Max Smeets

This timely book explores the alarming rise of ransomware: malicious software that blocks users from their systems or data until they have paid money to regain access or to prevent the release of sensitive information. High-profile British examples of the twenty-first century have targeted national libraries and hospital trusts. In the US, hackers of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley Health Network held...

Cyber-security is often a top national security priority. Many states have declared cyber-space a new domain of warfare, seeking to develop a military cyber-strategy. Governments' national risk assessments now frequently put the threat of hostile cyber-attack on a par with natural disasters, international terrorism or nuclear attack. This has provoked much policy talk and concern about the future of conflict,...