The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits’ Improbable Crusade to Save the World from Cybercrime

The Ransomware Hunting Team” is a worthwhile read for anybody who enjoys books about cybercrime, and ransomware in particular. It is a relatively easy read, telling the true story of a band of misfits who have used their extraordinary skills to save millions of ransomware victims from paying billions of dollars to criminals, often for very little in return.

There is also a Kiwi connection to the story: Christian Mairoll, the CEO of Emsisoft, plays a significant role.

Highly recommend for tech enthusiasts and anyone curious about the behind-the-scenes battle against cybercrime.

Below is the official overview:

A real-life technological thriller about a band of eccentric misfits taking on the biggest cybersecurity threats of our time.

“What Michael Lewis did for baseball in Moneyball, Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden do brilliantly for the world of ransomware and hackers. Cinematic, big in scope, and meticulously reported, this book is impossible to put down.” —Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way and Horse Soldiers

Scattered across the world, an elite team of code crackers is working tirelessly to thwart the defining cyber scourge of our time. You’ve probably never heard of them. But if you work for a school, a business, a hospital, or a municipal government, or simply cherish your digital data, you may be painfully familiar with the team’s sworn enemy: ransomware. Again and again, an unlikely band of misfits, mostly self-taught and often struggling to make ends meet, have outwitted the underworld of hackers who lock computer networks and demand huge payments in return for the keys.

“The Ransomware Hunting Team” traces the adventures of these unassuming heroes and how they have used their skills to save millions of ransomware victims from paying billions of dollars to criminals. Working tirelessly from bedrooms and back offices, and refusing payment, they’ve rescued those whom the often hapless FBI has been unwilling or unable to help. Foremost among them is Michael Gillespie, a cancer survivor and cat lover who got his start cracking ransomware while working at a Nerds on Call store in the town of Normal, Illinois. Other teammates include the brilliant, reclusive Fabian Wosar, a high school dropout from Germany who enjoys bantering with the attackers he foils, and his protégé, the British computer science prodigy Sarah White. Together, they have established themselves as the most effective force against an escalating global threat. This book follows them as they put their health, personal relationships, and financial security on the line to navigate the technological and moral challenges of combating digital hostage-taking.

Urgent, uplifting, and entertaining, Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden’s “The Ransomware Hunting Team” is a real-life technological thriller that illuminates a dangerous new era of cybercrime.

you can buy the book here Here