Hacks, Leaks, and Revelations

In the current age of hacking and whistleblowing, the internet contains massive troves of leaked information—goldmines of newsworthy revelations in the public interest, if you know how to unravel them. For investigative journalists and amateur researchers alike, with or without prior programming knowledge, this book gives you the technical expertise to find and analyze complex datasets, and transform unintelligible files into groundbreaking reports.

Through hands-on assignments and examples that highlight real-world cases, infosec expert and renowned investigative journalist Micah Lee guides you through the process of analyzing leaked datasets from governments, companies, and political groups. You’ll dig into hacked files from the BlueLeaks law enforcement records, analyze social-media traffic from the insurrectionists behind the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, hear the exclusive story of privately leaked data from the anti-vaccine group America’s Frontline Doctors, and much more. You'll also learn the technical skills and Python programming basics needed for effective data-science investigations, as well as security concepts like disk encryption, working with data in JSON, CSV, or SQL formats, and tricks for using the command-line interface to explore hidden datasets packed with secrets just waiting to be discovered.

You'll learn:

• Technical skills and Python programming basics needed for data science investigations
• Security concepts, like disk encryption
• How to work with data in JSON, CSV, and SQL formats
• Tricks for using the command-line interface to explore datasets packed with secrets