CRACK99: The Takedown of a $100 Million Chinese Software Pirate

Digital pirates, particularly in China, steal and resell hundreds of billions of dollars worth of intellectual property each year. CRACK99 is an edge-of-the-seat account of the United States Justice Department’s prosecution of the biggest cybercriminal operation to date. On a cheesy website called CRACK99, Xiang Li sold everything from satellite tracking and aviation simulation to communications systems design software for knock-down prices. When David Locke Hall and his team started buying CRACK99’s products, the hunt for this elusive pirate began. After earning Xiang’s trust, Hall’s team met Xiang on Saipan, where the sting was nearly foiled before Xiang was captured, flown to the US and prosecuted. An eye-opening look at the dark side of cybercrime and the chilling consequences for technology and national security, CRACK99 reads like a caper—only it’s true in every riveting detail.