11 - Who's a very naughty boy?
Washington DC – 11 am Monday
Welcome to my online cyber thriller, The Phisherman. To learn more about the story and meet the three main characters, click HERE. If you'd prefer to start at Chapter 1, click HERE. To select another chapter, click HERE.
Following Dave to his office, Nick’s mind swirled with ideas about how to respond if his hacker had discovered 831. After enduring the IT guy for the last half an hour, the thought of bashing a geek filled Nick with a sense of righteous joy.
He was not surprised walking inside Dave’s office. The sole light source was a low-wattage desk lamp with an ugly metallic shade that a 1970s SciFi movie must have inspired. Computer bits were everywhere, with no apparent rhyme or reason. A faded analog clock ticked noisily on the wall opposite Dave’s seat. And the stale atmosphere made Nick want to run riot with a leaf blower.
The only thing indicating Dave has a life outside of work is a 6x4 photo on the cluttered desk showing the geek holding a damn cat. Why am I not surprised?
After sitting in Dave’s well-worn yet uncomfortable office chair, Nick logged into his laptop as Dave watched from the side.
He waited as the operating system loaded his account, then logged into the gambling VM. Nick’s customized web browser automatically launched as soon as the VM opened. Before Nick could prevent it, his favorite gambling site loaded via an encrypted proxy service that concealed his betting activities from anyone monitoring the network.
Dave gasped when he saw Nick’s purpose for the personal VM.
‘Oh, Nick, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize,’ Dave whispered.
Then, with a nervous tremor, Dave continued. ‘You know I’ll have to report this, hey?’
‘Yes, Dave, I know that. Do you think I’m stupid?’ Nick snarled as he turned the computer to face the geek. ‘However, there’s much more at stake here than my reputation. I don’t know if you’re aware of the cyber project I’m working on, but I need you to find out if whoever got into my personal VM has accessed the other one.’
Dave’s bodily response betrayed that he’d heard some of the rumors flying around the Agency about Project 831. And his facial expression implied that he considered Nick’s words to be the understatement of the century.
‘I don’t know much about your project, Nick,’ Dave spoke almost too calmly, ‘other than it’s classified top secret. And as I work in tech support, there’s no way I’d be deemed someone who needs to know. However, I will need you to log into the other VM at some stage, the one I assume has the project’s materials, to find out if your mysterious cyber-visitor has seen it.’
Nick impatiently nodded his understanding as Dave continued.
‘I only need to examine the system logs, so don’t worry about me reading any top-secret materials. But let me look around this VM first and see what I can find.’
They switched positions so Dave could work on Nick’s laptop.
Nick hovered in the background, watching Dave check the VM’s system and security logs. Most of it made little sense to Nick. However, he could tell from Dave’s reaction that something disturbed him.
After inserting a thumb drive and copying a file onto it, Dave turned to Nick and showed him an unhappy face.
‘What does that mean, Dave? What have you found?’
‘Well, Nick, unfortunately, your hacker is highly skilled at covering their tracks. Only a couple of log entries couldn’t be removed as they were written when the hacker closed the remote connection. If I can find the same things in the host and the other VM, we’ll have a basic idea of where and how long your hacker was on your system.’
‘How long will that take you?’ Nick demanded when Dave swiveled back to work on the laptop.
Dave turned in his chair to face Nick. He stared for a few seconds before responding with an unmistakable tone of subdued exasperation.
‘Nick, if you let me get on with it, we’ll both know soon enough.’
Nick was about to bite Dave’s head off, then realized that he needed to back off and let Dave do his job.
After all, I suppose it is my fault. All I can hope is that the damage is minimal.
‘Well, do you want coffee or a snack from the machine?’ he asked, attempting to restore a level of camaraderie. ‘I’m getting something for myself.’
Dave looked up at him with a visible sense of relief.
‘Thanks, Nick. Black coffee with two sugars would be perfect.’
When Nick returned with two recycled cardboard cups of steaming muck, the IT guru was sitting back in his chair with both hands clasped behind his head, his face furrowed with concern.
Placing the supposed flat white on one of the rare spaces available on Dave’s busy desk, Nick looked expectantly at the man he hoped would save his bacon. However, the strained expression on Dave’s face implied things were not favorable.
‘Sorry, Nick. Your hacker went snooping in the host system, though the only cause for alarm is what could be gleaned from your emails. You should check them, just in case. Again, the logs were cleaned up, so I can’t tell you any more.’
That’s okay. I follow Agency procedures for inter-Agency comms, so my hacker won’t find anything there. However, it doesn’t answer the billion-dollar question.
‘What about the VM for the cyber project, Dave?’
Dave paused before almost whispering, ‘I’m going to need access to that VM to check, Nick. As I said before, I won’t open any documents. I’ll only examine the system logs.’
Instead of trading places, Nick spun the laptop to access the keyboard and loaded Project 831’s VM. After logging in with his project credentials, he turned the computer back to Dave.
Again, he waited as Dave did what techies do. Nick didn’t bother looking at the screen anymore; it wasn’t his thing. He would rather have someone he could punch or shoot.
If Dave can trace my hacker, I’ll ensure the SOB never tries anything like that again. By the time I’ve finished with him, he won’t be able to operate a computer other than by voice commands.
Nick didn’t know how long his mind dwelt on those satisfying thoughts before hearing Dave talk to him.
‘Can you repeat that, Dave? I was too busy thinking about what I’ll do when I catch the son of a bitch who hacked me,’ Nick said half-jokingly.
‘Ah, yes, well, we’ll get onto that shortly,’ Dave responded. ‘First, we must ascertain what damage has been inflicted and how we can minimize the fallout in the short term.’
‘A hundred percent, Dave. So, what did you find out?’
‘Well,’ Dave started uncertainly. ‘I have bad news, Nick.’
Nick’s stomach lurched and his heartbeat raced. He knew what was coming.
‘Unfortunately, your cyber sneak got into this VM as well. As I expected, the logs were scrubbed, so I don’t know what happened. However, I’m sure your hacker’s exploit provided access to everything. Sorry, Nick, but this person possibly grabbed those top-secret documents. And I know they’re stored in an encrypted format. However, there’s software that can break that. I’m sorry. There’s no way of knowing - there are no tracks to follow.’
Nick’s mind flew at a million miles an hour, figuring out what to do next.
And then it was apparent.
‘Okay, Dave, I guess the only way to find out what he got is to find him.’
And the more Nick thought about it, the more he relished the idea of tracking down his SOB hacker.
‘Or her,’ Dave said in the background.
‘What?’ Nick exclaimed.
‘The hacker could be a her, Nick,’ Dave replied. ‘That’s one thing about the cyber-world. You never know who is at the other end, only what they let you know. And this person is exceptional at hiding who they are.’
Nick hated the idea that his hacker could be a woman.
To be hacked by a woman would be wrong on every level.
‘Okay. What do we need to do, Dave?’ he queried aggressively. ‘You said we need to minimize the short-term impact.’
‘Well, Nick, unfortunately for you, I need to report this, especially given how the top-secret project you’re working on has been compromised.’
Nick leaned over Dave as he growled, ‘I know that, dumbass. That’s merely internal procedures you’ve got to follow. And they’re nothing compared to what my hacker has in his hands. So what do we do about the hacker, Dave? How do I find him?’
Dave gulped before gently responding, ‘Well, I suspect you’ll have to discuss your role with your immediate superior, Nick, though I’m sure you know the most likely scenario.’
Nick stood to his full height, preparing to blast the geek.
And then it hit him.
The Agency will probably stand me down while they investigate what happened and decide their best course of action.
Things weren’t looking good for Nick, especially with the hack occurring so soon after the Baghdadi incident.
Of course, he didn’t fear losing his job.
I’m too good at what I do.
However, he needed to start thinking about what he would do to catch his hacker, no matter what the Agency decided.
After all, it’s my reputation on the line here.
It didn’t take Nick long to figure out what to do.
‘Thanks for your help, Dave,’ he said as he brushed against the desk on his way out. ‘And sorry I got you caught up in this. You do what you’ve gotta do.’
Nick didn’t wait for Dave’s response as he headed for his office upstairs. He hoped he wouldn’t hear from anyone for at least a day.
That will give me sufficient time.
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