crimes” – Marc Goodman “Kingpin” – Kevin Poulsen
on “Leaking the email of any YouTube user for $10k” ↗