In this disquieting cyber thriller, Joseph Menn takes readers into the murky hacker underground, traveling the globe from San Francisco to Costa Rica and London to Russia. His guides are California surfer and computer whiz Barrett Lyon and a fearless British high-tech agent. Through these heroes, Menn shows the evolution of cyber-crime from small-time thieving to sophisticated, organized gangs, who began by attacking corporate websites but increasingly steal financial data from consumers and defense secrets from governments. Using unprecedented access to Mob businesses and Russian officials, the book reveals how top criminals earned protection from the Russian government. Fatal System Error penetrates both the Russian cyber-mob and La Cosa Nostra as the two fight over the Internet’s massive spoils. The cloak-and-dagger adventure shows why cyber-crime is much worse than you thoughtand why the Internet might not survive.

Joseph Menn十年前就開始為《洛杉磯時報》報道計算機安全以及其他的技術問題，現在則是《金融時報》撰稿人。他是2003年齣版的《All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster》一書的作者，同時還 曾兩次角逐傑羅德•羅布奬（Gerald Loeb Award，商業報道裏的最高奬項）。