Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground

Kevin Poulsen

Feb 2015 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Eric Michael Summerer

About this audiobook

The word spread through the hacking underground like some unstoppable new virus: Someone-some brilliant, audacious crook-had just staged a hostile takeover of an online criminal network that siphoned billions of dollars from the U.S. economy. The FBI rushed to launch an ambitious undercover operation aimed at tracking down this new kingpin. Other agencies around the world deployed dozens of moles and double agents. Together, the cybercops lured numerous unsuspecting hackers into their clutches. Yet at every turn, their main quarry displayed an uncanny ability to sniff out their snitches and see through their plots. The culprit they sought was the most unlikely of criminals: a brilliant programmer with a hippie ethic and a supervillain's double identity. Together with a smooth-talking con artist, he ran a massive real-world crime ring.

About the author

An award-winning investigative journalist, Kevin Poulsen oversees news and feature reporting at wired.com. In June 2010, he and a cowriter broke the news that the government had secretly arrested a young Army intelligence analyst on suspicion of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks.

AudioFile Earphones Award winner Eric Michael Summerer is a voice actor and producer who has narrated numerous audiobooks as well as countless instructional recordings and video games. He earned an Audie Award nomination for Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.