Future Crimes — Start Here
Goodman, a security consultant with a law-enforcement background, argues that as more of everyday life moves online, criminals gain new ways to exploit ordinary people at a scale never possible before, and that understanding how these exploits actually work in general terms, rather than remaining unaware, is what allows people to adopt simple, effective defensive habits.
The whole book, in one line
Goodman, a security consultant with a law-enforcement background, argues that as more of everyday life moves online, criminals gain new ways to exploit ordinary people at a scale never possible before, and that understanding how these exploits actually work in general terms, rather than remaining unaware, is what allows people to adopt simple, effective defensive habits.
How the mechanism works
- How everyday exploitation actually happens: most real harm to ordinary people comes from familiar patterns like phishing and social engineering, not exotic technical attacks, described conceptually rather than operationally.
- The scale problem: a single vulnerability or scam, once it works, can be used against enormous numbers of people at once, which is what makes ordinary caution matter so much.
- Everyday defensive habits: skepticism of unexpected requests, verifying before acting, and limiting how much personal information is available to be exploited in the first place.
- Staying informed as an ongoing practice: threats and tactics keep evolving, so defensive awareness is a habit to maintain, not a one-time lesson (single framing paragraph, no break/practice line).
Who this was written for
A general adult reader who wants a clearer, non-technical understanding of how everyday online scams and exploitation actually work, in order to protect themselves and their family, rather than a security professional.
ACT tier. No operational instruction for accessing illegal markets, committing fraud, or executing any exploit; every discussion of criminal method stays at the conceptual level (a phishing email tries to create urgency, a scam relies on impersonating someone trusted) with zero actionable detail. No glorification of criminal actors or organizations, and no framing that makes criminal ingenuity sound admirable. No real named victim of a specific crime described in identifying detail. A pointer to reporting an actual suspected scam or crime to the appropriate authority (a bank's fraud line, local law enforcement, or a relevant reporting agency) rather than DIY resolution. Framework fidelity expected around 7.
Cross-book note
The most threat-landscape-focused title in the category; keep its four clusters describing patterns of exploitation and defensive awareness in general terms, distinct from the two Schneier titles' more systemic/device-and-policy framing and The Art of Invisibility's personal-habit framing.