How to Steal a Million: The Memoirs of a Russian Hacker
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How to Steal a Million: The Memoirs of a Russian Hacker
Sergey Pavlovich was a poor, talented boy from Belarus who made it big in the Russian-speaking hacking world of the early 2000s and earned millions of dollars from credit card fraud in just a few years. But he ended up in jail as a result of an FBI-led bust of what was dubbed the "largest and most complex identity theft in U.S. history." He spent his twenties in Belarus' brutal prison system.
This is the tell-all story of Pavlovich's meteoric rise in the hacking world and his spectacular fall. It is packed with details about the shadowy cyber-crime world and the lucrative credit card fraud schemes and spamming operations he and his friends devised. Learn about some of the colorful personalities from the first flowering of Slavic cyber-crime in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine and be horrified by Pavlovich's experience in prisons that have changed little since Soviet times.
Most famously, Pavlovich was involved in a fraud ring run by notorious U.S. hacker Albert Gonzalez, who led a double life as an informer for American intelligence. The losses caused by Gonzalez and his friends were estimated to have exceeded $1 billion.
This book, written by Pavlovich while in prison, has already been enjoyed by more than 50,000 Russian readers.
Why You Need This Book Do you have a credit card? Almost certainly. So, you're a target for hackers, carders and other cyber-crooks.
This book will tell you how to protect your credit cards, bank accounts, IDs, and other sensitive stuff from different fraudsters.
You will enter asecret world of Russian cyber criminals and hackers and see hundreds of thousands of dollars being stolen and spent on women, expensive cars, restaurants and trips abroad.
You will be THE FIRST to see private photos of most wanted hackers and carders from Russia and all over the world. Also pictures from Russian court rooms, jails and penal colonies.
You will be shown how cyber criminals "work" and how IT crimes are investigated by the police and intelligence agencies. These materials have NEVER been published before!
It goes without saying, there are crimes in the book. But there is also remorse.
Of course, there is also a love story.
Who are these Russian Hackers?
Hackers from former Soviet countries have made the headlines many times. Russia is also known as a "spam nation" and is responsible for two thirds of the world's spam related to generic viagra, generic cialis, pharmacy and illegal drugs on the Internet.
The question of whether Russian hackers could break into the American election system or an important power station is an important one. Undoubtedly, they could if they wanted to. But they probably won't. Why? Because Russian hackers were raised in poor families and are profit-oriented. They'd rather hack into a bank or a retail chain and get your credit card data, your financial system is their priority.
Russians seldom unite into hacking groups like Anonymous, Lulzsec or Reloaded -- they prefer working alone or in small groups.
Cyber Crimes Definition & Cyber Crimes Types
People seldom distinguish between hackers and other types of cyber-criminals. But there are strict distinctions in the cyber-crime community: from hackers and carders to virus makers and spammers.
Cyber crime lawsin former Soviet countries are very strict: sentences go up to 15 years in prison.
What anonymous payment channels do Russian hackers use?
To receive and conceal criminal income they use WebMoney, E-gold, Liberty Reserve, Western Union, sometimes PayPal. Nowadays, hackers mostly use bitcoin, litecoin, monero, ripple and other cryptocurrencies.
What safety measures are there?
Obvious examples are TOR Browser and Mobile Tor, also PGP and other encryption software and VPN-servers.
How many users are there on Russian carding forums today?
At the time period described in this book the number of registered users on the largest carder forum didn't exceed 6000 people. Today Darknet Marketplaces on the Internet number over 2 million members.