For fans of true crime, thrillers or cinematic page-turners, this author event will share the details behind this real-life band of eccentric misfits taking on the biggest cybersecurity threats of our time.

The Ransomware Hunting Team by Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden traces the adventures of these unassuming heroes and how they have used their skills to save millions of ransomware victims from paying billions of dollars to criminals. Again and again, this elite team of code crackers who are mostly self-taught and often struggling to make ends meet, have outwitted the underworld of hackers who lock computer networks and demand huge payments in return for the keys. Book sale and signing to follow.

Registration is not required. The program is generously funded by the Friends of the Reading Public Library.

About the Authors:

Renee Dudley is a technology reporter at ProPublica. Previously, as an investigative reporter at Reuters, she was named a 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist for her work uncovering systematic cheating on college admissions tests. She started her career at daily newspapers in South Carolina and New England, and has won numerous journalism honors, including the Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award.

Daniel Golden is a senior editor and reporter at ProPublica, has won a Pulitzer Prize and three George Polk Awards. He is the bestselling author of The Price of Admission: How America’s Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges—and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates and Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America’s Universities.