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Messing with the Enemy

Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

A former FBI Special Agent and leading cyber-security expert offers a devastating and essential look at the misinformation campaigns, fake news, and electronic espionage operations that have become the cutting edge of modern warfare—and how we can protect ourselves and our country against them.

Clint Watts electrified the nation when he testified in front of the House Intelligence Committee regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. In Messing with the Enemy, the cyber and homeland security expert introduces us to a frightening world in which terrorists and cyber criminals don't hack your computer, they hack your mind. Watts reveals how these malefactors use your information and that of your friends and family to work for them through social media, which they use to map your social networks, scour your world affiliations, and master your fears and preferences.

Thanks to the schemes engineered by social media manipulators using you and your information, business executives have coughed up millions in fraudulent wire transfers, seemingly good kids have joined the Islamic State, and staunch anti-communist Reagan Republicans have cheered the Russian government's hacking of a Democratic presidential candidate's e-mails. Watts knows how they do it because he's mirrored their methods to understand their intentions, combat their actions, and coopt their efforts.

Watts examines a particular social media platform—from Twitter to internet Forums to Facebook to LinkedIn—and a specific bad actor—from al Qaeda to the Islamic State to the Russian and Syrian governments—to illuminate exactly how social media tracking is used for nefarious purposes. He explains how he's learned, through his successes and his failures, to engage with hackers, terrorists, and even the Russians—and how these interactions have generated methods of fighting back. Shocking, funny, and eye-opening, Messing with the Enemy is a deeply urgent guide for living safe and smart in a super-connected world.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 28, 2018
      Counterterrorism expert Watts writes a timely, occasionally chilling account of the use and misuse of social media by a variety of geopolitical players. He traces the rise of social media platforms—looking well beyond Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube—to illustrate how many have been used for a variety of nefarious ends, such as influencing potential voters or radicalizing potential terrorists. Watts uses examples—ranging from early social platforms such as Yahoo Groups, which were meeting places for like-minded extremists, to more recent dating apps, which have been used to gather personal or compromising information on users—to make the case that all platforms are vulnerable to misuse. He finishes with advice on coping with social media’s effects on contemporary life. He peppers his analysis with his personal experiences pulling communications-based pranks at West Point, interacting with a U.S.-born al-Qaeda operative on Twitter, identifying internet trolls, and falling victim to viral misinformation (aka fake news), demonstrating his expertise while showing just how easy it is to be affected by bad actors on social media. Watts combines a down-to-earth voice with an ability to recreate moments of social media troublemaking to discomfiting, informative effect.

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  • English

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