Introduction
Kevin Poulsen, a former hacker has over the years built a recognizable reputation as one of the top most investigator reporter in the cybercrime world. In the book Kingpin, Kevin brings out his unmatched expertise in the form of a book, developing a fascinating cat and mouse narrative with a unique view of the twenty-first century organized crime. The book gives a detailed account of the inside look at the cybercrime world, focusing solely on carders. Carders in the book are the people responsible for stealing or outdrawing information from credit cards. The book is superbly written by Poulsen, making it extremely hard to think of putting it down. It manages to cover the said technical parts in discreet details, in such a way that is intriguing to the common reader, who has no insight to the technological world. The book covers the complex life of Max Burton and his rise to how he came to take over the carding industry or as Poulsen puts it, the carding World. Max starts with light stuff and gets himself into trouble (Poulsen, 2012).The FBI arrested him, and he was required to tell on one of his friends. Max utterly refused, and the FBI opted to lock him, putting him in the slammer. It was during this period when he transformed into a black cat once more, and having spent his time and finished the jail sentence, he started getting into the carding world.
Word in the streets and the underground hacking world spread like an unstoppable virus. Someone brilliant, an audacious crook had been able to stage a hostile takeover of a supposed criminal network, which siphoned billions of taxpayers’ money from the USA economy. The FBI wasted no time in launching an ambitious lay-low operation in a bid to track down the new Kingpin in the carding world. The other agencies across the state resolved to deploying agencies all over the world via the use of moles and double agents. The cybercops enticed many unsuspecting hackers in the carding industry within their clutches (Poulsen, 2012). The intriguing bit was that, at every turn, their chief quarry showed an eerie ability to snuffle out snitches alleged in the cyber world, and get through their plots.
However, the culprit the FBI was seeking was the most unlikely of criminals. A brilliant programmer and software engineer, with a hipped ethic, and a supper villain double identity. As a prominent ‘white-hat hacker’, Max Butler was a celebrity in the programming world, serving as an FBI consultant regularly. His services as the white-hat hacker proved to be reliable in the authorities’ world, and his knowledge on the carding industry was extensive. However, that was not the only personality that Max had. As the black-hat Iceman, Max found himself in the developing world of data theft, and he developed an urge to test his skills in the given opportunity. Max infiltrated hundreds of computers all over the country. He sucked down millions of secured credit card numbers with little ease. He easily hacked on his fellow hackers and brilliantly stole their ill-gotten dollars, right under their noses. He would do this with only a tap of his keyboard, and get an easy access to other computers, where he would retrieve information. With the help of a smooth-talking conman, Max ran a massive crime ring in the real world (Poulsen, 2012). This happened for years, and he was able to elude the arm of the law while other hackers around the country became victims of cybercops investigations.
He watched as the other fraudsters around him quarrel, riddled their ranks with infiltrators through insufficient methods and ultimately betrayed their own kind. Max began to see the ultimate challenge in the other hacker’s dysfunction. He would easily stage his coup and had the ability to fix the broken bits in the programming world. He ran things in his world as they needed running, even when it meant putting his identity on the risk. He is the kingpin in the carding industry, with the ability to blend in with both the debauched guys and the law agencies, and manipulate the two sectors. His indecisive trait allows him to gain a notch above the law enforcement, and he would easily avert any trap set aside. This was the distinction between him and other hackers. While they fell subject to the cops probing, Max was able to elude their traps easily, and figure out their strategies (Poulsen, 2012).
Throughout the story of the hacking criminal rise, and the FBI and other agencies efforts to track and identify him, Kingpin brings out a detailed coverage of a silent wave of criminal activities that affect citizens of American to date. The book ushers the readers into multiple online scheming and fraud policies. The readers get an insight of the hacking world, where hackers are able to infiltrate supermarkets stocked with a credit card numbers, bank accounts, the use of counterfeit cheques, fake passports and identities (Poulsen, 2012). The reader gets kept up to speed on how easily the hackers and other culprits are able to evade the law enforcement eyes. Readers learn of vast hacks that happen in today’s world. They range from browsers exploits, Installation of Trojan Horses, use of coping software’s and phishing attacks. Fraudsters use these methods to ply their trade, and trace the complex systems where they are able to turn pilfered data into millions of dollars. Thanks to the genius creativity of Kevin Poulsen, the reader takes a step into the quiet access of cops and other law agencies across the country on their efforts to stop and deal with the hackers.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Kingpin is a book that offers readers a journey into an untold world of startling scope and abuse of power. It shows the reader how ordinary American teenagers co-relate with Russian mobsters and use fraud methods to obtain millions of dollars. It also enlightens readers on how an ordinary Wi-Fi connection could easily lead to a multi-billion gain of dollars. The book is a must read to all individuals, or American citizens who get to use credit cards. It is crucial as it helps one to understand the carding world better, and comprehend the everyday news that we see on how taxpayers’ money is lost. The book is also beneficial to informing ordinary citizens on the struggle that the law agencies firms go through in order to stop hackers, and the effect that hacking has on society. I recommend the book to every person who loves to read, if they want to get an insight in the carding world.
Reference
Poulsen, K. (2012). Kingpin: How one hacker took over the billion-dollar cybercrime
underground. New York: Broadway Paperbacks.
