Description:
*A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB MUST-READ SELECTION!*
*A CrimeReads Best True Crime Book of 2026!*
An immersive, pulse-pounding exposé on the global rise of teenage hackers, offering an insider's portrait of the dark net and the key players who are disrupting corporations, government institutions and our everyday lives
Julius Kivimaki, aka Zeekill, is arguably the most hated hacker in history. In one of the world's cruelest cyberattacks, he blackmailed 30,000 psychotherapy patients with their stolen notes. Yet while the breach was singularly inhumane, Kivimaki's rise--from twelve-year-old hacking nuisance to Most Wanted criminal--is symptomatic of a larger trend. His story gives us vital insights into how hackers, many of whom are teenagers, find their feet and become dangerous criminals.
In this gripping true crime narrative, cybersecurity correspondent Joe Tidy reveals that there is one area of the criminal underworld that is being underestimated at our peril--the dark digital underbelly where teenage boys are reshaping cybersecurity, cryptocurrency and organized crime under the noses of their parents.
Propulsive, urgent and scrupulously reported, Ctrl + Alt + Chaos tracks the rise and fall of global hacking groups to ask the question: How can we stop the cycle of teenage boys hijacking life online?
Brief description:
Joe Tidy is the BBC's first ever Cyber Correspondent and the foremost voice in the corporation on cybercrime and hacking. Over the past six years he has covered all major cyber-attacks for BBC TV, Radio, social media and website. He has made documentaries about cyber security travelling to the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Germany and Ukraine to track down stories and characters. Joe's most high-profile news feature and documentary saw him travel to Russia in November 2021 in search of the world's most wanted cyber-criminal. This hunt was read by 1m people, viewed across social media more than 2.4m times and translated into 30 different languages across the BBC network. His top six BBC News documentaries have garnered more than 7 million views including 2.2m for The Teenage Millionaire Hacker and 1.4m for The Russian Hackers. Before joining the BBC, he was a correspondent at Sky News where he regularly reported on technology and began his decade-long obsession with cybercrime after reporting on the infamous 2014 Christmas day Lizard Squad attack.
Review Quotes: "With a mix of interviews and research, Tidy gives us valuable insights into the mindsets behind and causes of this hacking activity - how teens get into it, how some manage to turn their lives around (often going into cybersecurity), while others become career criminals."--Popular Science
"A disturbing study investigates, and interviews, the depraved young hackers wreaking havoc online ... An illuminating and often scary book."--The Daily Telegraph
"Joe Tidy has a gift for uncovering stories others can't and turning them into something unforgettable. This book doesn't just tell a story. It grabs you, pulls you in, and doesn't let go."--Jack Rhysider, Darknet Diaries podcast
"A wake-up call to governments, law enforcement, educators and parents about how teenage boys are being radicalised online to engage in cybercrime."--Jamie MacColl, RUSI
"Harassment, theft, death... Ctrl + Alt + Chaos captures the rise of nihilism and the devastating effects of a generation of young men and boys socially adrift. It's a testament to what happens when a significant subset of the population lacks purpose and community. These 'invisible' criminals believe in nothing and embrace chaos as sport. This book is a wake-up call to an ill-equipped justice system and a general population all too dismissive of predators they cannot see. We should consider ourselves warned."--Anna Akbari, author of There Is No Ethan: How Three Women Caught America's Biggest Catfish
"In Ctrl + Alt + Chaos, Joe Tidy exposes dark Web hideaways where callous teens wreak havoc for profit--and sport. It's a wake-up call by one of journalism's top cybercrime sleuths."--Jim Popkin, author of Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America's Most Dangerous Female Spy--and the Sister She Betrayed
"Joe Tidy has a gift for uncovering stories others can't and turning them into something unforgettable. This book doesn't just tell a story. It grabs you, pulls you in, and doesn't let go."--Jack Rhysider, host of the Darknet Diaries podcast
"It is a dark story and an illustrative one. Tidy reveals, through blessedly uncomplicated prose, how hacking developed from being a relatively noble pursuit in the 1980s into something conducted by 21st-century sociopaths who want to 'inflict hurt and harm for their amusement, pleasure and power.' Read it--and update your computer's security settings."--Prospect
"Informative and terrifying."--Booklist
"[A] game of cat-and-mouse that Tidy fluently recounts."--Kirkus
"Highly recommended for all public library collections."--Library Journal
"Ctrl + Alt + Chaos will shock you, scare you and make you ask the big questions about how to stop teenage boys hijacking the internet."--Society for Computers & Law "Tidy has a reporter's eye and a novelist's sense of rhythm. Sharp, vivid, and often unnerving."--World Magazine