The Ransomware Hunting Team

August 22, 2022
Journalists Dudley and Golden (Spy Schools) deliver an intriguing profile of volunteer tech experts who work to combat digital extortionists. The story centers on Illinois tech support professional Michael Gillespie, “the most prolific member of the Ransomware Hunting Team, an elite, invitation-only society of about a dozen tech wizards who are devoted to cracking ransomware.” The authors detail how gangs of hackers, many with ties to crime syndicates or hostile foreign governments, target vulnerable computer systems, introducing viruses that encrypt files, then demanding payment for a decryption key. The U.S. government’s response has been hampered, Dudley and Golden explain, by the rigid culture of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, where cooperation with outsiders is discouraged and cybercrime experts are often denigrated as the “Geek Squad.” However, in the aftermath of high-profile ransomware attacks such as the May 2021 Colonial Pipeline incident, which paralyzed fuel distribution on the East Coast, the government has coordinated more closely with recognized experts like Gillespie. Dudley and Golden render their subjects—some of whom endured poverty and bullying in their teens—with warmth and admiration while acknowledging that competition between hacker gangs and ransomware hunters has helped spur more sophisticated viruses and bigger paydays. Readers will put down this engrossing underdog story just long enough to back up their own files.

June 10, 2024

ProPublica reporters Dudley and Golden's (Spy Schools) latest reads much like a DC Comics villain-and-hero origin story. The authors begin with the birth of ransomware, a type of malicious software that threatens to publish the victim's personal information or permanently block access unless a payment is received. Dr. Joseph Popp, a Harvard-educated evolutionary biologist and staunch Darwinist created the first malware title, known as the AIDS Trojan Horse. The audio describes how ransomware evolved, noting how criminals use it for considerable financial gain. At the center of the authors' work, however, are the heroes--the Ransomware Hunting Team--who reverse-engineer ransomware in order to prevent its use against institutions and individuals. These heroes come from humble, decidedly unflashy backgrounds; their extraordinary tech skills set them apart, however, and have led to their becoming part of a misfit family of cyberheroes who are looking out for people everywhere. Narrator B.D. Wong provides a solid and accessible reading of this book. VERDICT Listeners may struggle to keep track of the many characters and side stories, but with the importance of cyberattacks in today's world, this is an important purchase for any library.--Patricia Snoblen

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