Press Kit
A cybersecurity veteran reveals how AI has transformed digital fraud into the fastest growing crime in the country and what we can do to fight back.
“Cyber crime pays and powered by AI, it can make a victim of any of us. Coughlin’s timely guide to the dark side can teach you how to stay safe.”
About the Book
Title:
Dark Side of the Boom: How Scammers Hijacked the AI Revolution
Description:
No technology wave in history has moved as quickly or proposes to reshape our lives as profoundly as the recent advances in artificial intelligence. While there is no shortage of prophesizing about the future implications of AI, the side effects of the AI-revolution’s early innings are threatening the digital daily lives of everyday people and families. Scammers and cybercriminals are already leveraging AI advances to turbocharge their deceit, catapulting digital fraud to the fastest growing crime in countries worldwide. Through deepfake voices and images, customer support cons, and socially engineered exploitation, AI is driving the equivalent of an industrial revolution for digital fraud.
Dark Side of the Boom is a wakeup call to this immediate and sinister side of the AI revolution that is lost amidst the headline-grabbing futurist debates about whether AI will save us or destroy us. Author Patrick Coughlin draws on decades of experience in cybersecurity alongside real-world examples to shed a new light on today’s AI-powered imposter scammers, who they target, and why they succeed. The result is an engaging and compelling guide to deception in the AI era and how we protect and secure what matters most to us all.
Price: $19.95
ISBN: 978-1-63908-198-1
Pages: 240
Price: $19.95
Distributor: Fast Company Press
(available through Ingram)
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Paperback · $19.95
Ebook
"Couldn't put it down. Finally, a book that breaks down what's actually happening with AI right now. I'm no AI expert and for me the book read like a novel at times as you witness scams unfolding from the victim perspective and get to go behind enemy lines to see how these scammer groups operate."
"There are only two kinds of people in the world today: those who have been scammed and those who will soon be scammed. Read him for a compelling history of how we got to this terrifying place, and to defend yourself properly for the inevitability."
"I have been inside the scam compounds in Cambodia where this misery gets manufactured. Patrick Coughlin gets it right. Dark Side of the Boom is a thriller, an investigation, and a survival guide rolled into one. Read it. Then hand it to everyone you love."
"Cyber crime pays and powered by AI, it can make a victim of any of us. Coughlin's timely guide to the dark side can teach you how to stay safe."
"Financial caregiving is a growing part of the Care Economy and a role that many of the 63 million unpaid family caregivers serve. Dark Side of the Boom provides an essential guide on how to recognize the different types of scams, and important ways to prevent them from harming those you care about."
About the Author
Patrick Coughlin Bio:
Patrick Coughlin (COG-lin) is a cybersecurity expert with over two decades of experience at the intersection of technology, intelligence, and security. He has lived in Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi, Washington DC and Silicon Valley where he has worked on classified projects to advance national security and commercial products to protect Fortune 500 companies from sophisticated cyber threats. When his mother was targeted with a brutal fake kidnapping scam, the threat became personal.
His debut book, Dark Side of the Boom, reveals the human cost of the growing AI-powered scam economy, explores the organized criminal networks and black-market engines that power it, and offers clear-eyed strategies for how to better prepare and protect ourselves and our communities.
Patrick is currently the cofounder and CEO of Savi Security, a consumer product company he started with his brother to protect families against scams and fraud in the AI era. He holds degrees from Georgetown, St. Andrews and Stanford University. While proudly born and raised in Kansas City, Patrick now lives with his family in Los Angeles.