HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I admit I have an Alexa.
The other day, I said: Alexa, Play my music. And “she” played music that I
loved. But I have no idea where she got it or why she thought so. Yikes.
What’s
your relationship with “things” like that?
The very talented (and very savvy) Karen Olson says well, it’s the good
news and the bad news. Here’s some of the bad. (And a terrific new book!)
Terrified
of Tech?
I
admit that I can be easily frightened. I have a very active imagination and my
mind goes places that it probably shouldn’t. I see a plastic bag in the middle
of the road and I immediately begin to wonder what grisly thing is inside it. I
see shadows on the walls and hear noises in the night. Feeling the cat jump on
the bed at night makes me jump when I’m in that place between awake and asleep.
In
a more practical way, I am also afraid of heights, and I’m not fond of flying.
I can never be on The Amazing Race.
But
I was never afraid of technology—until now.
It’s
not just our home computers anymore, either. How many of you out there have an
Alexa or something like it? One of those little robot vacuum cleaners that
roams your house? A home security system that you can turn on and off with your
phone? A baby monitor? A car with Bluetooth?
Those
are the Internet of Things. And all of them can be hacked.
Technology
has made us vulnerable in ways we would never have imagined even just twenty
years ago. It’s that vulnerability that’s at the center of my Black Hat
thriller series featuring Tina Adler, a 40-ish computer hacker on the run.
Tina
is the Jack Reacher of the Information Age: she’s not physically fighting
crime, but she’s using her keyboard to do it. To catch people like her who
prowl around in the back alleys of cyberspace.
I
don’t pretend to be computer literate like Tina. I have to do a lot of research
for the series, and I can’t get into anything too technical because if I don’t
understand something, my readers won’t, either. I’ve watched documentaries
about Anonymous and bitcoin. There are actually how-to-hack tutorials online.
I’ve never downloaded the Tor software, which would allow me into the Dark Net,
but I’ve been tempted, even though I’m probably already on a government list
somewhere because of my Google searches.
A
video online by a guy who pulled a skimmer off an ATM, showing how hackers can
get all our debit card information, triggered the plot of VANISHED, the fourth
book in my series.
After
seeing that video, I delved further into how debit card information is actually
stolen and uploaded into carding forums, where you can buy what’s called a
“dump”: all of the information stored on the magnetic strip on a debit or
credit card, including names, addresses, account numbers, and more. And you can
get that information on hundreds of cards. All for maybe $50. Sometimes—most
times—less.
That’s
what our information is worth.
I
no longer use an ATM machine that isn’t in the vestibule of a bank. I pay for
my gas inside the station rather than use the one on the pump. It’s a little
more inconvenient, but that’s what the hackers are counting on. I try not to
let my knowledge make me paranoid, but it’s not easy. Don’t click on that link, don’t visit that website, safeguard my
passwords.
My
daughter, who is in college, has grown up in this new technology age. She has
absolutely no expectation of privacy and being hacked is just the new normal.
My husband, however, wants to trade in his smart phone for an old-fashioned
flip phone.
HANK: What
about you, Reds and readers? Do you embrace technology and its inevitable pitfalls, or would you
rather go back to a typewriter and White-out?
VANISHED
With a price on her head, computer hacker Tina Adler is determined to stay offline. Only one person knows how to reach her — and he’s in as much danger as she is. A chance discovery leads Tina to abandon her South Carolina hideaway in search of her old flame, undercover FBI agent Zeke Chapman. What is Zeke doing in Paris? And what is his connection to the disappearance of American college student Ryan Whittier. En route to Paris in search of answers, Tina realizes that someone is on her trail: someone who’s getting dangerously close. Has she been set up?
With a price on her head, computer hacker Tina Adler is determined to stay offline. Only one person knows how to reach her — and he’s in as much danger as she is. A chance discovery leads Tina to abandon her South Carolina hideaway in search of her old flame, undercover FBI agent Zeke Chapman. What is Zeke doing in Paris? And what is his connection to the disappearance of American college student Ryan Whittier. En route to Paris in search of answers, Tina realizes that someone is on her trail: someone who’s getting dangerously close. Has she been set up?
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