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The Privacy Advisor | Book Review: Krebs Gives Insights Into Spam Wars Related reading: A view from Brussels: EDPS sends signal on data transfers 

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In Spam Nation, Brian Krebs takes a fascinating inside look into the extraordinarily complex world behind spam. Have you ever wanted to know who or what is behind spam? Or why pharmaceuticals are frequently the subject matter for it? Who is making money off of it? And maybe most importantly, why is it so challenging to make it stop?

Everyone knows what spam is—that annoying email that we all see from time to time in our inbox. But spam is much more than just an annoyance. It is a starting point for criminals and others that can lead to the exposure of your personal information and intimate aspects of your life.  

In the book, Krebs discusses the monetary motivation as well as the political and operational environment in Russia that is responsible for much of the spam we all receive.  

One of the more fascinating topics in the book covers spam related to the sale of prescription drugs. Readers will understand more about why many pharmaceutical companies are not actively engaged in stopping spam and the sale of their patented drugs. Krebs also discusses the motivations for Americans to purchase drugs from these unknown sites where the quality and authenticity of the drugs are difficult to verify. In many cases, these are situations where the person cannot afford, or is embarrassed to seek, a valid prescription. Some of the drugs purchased from online sites have been tested, and the results may surprise you. Online pharmacies pride themselves in customer service so complaints to credit card companies won’t occur.

Krebs discusses which U.S. companies are fighting spam and which are watching without action. From backstabbing to bribes, it’s all included.  

The book further discusses the attempt and subsequent derailment of some anti-spam efforts, including how some such efforts were met with personal threats. One interesting point made was that some spammers even support certain anti-spam efforts just to ensure that such systems are designed in a way that won't obstruct their own spam efforts.  

The so called “Pharma Wars” between two large spam sponsors is discussed throughout the book. Often going into great detail, it was riveting to see the relationships and power struggles involved in what ultimately brought down two of the major spamming operations in Russia.

The book points out that there is some hope that the spam industry might be slowing. Many employees of these organizations originally entered the industry because more legitimate jobs did not exist at the time. Now that there are more legitimate jobs available in Russia, programmers and developers are moving toward taking those jobs instead. Also, the marginal spamming jobs are not as lucrative. The insider’s view Krebs provides through his own interviews, interactions and during his travel to Russia offers a helpful first-person perspective.  

Krebs is obviously passionate about the investigative work he does and writes about. The book is written for an audience that understands privacy, security and technology or has a passion for understanding cybersecurity and spam. Those that have less of an interest might find the book a challenge to understand at times.

At times, the players, relationships and roles were so complex it would have been helpful to have a flow chart or other visual diagram to help keep track. But many of Krebs's stories regarding spammers' efforts to derail each other are less challenging to read to the nontechnical reader. Krebs includes a useful epilogue with practical tips that everyone should know, including Krebs’s “Three Rules for Online Safety.”

Here’s the bottom line: Spam is scary and dangerous stuff. Spam Nation will give technical and nontechnical readers the reasons to care about efforts to combat it in ways other than pressing delete. 

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