Spies Among Us: How to Stop the Spies, Terrorists, Hackers, and Criminals You Don't Even Know You Encounter Every Day

by Ira Winkler

Ira Winkler has been dubbed "A Modern Day James Bond" by CNN and other media outlets for his ability to simulate espionage attacks against many of the top companies in the world, showing how billions of dollars can disappear. This unique book is packed with the riveting, true stories and case studies of how he did it-and how people and companies can avoid falling victim to the spies among us.

American corporations now lose as much as $300 billion a year to hacking, cracking, physical security breaches, and other criminal activity. Millions of people a year have their identities stolen or fall victim to other scams. In Spies Among Us, Ira Winkler reveals his security secrets, disclosing how companies and individuals can protect themselves from even the most diabolical criminals. He goes into the mindset of everyone from small-time hackers to foreign intelligence agencies to disclose cost-effective countermeasures for all types of attacks.

In Spies Among Us, readers
* Why James Bond and Sydney Bristow are terrible spies
* How a team was able to infiltrate an airport in a post-9/11 world and plant a bomb
* How Ira and his team were able to steal nuclear reactor designs in three hours
* The real risks that individuals face from the spies that they unknowingly meet on a daily basis
* Recommendations for how companies and individuals can secure themselves against the spies, criminals, and terrorists who regularly cross their path

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Espionage

346 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Raphael]

https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/21/

[Kelsey Cunningham]

This book turned out to be very different from what I thought it would be. Part 1 was very slow and redundant for people who already work in security or who understand basic risk terminologies and procedures. Part 2 with the case studies really redeemed this book for me, and part 3 was informative as well. The book is outdated now but can still offer some valuable lessons.

[Konstantinos]

Interesting but a bit basic and high level for those in the field. Also, now outdated.

[Jay Senior]

Read this for school but I’ll definitely keep it around for reference. Interesting to read especially if you don’t work in cybersecurity

[Liam Hartshorne]

With the book being published back in the early 2000s there’s a lot of things that are outdated but there are still some good take aways from this book, so not all bad.

[Rowland]

I thought this book was a real eye opener to the world of spies and industrial espionage. What this book does is put into perspective the dangers that exist in daily life and how the media can distort the real dangers around us.

It gives an overview of how spies operate and also the huge amounts of espionage that is going on everyday. The case studies are extremely interesting.

After reading this book you will feel you have a bit more insight when reading news articles about stolen laptops (Link:Hundreds of MOD Laptops Stolen), about companies and their lawsuits, and definitely about stories of politicians having an innocent tea with Russian spies (Link:Kremlin praises MP ).

I did find some parts of the book a bit repetitive and it took a while to get to the good bits, but I’d definitely recommend this book.

[Sheldon]

Interesting book, liked the back stories. The information will seem pretty basic for those who have some basic understanding of opsec, intelligence, and/or overall security threats.

Overall, not a difficult read and one I would recommend to the not as security/hacker informed.

[TK Keanini]

This book does a great overview of the problems space both social and technical.

[Kate Ressman]

Pretty good basic information, but it needs updating. The computer information is sadly behind the times.

[Muhanad Shahat]

I liked the First and the Last parts of the book. The middle part was Okay to read. The book is outdated in so many parts. Overall, it was good read into the world of espionage.

[VIXEN]

This is a lot of good information.

[Foxglove]

Majorly useful for my current novel project, opened up my eyes to a seamy and incredible world. He's pretty fair on Israel, which made me happy.

[Len]

The book is scary and interesting at the same time. I love the case studies.