A cool-something coming up on BBC World News in early November ...
Press Release
Cybercrimes - Episode 1: Darknets
November 1 17.30
November 2 11.30, 23.30
BBC World News has commissioned a major new six-part series, presented by technologist Ben Hammersley, exploring a global threat that could impact us all.
Cybercrimes with Ben Hammersley, produced in partnership with The Open University by Tern TV, delves into the dark world of hacking, now home to a new generation of highly organised cybercriminals running complex commercial enterprises, involving leaders, planners, engineers, infantry and hired money mules.
Journeying into a murky online world, Ben investigates the scam emails that fill up your inbox, why our credit card details are under threat, how drugs and guns can be bought anonymously on the darknet and discovers that governments have the ability to spy on their citizens or launch cyber warfare at the push of a button.
Ben Hammersley said: "Cybercrime affects each and every one of us. Every aspect of our lives is vulnerable to the criminal abuse of our networked world - not just by hackers and criminals, but by governments and foreign enemies. In this series, we tell the jaw-dropping stories of some of the biggest cybercrimes of our time and what’s being done to try and thwart the criminals.”
No longer is hacking the preserve of teenage troublemakers - cybercrime has evolved into a highly organised and complex commercial enterprise involving leaders, planners, engineers, infantry and hired money mules. This is THE major threat to our digital age.
In episode one, Darknets, Ben examines The Silk Road, a billion dollar drugs marketplace on the darknet, run by a mastermind called Dread Pirate Roberts.
In October 2013 the site was closed down by the FBI and its alleged founder arrested in San Francisco. Ben explores whether the young man who now awaits trial - Ross Ulbricht - really is Dread Pirate Roberts, and finds out what impact alter egos, darknets and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have on the modern world.