Future crimes

There's an excellent book out now by author Marc Goodman entitled "Future crimes". As you can probably infer, the book addresses the major cybersecurity threats we can expect to encounter in the future. Meticulously researched and well articulated, the book adroitly investigates the evolution of the internet over the past decade or so and analyses the major security threats that we now face. It then explores how digital technology is likely to evolve in the years to come and the types of cyber risks that this will impose. The premise of the books is that because we are now more connected and dependent on the web than ever before, we are also more vulnerable than ever. According to Goodman, businesses may be on track to invest nearly $100 billion on cybersecurity by 2017. Incidentally, China is allegedly responsible for over 40% of all cyber attacks globally, although the Chinese government vehemently denies this. Iran and Russia also pose formidable threats in this capacity i.e. an Iranian hacker group called 'Sword of Justice' launched a major cyber attack on Saudi oil company Aramco in 2012, causing enormous damage. 
One of the most acerbic points that the book makes is that when it comes to the likes of Google and Facebook, YOU are the product, not the customer! The sheer vastitude of data that these companies are collected on each one of us is mind-boggling. This is the core value proposition that these companies make to their advertisers - "We know a huge amount about who your customers are and what they want". Google records absolutely every single thing you search for and tailors your search results based upon your previous search history. Data is the new oil as the saying goes. This has led to an upsurge in data surveillance or "dataveillance", to use the parlance now in vogue. The problem with this is that the more data we produce, the more cyber criminals are willing to consume. As we allow more of our personal data to go online, we leave ourselves increasingly vulnerable. The web could potentially become an all-knowing panopticon or as the books phrases it, "Big data equals Big brother". 
The book carefully examines the role that the likes of Bitcoin is playing in facilitating the Dark net and also explores how we can protect ourselves from online criminals. "Future crime" is a real eye-opener and rather shocking in places. However, the author remains cautiously optimistic that with due diligence we can keep ourselves safe from cyber threats of the future. He also provides a list of detailed recommendations at the end of the book on how to do this i.e. update software frequently, use unpredictable passwords, only download from official (legitimate) sites, encrypt your data and switch off your PC when you are not using it. This book is utterly essential reading for anyone who wants a strong grasp of cybersecurity. Strongly recommended!