Geoff White - The Lazarus Heist: From Hollywood to High Finance: Inside North Koreas Global Cyber War

Geoff White is one of the UKs leading technology journalists and a global specialist on cybercrime. He has reported on the Snowden leaks, investigated the hacking of Britains largest internet service provider TalkTalk, exposed fraud in the online dating industry and won multiple awards. His work has appeared in outlets including Channel 4 News, the BBC and the Sunday Times. His podcast series The Dark Webhas been a top-ten hit on Audible since its launch in 2017 and his latest podcast, The Lazarus Heist, which he co-hosted with Jean Lee for the BBC World Service, was number one in the UK Apple chart.

One of the most incredible cyber-espionage stories Ive ever heard told by one of the UKs best tech journalists Jamie Bartlett, author of The Missing Crypto Queen

This is a mind-bending investigation into how the so-called hermit kingdom hacks, cheats, steals and extorts money from the rest of us. Youll never see North Korea the same way again Oliver Bullough, Sunday Timesbestselling author of Moneyland

Geoff Whites thorough investigation reads as part-detective story, part-thriller, but scary since it is all true. He exposes North Korea as a pariah state where ruthless dictatorship joins forces with international cybercrime. A compelling account of a twenty-first-century threat to us all
Professor Sir David Omand, former head of GCHQ and author of How Spies Think

North Korea is one of the worlds least understood countries. By uncovering key details about the innovative methods of the Lazarus Group, and richly detailing its operations, Geoff White has performed a crucial service in our conception of the criminal state that is North Korea. Read this book!
Isaac Stone Fish, author of America Second: How Americas Elites Are Making China Stronger

In this captivating gem of a book, Geoff takes us on a whirlwind global adventure that covers the events around a fascinating and important cyber-attack that we all should be aware of
Jack Rhysider, founder of Darknet Diaries

Cyber warfare and criminal hacking have never been more pertinent. This a must-read to understand the threats currently facing all of us globally
Annie Machon, author of Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers

For my mum and my wife my two guiding stars

North Korea? Really?

Its the response I often get when I tell people Im researching North Korean computer hackers.

Many peoples image of this small Asian country if they even have one is of an idiosyncratic, isolated land whose limited technological skill is mainly spent on launching missiles and testing nukes. The idea that it has a force of computer hackers, let alone one of the worlds most dangerous, seems outlandish.

As an investigative journalist covering cybercrime, I have a very different perspective. Over the last decade or so Ive watched as the crimes being attributed to North Koreas cyber-warriors nicknamed the Lazarus Group by security researchers have increased in scale, ferocity and ingenuity. Computer hacks have become a key weapon in North Koreas arsenal, and they now pose a significant threat to global security and stability.

The Lazarus Groups hackers started out with low-level attacks defacing websites, but within a worryingly short amount of time they graduated to far bigger targets: taking out movie studios and TV stations, stealing millions from national banks and even shutting down hospital departments. The idea of a computer hacker disabling an emergency room was once the stuff of Hollywood film plots. Now its reality.

But this story isnt just about computer hacking. As Ive dug deeper into the groups alleged activities, Ive unearthed the global criminal network that facilitates its operations: a dark realm encompassing dodgy bankers in the Philippines, hapless philanthropists in Sri Lanka, gambling sharks in Macau, used-car salesmen in Japan and Instagram millionaires in Dubai. Its a sprawling underworld of crooks and fixers wielding extraordinary power and handling vast quantities of money, most of whom operate way beyond the reach of any police or law-enforcement agency.