by D S Kane
Spyware. A specific type of malware of malicious software designed to spy, monitor, and potentially steal data from the target.
State actor. State actors are hackers or groups of hackers who are backed by a government, which may be the United States, Russia, or China. These hackers are often the most formidable, since they have the virtually unlimited legal and financial resources of a nation-state to back them up. Think, for example, of the NSA. Sometimes, however, state actors can also be a group of hackers who receive tacit (or at least hidden from the public) support from their governments, such as the Syrian Electronic Army.
Tails. “Tails” stands for The Amnesic Incognito Live System. If you’re really, really serious about digital security, this is the operating system endorsed by Edward Snowden. Tails is an amnesic system, which means your computer remembers nothing; it’s like a fresh machine every time you boot up. The software is free and open source. While it’s well-regarded, security flaws have been found.
Threat model. Imagine a game of chess. It’s your turn and you’re thinking about all the possible moves your opponent could make, as many turns ahead as you can. Have you left your queen unprotected? Is your king being worked into a corner checkmate? That kind of thinking is what security researchers do when designing a threat model. It’s a catch-all term used to describe the capabilities of the enemy you want to guard against, and your own vulnerabilities. Are you an activist attempting to guard against a state-sponsored hacking team? Your threat model better be pretty robust. Just shoring up the network at your log cabin in the middle of nowhere? Maybe not as much cause to worry.
Token. A small physical device that allows its owner to log in or authenticate into a service. Tokens serve as an extra layer of security on top of a password, for example. The idea is that even if the password or key gets stolen, the hacker would need the actual physical token to abuse it.
Tor. “Tor” is short for The Onion Router. Originally developed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory, it’s now used by bad guys (hackers, pedophiles) and good guys (activists, journalists) to anonymize their activities online. The basic idea is that there is a network of computers around the world—some operated by universities, some by individuals, some by the government—that will route your traffic in byzantine ways in order to disguise your true location. The Tor network is this collection of volunteer-run computers. The Tor Project is the nonprofit that maintains the Tor software. The Tor browser is the free piece of software that lets you use Tor. Tor hidden services are websites that can be accessed only through Tor.
Verification (dump). The process by which reporters and security researchers go through hacked data and make sure it’s legitimate. This process is important to make sure the data is authentic, and the claims of anonymous hackers are true, and not just an attempt to get some notoriety or make some money scamming people on the Dark Web.
Virus. A computer virus is a type of malware that typically is embedded and hidden in a program or file. Unlike a worm (see below), it needs human action to spread (such as a human forwarding a virus-infected attachment, or downloading a malicious program.) Viruses can infect computers and steal data, delete data, encrypt it, or mess with it in just about any other way.
VPN. “VPN” stands for Virtual Private Network. VPNs use encryption to create a private and secure channel to connect to the internet when you’re on a network you don’t trust (say a Starbucks, or an Airbnb WiFi). Think of a VPN as a tunnel from you to your destination, dug under the regular internet. VPNs allow employees to connect to their employer’s network remotely, and also help regular people protect their connection. VPNs also allow users to bounce off servers in other parts of the world, allowing them to look like they’re connecting from there. This gives them the chance to circumvent censorship, such as China’s Great Firewall, or view Netflix’s US offerings while in Canada. There are endless VPNs, making it almost impossible to decide which ones are the best.
VPN, undetectable or anonymous. A VPN in and of itself is not necessarily anonymous. To be anonymous, it requires a set of architectural parameters and constant shifting of network nodes within the constraints of those parameters. The entire VPN must continuously deconstruct and reconstruct itself with new nodes. Also, the access node has to be part of that activity to make it appear that the access node is a different machine each time—as it generates a new IP address and corresponding false physical-location GPS data every so many seconds or minutes.
Vuln. Abbreviation for vulnerability. Another way to refer to bugs or software flaws that can be exploited by hackers.
Warez. Pronounced like the contraction for “where is” (“where’s”), warez refers to pirated software that’s typically distributed via technologies like BitTorrent and Usenet. Warez is sometimes laden with malware, taking advantage of people’s desire for free software.
White hat. A white-hat hacker is someone who hacks with the goal of fixing and protecting systems. As opposed to black-hat hackers (see above), instead of taking advantage of their hacks or the bugs they find to make money illegally, they alert the companies and even help them fix the problem.
WiFi. A wireless network.
Worm. A specific type of malware that propagates itself to other computers.
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, this entire series was inspired by Marshall Dean Sokol, a now departed friend and mentor. Marshall and I worked together for nearly a decade. Marshall worked for several U.S. Presidents and West Wing appointees.
But so many other people were also crucial in preparing this manuscript for you, the reader.
My critique partners, Al Steagall, and Georgia Hughes were instrumental in the final polishing of this manuscript into readable fiction. I am also grateful to my wife, Andrea Brown, who is also the final arbiter of the quality of my writing, for her comments on the manuscript.
I want to thank my publication team, consisting of my editor, Sandra Beris; copyeditor Karl Yambert; graphic designer Jeroen Ten Berge; my formatters Kimberly Hitchens and Barb Elliott of BookNook.biz; my website designer and host Maddee James of xuni.com; my marketing expert Rebecca Berus; and Paul Marotta and Megan Jeanne of the Corporate Law Group, who incorporated The Swiftshadow Group.
I am grateful for all the suggestions and advice I have received but I alone am responsible for the resulting work.
About DS Kane
For a decade, DS Kane served the federal government of the United States as a covert operative without cover. After earning his MBA and earning a faculty position in the Stern Graduate School of Business of NYU, Kane roamed as a management consultant in countries you’d want to miss on your next vacation, “helping” banks that needed a way to cover their financial tracks for money laundering and weapons delivery. His real job was to discover and report these activities to his government handler.
When his cover was blown, he disappeared from Washington and Manhattan and reinvented himself in Northern California, working with venture capitalists and startup companies. Now he writes fictionalized accounts of his career episodes, as the bestselling author of the Spies Lie series.
With nine books previously released in the Spies Lie series, Kane now presents FalseFlags, Book 10, the final book in the series.