We Know You Can Pay a Million

Inside the Dark Economy of Hacking and Ransomware

You know it's coming: a frozen computer, an office filled with blank screens, a printed message. The clock is ticking. Your colleagues have hours to strike a deal.

Cybercrime is everywhere. From governments to airlines, hospitals to banks, institutions of every kind have paid out millions to hackers. Now a multibillion-dollar industry, ransomware is recognised as a serious threat to global security, yet 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 histories of the superhackers whose activities have potentially catastrophic implications for us all.©2026 Anja Shortland (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers