Ransom War: How Cyber Crime Became a Threat to National Security

This timely book explores the alarming rise of ransomware: malicious software blocking users from their systems or data, until they've paid money to regain access or to prevent the release of sensitive information. High-profile British examples of the twenty-first century have targeted national libraries and healthcare organizations; in the US, hackers of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley Health Network held patient data hostage--when their demands went unmet, they published topless photographs of women with breast cancer.

The issue presents formidable challenges and costs for businesses, national security and, as the Pennsylvania case showed, individuals--often society's most vulnerable. But we can watch and learn from cyber extortionists, leaving us better prepared for next time. In 2022, a series of devastating ransomware attacks prompted Costa Rica's President to declare a national emergency, describing a 'state of war'. This episode had much to tell us about how these networks arise, operate, organize--and collapse.

Max Smeets' landmark study demystifies the ransomware playbook, from funding to networking. Through one of the largest ransomware operations on record, he reveals how this challenge has evolved, how it differs in substance and style from traditional cyber/hacking threats, and how to combat it.

Author: Max Smeets
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 04/15/2025
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.13lbs
Size: 8.56h x 5.77w x 1.14d
ISBN: 9780197803035


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2025
Choice 09/01/2025

About the Author
Max Smeets DPhil is a leading expert in cyber conflict and security, who has written on cyber strategy for The Washington Post, War on the Rocks, Slate and others. He holds research positions at ETH Zurich, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. He is the author of No Shortcuts: Why States Struggle to Develop a Military Cyber Force, also published by Oxford University Press, and the coeditor of Deter, Disrupt, or Deceive and Cyberspace and Instability. He also codirects Virtual Routes, and serves as Managing Editor of Binding Hook.