In this book, Brian Krebs, a famous journalist and investigative reporter known for his coverage of profit-seeking cyber criminals, covers the spam business and the spammers behind it, explaining the details of how spam businesses earn money and the real stories of the biggest spammers on this planet.

Chapter 1 starts with a car accident, which involves the death of the big spammer Kolya McColo. From there, Krebs explores the whole spam business, which is mostly based in Russia but has a huge impact on the Internet. The spam business in Russia likely generates around 75 percent of spam information traffic on the Internet. It surprised me to see the “nation” that so many spammers have built up. Also, the chapter points out how critical it is to be aware of the cybercrime influencing our daily lives.

In chapter 2, the author explains the history of the spam nation and why it is bulletproof. The main reason is that the spam business mixes with legitimate business and establishes many connections to political people in power by offering bribes to cover up criminal activity. Web hosting services were built to host the spam domain and websites. This also attracts more spammers to join and propagate more spam.

In chapter 3, the author mainly investigates the major types of websites that spam business involves: pornography websites and pharmacy-related websites. In this system, the spammers not only build up these websites, but also have the whole business chain to support. They have factories in India or China or some undeveloped country produce low-cost products. Also, they have their own online payment system to process customer orders and a comprehensive delivery system to ship the products to those customers. The chapter exposes the core of booming spam business to readers.

In chapter 4, the author tries to interview buyers of spamming products like the drugs sold on spam websites. The purpose is to find out why so many people buy spam products when there is no quality guarantee and the product may be toxic. The conclusion from the investigation is that people buy spam products: due to the affordable price (especially when they do not have insurance coverage); when the product is restricted in the US or their home country; or if the product somehow meets their needs.

Chapter 5 refers to an incident that was recently in the news: the case of the so-called “causeway cannibal” who reportedly chewed the face of a homeless man after allegedly ingesting bath salts. It was later reported that follow-up toxicology tests showed marijuana in his system, not bath salts. The author presents more incidents caused by fake or toxic products sold on spam websites. The chapter shows the large negative impact and seriousness of the spamming problem. It is no longer just a nuisance, but a criminal problem that results in permanent damages to victims.

In chapter 6, the author details the growth of spam businesses in Russia and shows the organization behind spam businesses. Using research from the University of California, San Diego, he is able to show how spammers work together and organize in a way similar to a club. He also shows how a spammer survives and grows with the help of this organization.

Chapter 7 details the rise of self-described spammer Igor Vishnevsky. It also presents information on the Cutwail botnet and infamous spammer Peter Severa’s connections to convicted spammer Alan Ralsky. Readers also learn about the major tool used by spammers: botnets, which normally contain thousands of compromised computers. Spammers use them to steal information about users and send spam information through them. It makes it very hard for anti-spam teams to prevent and stop them.

Chapter 8 describes the conflicts inside the spam nation. Russian spammers have their own interests and attack each other to gain more benefits. The story shows another side to the spam nation and provides a different view of its evolution.

In chapter 9, Krebs interviews Pavel Vrublevsky and presents the whole process of the interview. He explains that the likely reason why Russian police raided the Rx-Promotion party has to do with a series of raids on Moscow gambling dens.

Chapter 10 explores attacks on anti-spam organizations such as Blue Security and Spamhaus. To fight back, we need to be smarter than the spammers. Otherwise, spammers will target anti-spam organizations.

In chapters 11 and 12, Krebs describes the takedown of the spam nation. Vrublevsky is tried and sentenced to jail. Many spammers have been taken into custody.

To sum up, the book is very interesting and worth reading for its stories. I have researched spam for many years and know that the spam business is not dying. We need to make more of an effort to combat spammers in order to win this war.

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