Dedications

Dear Alessandro Papini, I am writing this message to express my gratitude for having written your book!

The beauty of your arguments lies in having brought the world of cybercrime closer to "non-technical" readers, driven by the desire to learn and reflect on the dark side of the networked world.

The content is anything but bland: it is deeply moving, because it offers a picture of what can happen to people who are more or less honest, and also to expert technicians.

Let me introduce myself: I am Luana Fantozzi, I teach Systems and Networks in the final three years of a technical institute specialising in IT and telecommunications, and I am an electronic engineer.

With all the humility that characterises me before someone of your stature, I allow myself to tell you that I liked your book immensely: it touches on one of the most fascinating themes of the networks. I always tell my students that the hacker is one of the most controversial figures on the Internet, an excellent computer specialist, highly skilled at their work, ethically sound when helping to fix system vulnerabilities, but also, unfortunately, malicious in the attacks they launch against their targets. I already knew that all of us are potential victims of cyberattacks, but you confirmed it to me in a clear and sharp way.

From the very first pages I felt guided through the reading towards an aspect that most people do not see: the coherence and intellectual honesty of the hacker in their questionable, illegal "work", carried out by human beings, by people, with all the human limits that exist. I enjoyed your interviews, which open a window onto the dark side of the network.

You emphasised the scale of the consequences for those who suffer an attack, how much dismay and fear one feels when one is their victim, and how much money and resources must be deployed to get back on one's feet after the disasters they create.

Reading this, you may find my words obvious and uninteresting, but I wanted you to know that your arguments were so "pleasantly" sharp that the reader is drawn to read them eagerly and effortlessly, perhaps — from my point of view — because I am not a novice on the subjects you address.

In professional life one never stops studying and deepening one's knowledge, especially in the IT field, and one must not forget that "they" are always a step ahead of us: when we move forward, fortunately for us, they have already overtaken us and perhaps even "seeded" the ground ahead.

I hope I have not bored you with all this talk, but I wanted to thank you for your work, which opens many people's eyes.

I send you my regards and wish you a good day!