This offbeat, non-technical book examines what hackers do, how they do it, and how readers can protect themselves. Informative, irreverent, and entertaining, the completely revised fourth edition of Steal This Computer Book contains new chapters discussing the hacker mentality, lock picking, exploiting P2P file sharing networks, and how people manipulate search engines and pop-up ads. Includes a CD with hundreds of megabytes of hacking and security-related programs that tie-in to each chapter in the book.

National bestseller with over 175,000 copies sold!

If you thought hacking was just about mischief-makers hunched over computers in the basement, think again. As seasoned author Wallace Wang explains, hacking can also mean questioning the status quo, looking for your own truths, and never accepting at face value anything authorities say or do.

The completely revised fourth edition of this offbeat, non-technical book examines what hackers do, how they do it, and how you can protect yourself. Written in the same informative, irreverent, and entertaining style that made the first three editions hugely successful, Steal This Computer Book 4.0 will expand your mind and raise your eyebrows. New chapters discuss the hacker mentality, social engineering and lock picking, exploiting P2P file-sharing networks, and how people manipulate search engines and pop-up ads to obtain and use personal information. Wang also takes issue with the media for "hacking" the news and presenting the public with self-serving stories of questionable accuracy. Inside, you'll discover:

How to manage and fight spam and spyware

How Trojan horse programs and rootkits work, and how to defend against them

How hackers steal software and defeat copy-protection mechanisms

How to tell if your machine is being attacked and what you can do to protect it

Where the hackers are, how they probe a target and sneak into a computer, and what they do once they get inside

How corporations use hacker techniques to infect your computer and invade your privacy

How you can lock down your computer to protect your data and your personal information using free programs included on the book's CD If you ve ever logged onto a website, conducted an online transaction, sent or received email, used a networked computer, or even watched the evening news, you may have already been tricked, tracked, hacked, and manipulated. As the saying goes, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you. And, as Wallace Wang reveals, they probably are. The companion CD contains hundreds of megabytes of 100% FREE hacking and security-related programs, like keyloggers, spyware stoppers, port blockers, IP scanners, Trojan horse detectors, and much, much more. CD compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux.