We Know You Can Pay a Million by Anja Shortland

Cybercrime is everywhere. A multibillion-pound industry run by wily hackers and fraudsters. Bankrupting business, stalling governments, stealing sensitive data. Your turn could come any day now. Are you ready?’Brilliant, original and authoritative. An extraordinary book that will change the way you think about ransomware and the digital ecosystems that surround us’ PETER FRANKOPAN, bestselling author of THE SILK ROADS ‘A fascinating book about one of the great scourges of the modern world’ OLIVER BULLOUGH, bestselling author of MONEYLANDYou’ve heard the stories. Frozen IT systems, error codes everywhere, a pulsating pop-up threat: pay up, or lose everything. With new attacks hitting the headlines every day, ransomware is recognised as a serious threat to global security and the economy, yet it remains a slippery and little understood phenomenon. From a leading expert in illicit trading, We Know You Can Pay a Million spotlights the criminal underworld where organised groups trade stolen information and cryptocurrencies, and reveals the fascinating hidden histories of the superhackers whose activities have potentially catastrophic consequences for us all.

A deeply informed, nail-biting expose of the multibillion-dollar hacking and ransomware industry

About the Author: Anja Shortland is Professor of Political Economy at King’s College London, and an expert in the economics of crime, particularly art theft, hostage and ransom negotiations. We Know You Can Pay a Million is her first trade book. Her books for an academic readership include Kidnap. She lives in Wiltshire.

02 Apr 2026
 

We Know You Can Pay a Million: Inside the Dark Economy of Hacking and Ransomware by Anja Shortland ISBN 9781805224556