Unmasking the hacker: demystifying cybercrime

by Amanda-Jane Turner

Do you use computers, smart phones and the internet? If you do, please read this book and help protect yourself from cybercrime.There is no solely technical solution to fight cybercrime and neither is there a solely human solution. That is why everyone who uses technology and the internet need to have at least a basic understanding of what they can do to help protect themselves in cyberspace. The stereotype that cybercrime is committed by mysterious hoody-wearing hackers is harmful. It encourages a feeling of hopelessness about how to protect ourselves and our information. How can we fight these mysterious hidden figures? This book provides easy to understand information to demystify cybercrime and make cyber security more understandable and accessible to all. As technology has evolved exponentially since the advent of the Internet, and because each subsequent generation does not know a time without being connected via smart phones, social media and emails, this book also provides a brief history of computing and the Internet, hacking, social engineering and cybercrime. There are many books in the market about cyber security and some very interesting academic reference books on cybercrime. This book seeks to complement these by providing an accessible narrative about cybercrime and cyber security for all people. It is my hope that the book will be read by a larger audience both technical and non-technical and help raise awareness of cybercrime. Please read this book, discuss it with your friends and family, disagree and debate with me, and most importantly please help to get cybercrime awareness into the hands of everyone. There are things we all can do to protect ourselves against cybercrime and hackers without the need to be highly computer literate. As the world becomes more connected with technology, cyber security is increasingly becoming everybody’s business.

181 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 11, 2020

About the author

Favourite quote - “The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I? light up the darkness” - Bob Marley
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Amanda-Jane Turner is a cybercrime specialist with an interest in the mechanisms and mitigation of cybercrime. She is a firm believer that diversity in all its forms should be encouraged to promote innovation and find solutions to challenges facing the world. She has won multiple InfoSec industry awards, and in 2019 she was in the first cohort to be named a Fellow of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA). Amanda-Jane is an Adjunct lecturer in Criminology for the University of Queensland, presents on cybercrime at cyber security conferences, writes books on the subject, and is the founder of Demystify Cyber to help people stay safer from cybercrime.

She writes about cybercrime and security, tweets as @empressbat and @demystifycyber, plays MMORPG and her drink of choice is coffee.


Reviews

[John Dolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Unmasking the Hacker' by Amanda-Jane Turner is an excellent introduction to the subject of cybercrime. The author covers (in easy-to-understand language, I might add) the history of cybercrime, the various types of scams and malware, security and the various challenges of cybercrime for enforcement agencies etc.
A highly recommended primer on the topic.