REVIEW: Crtl+ Alt + Chaos, How Teenage Hackers Hijack the Internet,

by Joe Tidy

Hardback published by Elliott & Thompson, £16.99 – also ebook and audio.

ISBN: 978 1783 9687 3

I first heard about this book when I heard Joe Tidy being interviewed on a podcast, the always fascinating “Darknet Diaries”, which documents many aspects of hacking, of penetration testing, and generally stories of legal and often thoroughly illegal computer crimes. Highly recommended listening, if you haven’t already. 

With this book, Joe Tidy takes us through many of the more appalling hacking events of the last few years. No, he doesn’t go into the horrible crimes of Russian intelligence or the North Korean scams and ransomwares, nor the Chinese data thefts. This book is based much more on the threat from our own teenagers. Bored, clever youngsters, who are interested in playing with computers, and who all too often discover older hackers who then groom and exploit them. 

After all, as so many of the hackers say, what’s the worst that can happen to youngsters who’re under the age of criminal responsibility?

Well, in some cases, the sudden destruction of their parents’ front door as police break in. The confiscation of computers and data. A criminal record for life. Possibly worse, depending on the criminal gangs involved. Some have decided to take umbrage at those who they perceive as being unreliable, or treacherous. Families have suddenly been inundated with deliveries of pizzas, or burgers, or other foods, and then been abused when they deny ordering them. They have received items they never asked for, they get their social media hacked, as well as the accounts of families and friends. More recently, all too often there have been instances of deliberate attempts at “swatting” – putting in fake calls to local police claiming to be under house invasion, saying that the owner has just shot all the members of his family, for example, so that the local SWAT teams are sent, bristling with weapons, in the hope that they might kill the victim of the attacks.

All committed by youngsters – often from the US, UK and Australia. 

Joe Tidy is an experienced reporter with a track record of accuracy and reliable work with this aspect of crime. He has spent many years since 2014 when the Lizard Squad hackers broke into the Sony Playstation network on Christmas Day and wrecked the celebration for tens of millions of people. Since interviewing one of the conspirators in that attack, he has become more and more obsessed (I took that from his bio: “began his decade-long obsession”) with these young hackers. 

The problem is, of course, that they are pretty much safe. They know that they are clever (although they always tend to get discovered), and they know that their age protects them too.  His conclusion is not cheerful. As he says, youngsters will always invade new spaces alone on their computers, and they’ll always be ahead of those seeking to protect the internet and users. And those who spend many more hours at a screen than meeting others, those who spend time, perhaps, in social media sites where their own views are reflected and echoed, will sometimes develop unhealthy and dangerous interests. 

So, not a particularly cheerful conclusion, but something that everyone should be aware of. I can thoroughly recommend this book. Fascinating and brilliantly written by a journalist at the top of his game.

Highly recommended.