The following 25 questions were asked of Max Nomad to pick his brains about life as a writer and his latest book, Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse: Safer Computing Tips For Small Business Managers and Everyday People (StZA).
1. Describe your book in 50 words or less.
This cyber survival guide uses the Zombie Apocalypse to teach novices the basics of computer security, online safety and privacy. If you need to protect your information and you’re a fan of dystopian fiction and true cybercrime this reference is for you. For PC or Mac.
2. How did your book come about?
Sometime in 2007 I had a business website that got hacked and trashed by a zombie botnet. The incident made me angry enough to begin studying how this happened and ways to prevent it. That’s when I first learned there was a profit motive behind many of these new viral cyberattacks. I also saw that the public still thought these were just malicious pranks. One evening while watching DAWN OF THE DEAD I got inspired to explore ways to use the Zombie Apocalypse to convey the growing cyber threat. The final result is a 400-page paperback and eBook.
3. Can you tell us about the story and a bit about the main characters?
The book is a pastiche of Information Security tips and advice mixed with cautionary tales and zombie cinema metaphors to drive the lessons home. The main characters in the stories are based on real people, mostly cybercriminals and other bad actors. My involvement is the only common thread between most of the anecdotes. In each story, the central antagonist is the dark side of human nature.
4. What has been your experience with cybercrime?
Over the years I’ve been on all sides of the Information Security continuum: that kid hacker snooping around inside a corporate system, the rogue scamming information from companies, the small business owner that lost money due to hackers, and the IT consultant whose mission is to manage my client networks and defend against all unknown adversaries.
5. How does it relate to what happens in the book?
Since I was the perpetrator, the investigator, the observer, the sucker, or the avenger in most of the anecdotes in the book I was able to share advice from different perspectives. It was a great way to help people understand the finer points to the kinds of lessons that normally come with suffering the consequences.
6. What are some of the attitudes you’d like to see changed about Information Security?
In many business environments, management shows a great respect for Information Security but falls incredibly short in practice. In many cases, if implementing stronger forms of security is inconvenient (e.g. – enforcing long random passwords) or cost-prohibitive they would rather take their chances with the weaker options. Until that attitude changes we’ll continue to see major data breaches like the ones we’ve been seeing in the news.
7. How did you do your background research?
Even though I went legit back in the early 90s, I never completely disconnected from the computer underground. The wanderlust never really went away. I created alternate identities for my aliases and used anonymizers like Tor to go spelunking into those scenes. Since underground etiquette and protocols haven’t changed all that much it was easy to become the perfect tourist. Sometimes all I had to do was lurk in order to learn. Other times I had to actively connect with people. Exploring it all with sincere curiosity and humility was the key to working my way in.
8. Where do you research information for your books?
The research comes from a combination of first-hand experience, reading white papers from other security firms, and occasionally participating in message forums and chat networks where hackers and other cybercriminals swap information. Most of the books I’ve read on cybercrime and Information Security were only good from a historical perspective. With the places I frequent in the dark nets, PGP public keys and GnuPG become your best friend and ally.
So far, the readers that have reached out to me have raved about how much they’ve learned. From their feedback it seems that they have a healthier (and safer) level of awareness with their online activities. Although some critics have pointed out that the book could use some more copyediting, most reviews have been favorable.
10. Do you have any strange writing habits?
All of my writing habits are strange. More than half my writing happens away from home. Typically I’m sitting at a bar in a restaurant doing my writing on a mobile device. Starting in the late 80s I was using an early laptop, by the mid-90s it was an Apple Newton, a series of PDAs into the 00s, and finally tablet. There’s something about being away from the comforts of home that makes it easier to focus on brainstorming and the writing process. Once I get home everything gets uploaded to a computer then shaped up, fleshed out or even deleted if necessary.
11. What importance do character names play in your work?
Since most of the anecdotes in StZA required confidentiality, most of the characters remained anonymous. A few characters get pseudonyms to make it easier to follow the action in the story. Once in a while I choose names with a deeper subtext in mind. For example, in “Stealing from the Matrix” chapter, I used the name Benny for the Identity Thief because it is short for Benjamin, which is also a Hip-Hop slang reference for “money” (Benjamins refers to Benjamin Franklin on the US $100 dollar bill). In older drug culture slang, a Bennie was also a reference to Benzedrine, a type of amphetamine. I used both to speak to the core of his character.
12. What do you find to be most exciting about Information Security and cybercrime?
Information Security is the first major digital arms race of the 21st century. It’s a complex mesh of challenges that never stops changing. I love to learn and solve problems; this is a set of disciplines that requires a passion for both in order to be good at it.
13. How did you get your start in writing? What, if anything, lit the “spark” to get you started and keep you motivated?
I gained a real love for writing when I was about 19. Although writing has been one of my three creative passions (Art, Computers and Writing), I’ve never considered myself a writer. Matter of fact, I began writing because I ran with a bunch of nerds and geeks and there was always some kind of mischief or computer hacking hijinks going on at the time. About that time I’d read Hunter S. Thompson’s FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS and THE GREAT SHARK HUNT along with Jack Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD. They made me realize that our misadventures were too epic to go untold. Most of my publishing credits were literary journals and underground electronic magazines. Even though I never earned enough to consider writing as a profession, I never gave up on it either.
14. What are you currently working on?
Book-wise I’m working on a follow-up to StZA.
15. What are your favorite and least favorite things about writing this book?
I loved every bit of the writing process with this book, even the parts I despised. The research and fact checking was the toughest part of the book – hands down. Information security and online safety covers so many different disciplines, each worthy of their own books. Along with that, cyberspace is constantly evolving. What was considered safe for years could easily be rendered invalid or unsafe next month. Information decay was a constant concern for me, like trying to build a 10-foot tall sand castle at high tide. I didn’t want to produce a book that was dead on arrival.
16. What do you do in your spare time, when you aren’t writing?
Aside from being a Zombie-killing superhero by night, my day job is still being a mild-mannered IT consultant for a circle of small business clients. I still take on Graphic Design projects, particularly helping non-profits and startups develop their branding identity. When I have spare time I might play online Poker, go people watching at my favorite watering hole, check out live music, or geek out on some new unexpected adventure. I also love doing photo safari vacations down in the Caribbean.
17. What was the last book you read and would you recommend it?
As an IT consultant, I reach for computer reference books like a chef will reach for cutlery. Aside from my tech and design reference books, the last book I read was CLITOLOGY by Jordan LaRousse and Samantha Sade. I came across a copy in an archive somewhere in the darknets. I’d recommend it for anyone who believes you can never learn enough about a good thing.
18. How have the books you’ve read influenced the books you write?
The works of Hunter S. Thompson, Studs Terkel, and Alex Haley had a profound effect on what I write. They showed me that creative nonfiction was the natural progression of journalism in a media-saturated world. For better or worse, it’s allowed writers to venture into literary experiments that are taboo in traditional journalism. I love to educate and entertain at the same time.
19. What do you do when you’re having writer’s block to “shake” it off?
Although I know writer’s block is real, I think what many of today’s writers call “writer’s block” is largely the product of laziness, fear of failure or too many home entertainment distractions. I’ve gone long periods without writing but I’ve never experienced long-term writer’s block. Because of my background in Graphic Design and IT, I always have creative outlets. While writing StZA if I wasn’t motivated to write I’d shift gears into the research, book cover design, or whatever. Making progress kept me from feeling guilty about not writing. In each case the lethargy would pass and I’d resume writing.
20. Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? What is it?
Generally I won’t write about a subject unless I’m passionate enough to learn about it.
21. Have you ever had to overcome real tragedy or hardship in your life?
With every hardship I’ve had to overcome I’ve always been blessed enough to somehow have the best of it. There was a stretch in my thirties where I had technically lost almost everything: broken off engagement, ownership in a successful company, savings, stock portfolio, career mobility, fair-weather friends, etc. And as fortune would have it, some of the investment decisions I’d made during prosperous times were there to save me from being homeless. As long as the people we love are alive we’re all doomed to tragedy and hardships. Everything must go.
22. If any stories from your book were made into Hollywood movies, who would play your characters?
Since my anecdotes were influenced by Gonzo-style journalism, most of my characters would be played by unknowns. With “Stealing from The Matrix” I would cast Paul Giamatti as Benny. With “The Architects of Spam”, for Angela it’s a tie between Helena Bonham Carter and Polly Walker. Ask me that question again once I crank out an epic novel or two.
23. What makes a good type of book (e.g., thriller?)
Regardless of the genre, a good book steals time from us and in exchange for granting us a little more vision than we had before.
24. What do you enjoy more, writing or discovering other people’s work?
Although I enjoy writing a little more than discovering people’s works, while working on any given chapter of this book I spent most of that time alternating between writing and digging into other people’s research and statistics. And because many of the cybercrime stats tend to be rough estimates, half the time you have to check them against other sources of research data.
25. If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
I’d have to say “nothing” and “almost all of it”. One problem with writing is that the more you write, the more developed your writer’s voice becomes. Your style tightens up. Everything you wrote during the early phases of writing a book starts to look like crap. Revisions becomes like an obsessive-compulsive disorder. If you don’t learn to let go of the process you’ll never get the book out.
Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse:
Safer Computing Tips for Small Businesses and Everyday People
Max Nomad
List $29.95 (Trade paperback), Kindle, Nook and other eBook versions $4.99
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Bohemian Griot Publishing LLC
ISBN-10: 0971544298 ISBN-13: 978-0971544291
For more information visit www.zombiefreecomputers.com
Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse: Safer Computing Tips For Small Business Managers And Everyday People is a cyber survival guide for anyone whose business and personal life is connected to the Internet. This friendly, novice-oriented reference uses the frightening -- and often campy -- Zombie Apocalypse as an allegory for the dangers of cyberspace. Written for PC and Mac users, this cleverly written book is an armchair safari into the world of cybercrime. It teaches people how they can protect themselves with cautionary tales and insider explanations that take the mystery out of how these things work. It covers: how computer viruses and malware are part of a multi-billion dollar industry, how stolen credit cards pop up thousands of miles away without leaving their wallets, and how easily our computers can be used to commit crimes without our knowledge. It takes the mystery out of the dark and shadowy world of computer security and provides individuals and small business owners with real-world strategies for preventing data theft and other digital disasters.
About the Author
Max Nomad is an IT Consultant, Graphic Designer, creative entrepreneur and computer security researcher with over 20 years of experience using Internet technology to assist (and protect) small businesses. Having worked with everything from stock brokerage firms to car dealership chains to ostrich farmers, his diverse client history has given him experience with a variety of large and small business needs. He also writes candid and informative essays focusing on publishing, graphic design and the underground side of cybercrime. He lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia and can be reached at nomad@beach-geek.com.
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