Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction Award

The benefits of living in a digital, globalised society are enormous; so too are the dangers. The world has become a law enforcer's nightmare and every criminal's dream. We bank online, shop online, date, learn, work and live online. But have the institutions that keep us safe on the streets learned to protect us in the burgeoning digital world? Have we become complacent about our personal security -- sharing our thoughts, beliefs and the details of our daily lives with anyone who cares to relieve us of them?

In this fascinating and compelling book, Misha Glenny, author of the international bestseller McMafia, explores the three fundamental threats facing us in the twenty-first century: cyber crime, cyber warfare and cyber industrial espionage. Governments and the private sector are losing billions of dollars each year, fighting an ever-morphing, often invisible, and highly intelligent new breed of criminal: the hacker.

Glenny has travelled and trawled the world. And by exploring the rise and fall of the criminal website, DarkMarket, he has uncovered the most vivid, alarming and illuminating stories. Whether JiLsi or Matrix, Iceman, Master Splynter or Lord Cyric; whether Detective Sergeant Chris Dawson in Bolton or Agent Keith Mularski in Pittsburgh, Glenny has tracked down and interviewed all the players -- the criminals, the geeks, the police, the security experts and the victims -- and he places everyone and everything in a rich brew of politics, economics and history.

The result is simply unputdownable. DarkMarket is authoritative and completely engrossing. It's a must-read for everyone who uses a computer: the essential crime book for our times.

Misha Glenny is the international bestselling author of McMafia, a finalist for the FT/Goldman Sachs Business Book Award; DarkMarket, a finalist for the Orwell Prize; The Rebirth of History; The Fall of Yugoslavia, which won the Overseas Press Club Award for Best Book on Foreign Affairs; and The Balkans. He is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines such as the Guardian, the London Review of Books, the Globe and Mail, the New Statesman, the Washington Post, and the Financial Times. He lives in London, U.K.

Misha Glenny's profile page

• Short-listed, The Orwell Prize
• Short-listed, CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction Award
• Commended, Globe and Mail Top 100 Book

... a nonfiction page-turner filled with suspense and intrigue ... what a story ...

Irish Times

[Misha Glenny] possesses a savant-like ability to make startling links, and the investigative jones to follow up any far-flung lead right to the bitter end ... Thanks to DarkMarket, the world flitting beneath our Facebook pages and Twitter feeds is illuminated.

National Post

Nobody writes more compellingly about contemporary international crime than the author of McMafia. Misha Glenny combines a terrific pace with the best journalistic practice and stylish writing . . . Illuminating and terrifying.

Globe and Mail

To date, the best insight we've got into the arcane world of cybercrime is DarkMarket.

Guardian

... [Misha] Glenny is an expert ... all the things you think you know about cybercrime will be forever changed by Dark Market.

Wallet Pop Canada

Misha Glenny's journey through the undergrowth of cybercrime is a dark read. But this most assiduous of writers manages a deft feat. He has turned a subject that could be geekish, dull and frightening into an enjoyable page-turner . . . Glenny presents a host of extraordinary characters as he tells the story of the past 20 years of online crime . . . This is a gripping tale, brilliantly researched.

Sunday Times

... highly readable ... fascinating ...

Telegraph

Glenny accomplishes the herculean task of converting cryptic and tangled information into short, gripping chapters that often read like a high-tech thriller.

Publishers Weekly

Misha Glenny describes the battle [against cyber crime] in chilling detail.

Toronto Star

[Misha Glenny is] a master reporter...a truly remarkable story.

Financial Times

[Misha Glenny] shines a light into a shady underworld...

Irish Independent

[DarkMarket commingles] politics, economics and culture...intriguing...

T, the New York Times Style Magazine

DarkMarket covers more physical territory than a Bourne movie ... riveting and comprehensive ...

Guardian

...fascinating...

Telegraph

...an engrossing yarn...DarkMarket offers an eminently readable, witty narrative that sustains suspense until the very last pages.

Wall Street Journal

. . . a fast-paced journey through the murkiness of the Internet underworld . . . compelling . . .

New Scientist

...required reading for anyone who wants to understand what's going on in the world today...DarkMarket works both as a thrilling read and as a primer for cyber self-defense. Highly recommended.

Tyee

Glenny has created a seriously thought-provoking work.

City AM

Glenny constructs short, fast-paced chapters like movie scenes shot on location, then knits them together to form the full picture ... [he] does an admirable job of explaining the technical issues and dividing the complex story into understandable pieces.

Winnipeg Free Press

... insightful and entertaining ... highly readable ...

Globe and Mail

A complex, eye-opening account ... scary reading.

Kirkus