GrayNet

by D S Kane

  daylight alert. Highest priority alert.

  DDOS. Distributed denial of service; a brute-force method of bringing down a website, by overloading it with traffic. Rarely used successfully by any except the most desperate and skillful of hackers.

  dry cleaning. Counter-surveillance techniques.

  ECHELON. An identity-tracking system developed by contract programmers and used by the United States as its primary terrorism prevention system prior to 9/11. There are currently in excess of forty systems developed since 9/11, used by the NSA to track the identities of US citizens and foreigners.

  EFT. Electronic Funds Transfer, the basic term denoting a non-check payment.

  EMP. Electromagnetic pulse device that unleashes a high-energy discharge that fries all electronic devices within its range.

  exfiltrate. Retrieving an agent from hostile territory.

  Farm, The. A camp in Virginia used to train CIA case officers and the case officers of intelligence services friendly to the United States.

  FISA. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC, also called the FISA Court), was established and authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests by federal law enforcement agencies.for surveillance warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents inside the United States

  FSB. The Russian internal security and counterintelligence service, created in 1994 as one of the successor agencies of the Soviet-era KGB.

  false flagging. An operation falsely made to appear mounted by another country.

  fumigate. Sweeping an area for electronic bugs.

  GNU Radio. Developed by Eric Blossom, a free and open-source software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios. It can be used with readily available low-cost external RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment. Prior to his involvement with software radio, Blossom was the cofounder and CTO of Starium, Ltd., where he oversaw the design and development of a line of cryptographic equipment for the commercial marketplace. He is also the founder of an international consulting company called Blossom Research.

  go bag. A lightweight luggage carrier used by covert operatives to carry travel essentials, including emergency clothing and sundries, weapons and ammunition. When not being used, it is typically stored, fully loaded, near a door or under a window for fast access. A mission bag, in contrast, is used to carry all the tools and supplies, including weapons, for a covert action.

  heth. Logistician for the Mossad.

  honey trap. Sexual entrapment for intelligence purposes.

  IDF. Israel Defense Forces; the Israeli army

  katsa. Case officer for the Mossad.

  KGB. Soviet Union’s secret police, the Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopanosti was established in March 1954 in Moscow and was attached to the Council of Ministers, but operated independently. With over 500,000 employees, it was the largest spy agency in the world.

  kidon. Operative specializing in assassination for the Mossad. (plural: kidonim.)

  Krav Maga. Israeli martial art developed by Aman and used by IDF and Mossad. Now taught to many of the global spy agencies.

  MI-6. Also known as Great Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service

  Mossad. The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations; originally called the Institute for Coordination; called “the Office” by those who work there

  neviot. Surveillance specialist for the Mossad

  NI. Intelligence branch of the Israeli navy

  NOC. Non-official cover; the status of a contractor working with the CIA in-country and without sanction or cover from the Agency.

  NSA. National Security Agency; formed under the Truman administration and used as the technology management arm of the United States government.

  Office, The. The name of the Mossad used by most of its case officers (katsas).

  qoph. Communications officer for the Mossad

  RAID. Redundant array of independent disks; used as a physical non-cloud device for backup of high-value data.

  RSA. An encryption algorithm, or key, used to safely send messages between parties on the Internet

  safe house. Apartment or house used covertly for base of operations

  sayan. A helper for the Mossad. (plural: sayanim.)

  Shabak. Also known as GSS or Shin Bet; responsible for internal security and defense of Israeli installations abroad, including embassies, consulates, and other organizations

  slick. Hiding place for documents

  souk. A middle eastern marketplace, usually an open-air farmer’s market that also sells craft items.

  STF. See Liquid armor.

  surveillance detection route. A method used by covert agents, walking back and forth several city blocks, looking in the reflective surfaces to discern if they are being followed, Often abbreviated “SDR.”.

  SWIFT. The Society for Interbank Financial Telecommunications, a European agency that sets standards for global financial messages used by banks for near-real-time settlement of electronic funds transfers. The transaction types (debit memo, credit memo, etc.) have numbers to identify them; e.g. MT100 is a credit memo sent by one bank to another to indicate payment via real-time book entry.

  Tze’elim. Israel’s Urban Warfare Training Center in the Negev Desert.

  Va’adet Rashei Hasherutim. The committee of the heads of service in Israel’s intelligence community. Mossad is a prime member.

  Vory. Russian criminal brotherhood, compatriots.

  Wahhabi. Puritan doctrine of Islam, founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792) in Saudi Arabia.

  wash. Recycling of a valid passport obtained by theft or purchase.

  yahalom. A covert computer hacker, or cybercriminal working for the Mossad’s Yahalomin unit.

  zombie patriot. A person with a terminal disease who decides to sacrifice his or her life to earn money that might benefit loved ones.

  Appendix B – Character List for the Spies Lie series (alphabetical)

  Harry Aimes. An aging retiree, dying of cancer but lacking medical insurance coverage. Facing a death that will leave his aging wife homeless, he decides to become a “zombie patriot.”

  Lee Ainsley. Director of Information Security at Gilbert Greenfield’s unnamed intelligence service in Washington, DC. He has a crush on Cassandra Sashakovich.

  Hazret Ali. Tribal leader in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.

  Yigdal Ben-Levy. Call-sign “Emah” or Mother. Ben-Levy is the Associate Director of the Mossad, a spymaster who also runs liaison between them and Aman. Ben-Levy runs the dirtiest black ops missions. His niece, Aviva Bushovsky, died one year ago.

  Elizabeth Rochelle Brown. Call-sign Butterfly. Hacker living in Woodbine, Iowa. Self-proclaimed as the best hacker on earth. William Wing claims the same thing about himself.

  Aviva Bushovsky. Call-sign Sweetthing, alias Lisa Gabriel. Under cover, she became engaged to Jon Sommers. She was a Mossad bat leveyha, niece of Yigdal Ben-Levy. Aviva died in a car bomb set in the parking garage in Herzliyya where she’d left her car to meet Ruth Cohen for lunch.

  Lieutenant Benjamin Chan. A direct report to Xian Wing, Benjamin’s mother was English, and hence his Western first name.

  Norman Cisco. Currency Custodian at the Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan.

  Ruth Cohen. Call-sign Toots, alias Ruth DeWitt. Cohen rose through the Mossad’s ranks from bat leveyha (honey pot) to kidon (assassin) to katsa (case officer), and became Station Chief, Berlin, Germany. Years ago, she and Jon Sommers were lovers.

  Sir Charles Crane. Call sign Mastercollector, a British spymaster at MI-6, whose career was almost terminated by Jon Sommers’ parents, Abel and Natasha Sommerstein.

  Michael Drapoff. A kidon reporting to Yigdal Ben-Levy.

  Lester Dushov. A katsa reporting to Yigdal Ben-Levy.

  Simon Fiernen. A cover identity for Yigdal Ben-Levy.

  Bob Gault. Cal
l-sign Snakecharmer, works as a case officer at Gilbert Greenfield’s unnamed intelligence service in Washington, DC. Gault is overweight and unpromotable, but he is also an effective operative.

  Oscar Gilead. Director of the Mossad, to whom Yigdal Ben-Levy reports.

  Major Ralph Giondella. American Tactics Commander, hired by Avram Shimmel for Kravgruppe, a mercenary organization.

  Gilbert Greenfield. Director in Charge of an intelligence agency in Washington DC so secret that it is “unnamed.” Aliases include Herr Flouber and Ellbert E. Friend.

  Abdul Hassain. Abdul was hired by Pesi Houmaz to torture and murder Cassandra Sashakovich in Riyadh after first determining if she had learned of the Houmaz brothers plans to attach the United States. He raped and impregnated her, before Cassandra was able to kill him in self-defense.

  Judy Hernandez. A personal trainer at the YMCA in Manhattan, where she met Cassandra Sashakovich. Briefly, they were lovers. When Cassandra founded the Swiftshadow Consulting Group, she hired Judy as its office manager.

  Achmed Houmaz. Youngest of the brothers, Achmed was left to run Arab Oil Corporation after Tariq was disowned by their father and Pesi followed Tariq from the family. Achmed resides in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

  Pesi Houmaz. Second in command of a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot group headquartered at its training facility near Upper Pachir, Afghanistan. Pesi is the brother of Tariq Houmaz. Pesi resides in Saudi Arabia.

  Tariq Houmaz. Leader of Muslim Brotherhood offshoot terrorism group, located near Upper Pachir, Afghanistan.

  Maulvi Muhammed Khalis. Hazret Ali’s mullah, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.

  Nomi Klein. Cobbler (document forger) working for the Mossad in the South Bronx, New York.

  Misha Kovich. Cassandra Sashakovich’s uncle and Kiril Sashakovich’s brother. Worked for the KGB until the fall of the Soviet Union, then worked for the Russian mafiya transporting weapons and money between Moscow and Vladivostok.

  Lily Lee. A girlfriend of William Wing, she lives in Hong Kong. She is also a call girl and her father owns an upscale restaurant, Star Luk restaurant in Hong Kong’s harbor.

  Major Jacques LeFleur. French North African Battle Operations Specialist, hired by Avram Shimmel for Kravgruppe, a mercenary organization.

  Clyde MacIntosh. Case officer, MI-6, reporting to Sir Charles Crane.

  Adam Mahee. Stanford University adjunct faculty, and project manager and contractor in Silicon Valley.

  Sharon Marconi. Louis Stepponi’s girlfriend, who is, like Louis, a professional assassin.

  Debra McCandless. Treasurer of Stillwater Technologies, Inc., a Silicon Valley chipset developer in San Jose, California.

  Mark McDougal. Director, unnamed intelligence agency, Washington, DC. McDougal is Bob Gault and Cassandra Sashakovich’s boss. McDougal reports to Gilbert Greenfield, who runs an agency so secret that it is “unnamed.”

  Major Alister McTavish. British Tactics Commander, hired as a mercenary by Major Avram Shimmel.

  Samuel Meyer. Call-sign Uncle Sam. Associate Director of the Mossad and liaison to Aman, successor to Yigdal Ben-Levy. Meyer graduated from Harvard Law School.

  Lev Robinson. Scientist, and mole, working on Bug-Lok nano-device at the Ness Ziona in Herzliyya.

  Shula Ries. Call-sign Viper, Mossad kidon who reports to Yigdal Ben-Levy. Ries is more than just a honeypot for the Mossad. She is lethal with any weapon and has no conscience.

  Lev Robinson. A Ness Ziona scientist who works on Bug-Lok, and was turned into a mole by Sir Charles Crane, an MI-6 spymaster.

  Cassandra Sashakovich. Call-sign Swiftshadow, Multiple aliases, including Chandra Paklorri, Chrissie Card, Darla Kidon, Denise Hardcastle, Susan Blumenthal, Elaine Teman, and Emily Fishcallow. Former NOC and hacker at Gilbert Greenfield’s unnamed intelligence service in Washington, DC. She has gone black, outed by a mole within the agency, and was hunted by the Houmaz family.

  Kiril Sashakovich. Cassandra’s father, professor of economics at Stanford University, and former econometric planner for the now defunct Soviet Union.

  Natasha Sashakovich.Cassandra’s mother, member of the Half Moon Bay, California city council, and former case officer for the KGB.

  Gunda Schlein. Finance Manager, Dreitsbank, Munich. Schlein’s brother is held by MI-6 to compel her to spy on Jon Sommers. But Sommers has also tried to double her.

  Dr. Henry Sheldorff. High-priced Manhattan plastic surgeon.

  Avram Shimmel. Call-sign Clearcut, mercenary, former major in the IDF, and later a Mossad kidon. Shimmel is 6’7” and a wall of muscle, and also one of the IDF’s most gifted tacticians. His pregnant wife and young daughter were killed by a car bomb set by Tariq Houmaz. Later, he founded Kravgruppe, a mercenary organization. Now, he works with Cassandra Sashakovich at Swiftshadow Consulting Group.

  Ann Silbee Sashakovich. Homeless teenager living in the tunnels under Manhattan, adopted by Cassandra Sashakovich. Ann is taught computer hacking by William Wing and weapons by Lee Ainsley.

  Jon Sommers. Call-sign Quicksilver, aka Friedrich Stamphil. Mossad katsa working for Ruth Cohen. Jon was recruited by Yigdal Ben-Levy after Jon’s fiancée, Lisa Gabriel, died in a car bombing.

  Abel Sommerstein. Jon Sommers’s father.

  Natasha Sommerstein. Jon Sommers’s mother.

  Sandhia Sorab. Funds Transfer Repair Station Specialist at the Bank of Trade, Karachi, Pakistan, recruited as an asset by Jon Sommers.

  Louis Stepponi. A professional assassin.

  Herr Rickard Stossler. A cover identity for Yigdal Ben-Levy.

  Shimon Tennenbaum. A Mossad kidon who works for Yigdal Ben-Levy.

  Nikita Tobelov. Head of Russian Mafiya’s Eastern District, in Vladivostok

  Benjamin Franklin Wagner. US Ambassador to Israel.

  Phillip Watson. A former graduate student at working in the Technology Centre of the University of London, he helps Jon Sommers discover the death of Lisa Gabriel. Later, Phillip is founder and CEO of GrayNet, predictive markets startup.

  Jacob David “JD” Weinstein. A Mossad kidon who works for Yigdal Ben-Levy.

  Ari Westheim. A Mossad kidon who works for Yigdal Ben-Levy.

  William Wing. Call-sign CryptoMonger. Hacker, living in Hong Kong, contract worker for corporations, MI-6, the Mossad, and other intelligence services. He was disowned by his father when he was twelve years old, for hacking into the CSIS servers.

  Xian Wing. Director of Chinese Security Information Systems (CSIS). Father of William Wing.

  Appendix C – Additional Reading on Several Related Topics

  Cypherpunks list; see Wikipedia

  (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunk).

  Eric Blossom, designer of the Starium cryptographically secured mobile phone, founder of the GNU Radio project; see Wikipedia: (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Radio).

  Jim Bell, author of the “Assassination Politics” paper; see Cryptome: (cryptome.org/jya/ap.htm):

  Imagine for a moment that as ordinary citizens were watching the evening news, they see an act by a government employee or officeholder that they feel violates their rights, abuses the public’s trust, or misuses the powers that they feel should be limited. A person whose actions are so abusive or improper that the citizenry shouldn’t have to tolerate it.

  What if they could go to their computers, type in the miscreant’s name, and select a dollar amount: The amount they, themselves, would be willing to pay to anyone who “predicts” that officeholder’s death. That donation would be sent, encrypted and anonymously, to a central registry organization, and be totaled, with the total amount available within seconds to any interested individual. If only 0.1% of the population, or one person in a thousand, was willing to pay $1 to see some government slimeball dead, that would be, in effect, a $250,000 bounty on his head.

  Further, imagine that anyone considering collecting that bounty could do so with the mathematical certainty that he could not be identified, and could collect the reward without meeting, or even tal
king to, anybody who could later identify him. Perfect anonymity, perfect secrecy, and perfect security. And that, combined with the ease and security with which these contributions could be collected, would make being an abusive government employee an extremely risky proposition. Chances are good that nobody above the level of county commissioner would even risk staying in office.

  Just how would this change politics in America? It would take far less time to answer, “What would remain the same?” No longer would we be electing people who will turn around and tax us to death, regulate us to death, or for that matter sent hired thugs to kill us when we oppose their wishes.

  No military?

  One of the attractive potential implications of such a system would be that we might not even need a military to protect the country. Any threatening or abusive foreign leader would be subject to the same contribution/assassination/reward system, and it would operate just as effectively over borders as it does domestically.

  Appendix D – Notes on Predictive Markets

  Adapted from Wikipedia

  (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prediction_market)

  Prediction markets (also known as predictive markets, information markets, decision markets, idea futures, event derivatives, or virtual markets) are speculative markets created for the purpose of making predictions. The current market prices can then be interpreted as predictions of the probability of the event or the expected value of the parameter. For example, a prediction market security might reward a dollar if a particular candidate is elected, such that an individual who thinks the candidate had a 70% chance of being elected should be willing to pay up to 70 cents for such a security.

  People who buy low and sell high are rewarded for improving the market prediction, while those who buy high and sell low are punished for degrading the market prediction. Evidence so far suggests that prediction markets are at least as accurate as other institutions predicting the same events with a similar pool of participants.

  Economic theory for the ideas behind prediction markets can be credited to Friedrich Hayek in his 1945 article “The Use of Knowledge in Society” and Ludvig von Mises in his “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth.” Modern economists agree that Mises’ argument combined with Hayek’s elaboration of it, is correct (“Biography of Ludwig Edler von Mises (1881–1973),” The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics). One of the oldest and most famous is the University of Iowa’s Iowa Electronic Markets, introduced during the 1988 US presidential election. The Hollywood Stock Exchange, a virtual market game established in 1996 and now a division of Cantor Fitzgerald, LP, in which players buy and sell prediction shares of movies, actors, directors, and film-related options, correctly predicted 32 of 2006’s 39 big-category Oscar nominees and 7 out of 8 top category winners. HedgeStreet, designated in 1991 as a market and regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, enables Internet traders to speculate on economic events.