There has been a lot written about data leaks and the information contained therein, but few books that tell you how to do it yourself. That is the subject of Hacks, Leaks and Revelations that was recently published.
This is a very unique and interesting and informative book, written by Micah Lee, who is the director of information security for The Intercept and has written numerous stories about leaked data over the years, including a dozen articles on some of the contents of the Snowden NSA files. What is unique is that Lee will teach you the skills and techniques that he used to investigate these datasets, and readers can follow along and do their own analysis with this data and others such as emails from the far-right group Oath Keepers. There is also materials leaked from the Heritage Foundation, and chat logs from the Russian ransomware group Conti. This is a book for budding data journalists, as well as for infosec specialists who are trying to harden their data infrastructure and prevent future leaks from happening.
Many of these databases can be found on DDoSecrets, the organization that arose from the ashes of WikiLeaks and where Lee is an adviser.
Lee’s book is also unique in that he starts off his journey with ways that readers can protect their own privacy, and that of potential data sources, as well as ways to verify that the data is authentic, something that even many experienced journalists might want to brush up on. “Because so much of source protection is beyond your control, it’s important to focus on the handful of things that aren’t.” This includes deleting records of interviews, any cloud-based data or local browsing history for example. “You don’t want to end up being a pawn in someone else’s information warfare,” he cautions. He spends time explaining what not to publish or how to redact the data, using his own experience with some very sensitive sources.
One of the interesting facts that I never spent much time thinking about before reading Lee’s book is that while it is illegal to break into a website and steal data, it is perfectly legal for anyone to make a copy of that data once it has been made public and do your own investigation.
Another reason to read Lee’s book is that there is so much practical how-to information, explained in simple step-by-step terms that even computer neophytes can quickly implement them. Each chapter has a series of exercises, split out by operating system, with directions. A good part of the book dives into the command line interface of Windows, Mac and Linux, and how to harness the power of these built-in tools.
Along the way you’ll learn Python scripting to automate the various analytical tasks and use some of his own custom tools that he and his colleagues have made freely available. Automation — and the resulting data visualization — are both key, because the alternative is very tedious examination line by line of the data. He uses the example of searching the BlueLeaks data for “antifa” as an example (this is a collection of data from various law enforcement websites that document misconduct), making things very real. There are other tools such as Signal, an encrypted messaging app, and using BitTorrent. There is also advice on using disk encryption tools and password managers. Lee explains how they work and how he used them in his own data explorations.
One chapter goes into details about how to read other people’s email, which is a popular activity with stolen data.
The book ends with a series of case studies taken from his own reporting, showing how he conducted his investigations, what code he wrote and what he discovered. The cases include leaks from neo-Nazi chat logs, the anti-vax misinformation group America’s Frontline Doctors and videos leaked from the social media site Parler that were used during one of Trump’s impeachment trials. Do you detect a common thread here? These case studies show how hard data analysis is, but they also walk you through Lee’s processes and tools to illustrate its power as well.
Lee’s book is really the syllabus for a graduate-level course in data journalism, and should be a handy reference for beginners and more experienced readers. If you are a software developer, most of his advice and examples will be familiar. But if you are an ordinary computer user, you can quickly gain a lot of knowledge and see how one tool works with another to build an investigation. As Lee says, “I hope you’ll use your skills to discover and publish secret revelations, and to make a positive impact on the world while you’re at it.”
“Instantaneous photographs and newspaper enterprise have invaded the sacred precincts of private and domestic life.” You might be surprised to find out that this quote is more than 130 years old, from a law review article co-authored by Louis Brandeis, and inspired by the invention of Kodak film. It appears in a 
Accidental superspy 
Tom Kemp’s new book about the dangers of the five Big Tech companies is several books in one volume. Normally, this would not be a great recommendation, but stick with me here and see if you agree that he has written a very useful, effective, and interesting book.
What do the authors Beatrix Potter, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe and the British composer Edward Elgar have in common with the Zodiac killer, Mary Queen of Scots, and an enigmatic map left in the 1880s by Virginian buffalo hunter named Thomas Beale? They all were fascinated by communicating by codes. And if you are too and want to learn how to break them yourself, you should pick up the latest 
The book’s focus is on using your wits and pencil and paper to solve the puzzles for the most part, although the authors aren’t computer-adverse: they use the old fashioned methods to help develop the reader’s skills and to pay attention to the frequency distribution of the coded letters and symbols used in the messages, among other tricks of the trade that they describe in detail.
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This is the third in the series of “fear” books featuring ex-Navy SEAL Finn in another escapade, this time in Puerto Rico in the process of saving two children who get caught up in a series of unfortunate events. Finn is trying to find the kids, who have been abducted on a snorkel trip. Meanwhile, two federales are searching for Finn and land on the island and start tracking him down. The characters, as with the previous two novels, are well drawn, the situations ultra realistic, the conflicts seemingly vexing. You don’t have to read the other books to get involved here, and if you are fans of Lee Child’s Reacher or Brad Thor’s books you will find t![The Edge of Sleep: A Novel by [Jake Emanuel, Willie Block]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51npPufLdsL.jpg)
This book is based on the podcast/TV series of the same name which has been out for several years. The thesis is that a worldwide plague hits when people go to sleep, so the obvious conceit is to stay awake to try to fight it and figure out an antidote. So we have the real-life pandemic to compare with the fictionalized version, and that may or may not sit well with some readers. We touch on several different groups of people in everyday situations around the world as they try to cope with the calamity, which I think works better in a TV version than trying to keep track of them throughout the novel. Think of it as a zombie apocalypse without the zombies, which has never been a favorite genre for me. The novel has some terrific descriptions and the plot takes us to some interesting places. In place of the hyper-science and politics of Covid, we have just ordinary folks who are trying to live their lives and cope with staying awake. 
I have known Deb Radcliff as a B2B journalist colleague and now cyber fiction author for more than a decade. Her latest novel in the “
Thomas Roccia has written an interesting book called 
mapping the attack to the diamond model (focusing on adversaries, infrastructure, capabilities, and victims) and a summary of the MITRE ATT&CK tactics. That is a lot of specific information that is presented in a easily readable manner. I have been writing about cybersecurity for many years and haven’t seen such a cogent collection in one place of these more infamous attacks.
I have known Bruce Schneier for many years, and met him most recently just after he gave one of the keynotes at this year’s RSA show. The keynote extends his thoughts in his