Wally takes an exception to the rule here and offers an insider's survey of what these geeks do at night. He reveals enough material to get someone in trouble and offers a few opinions that are misinformed (e.g., Eastern block programmers wrote viruses as an outlet for being underpaid.)

All in all, I was very excited when I read about this book and who had written it, having read many of Wally's articles in BoardWatch magazine.

A lot of the stuff is old hat to geeks that have been lurking the underground themselves, but most people would have to search out this dark side for years to gain this kind of sweeping information of what goes on. Specific programs and sites are listed again and again that point to anything on the dark side that you care to find.

I commend Mr. Wallace for being gutsy enough and kind enough to the general public to publish a book such as this while withholding just (barely) enough information to keep malicious newbies slightly at bay (e.g. most newbies aren't going to be writing their own encrytion algorythms in spite of Wally's "It's easy" approach.)

I say, if this topic interests you or if you want a solid introduction into "How to be a Bad guy on the Web", then buy the book!