by Bobby Akart
“He writes the checks. Move along.”
“Roger that,” said Steven as he and Lowe approached the entrance. Both men concealed their ear pieces. Only Lowe’s microphone was important at this point.
During the briefing, surveillance located on the top floor of the Third Square Apartments confirmed Lau and his three assistants were in the loft. Steven and Lowe expected them to be surprised by the visit. Lowe would take the lead and attempt to separate Lau so they could talk privately. Eyes and ears were on from many directions. Aegis was very thorough.
“Allow me,” said Steven as he opened the door for Lowe to pass into the loft. Fakhri, Malvalaha and Walthaus were working at computer stations and quickly spun around in their chairs. Lowe moved into the room and Steven quickly conducted a threat assessment. As expected, it was a bunch of harmless computer geeks. Steven observed Lau carefully as he emerged from a bedroom turned office.
“I believe you must be lost, gentlemen,” said Lau. “This is private property and we don’t accept visitors.” Lau spread his arms apart as he approached as if to herd Steven and Lowe out of the loft.
“No, Professor Lau, we’re not lost,” said Lowe, handing Lau a bogus business card with his left hand while extending his right to shake hands. “We are here to see you. My name is Dennis Troutman and I’m here on behalf of the Center for Infrastructure Protection.”
Lau was clearly caught off guard. His assistants looked frightened. Good.
“But, wait, I don’t understand,” said Lau. “What do you want with me? How did you know I maintained an office in this building?” Lau was sweating, obviously nervous.
“Perhaps we should speak in private,” said Lowe. “Your office?”
“Yes, sure.” Lau’s eyes darted around nervously.
“May my driver wait out here with your associates?”
“Yes, of course. Would you like something to drink?”
Steven shook his head and moved against a wall where he had a full view of all the hands and activities of the Zero Day Gamers. He was playing the intimidating role well.
“This way, please,” said Lau. He shrugged his shoulders and led Lowe through the doorway.
For the next twenty minutes, Steven didn’t speak a word and the Gamers didn’t tap a key. Lowe finally emerged from the office with Lau, who was all smiles.
“Professor, it has been a real pleasure.” Lowe extended his hand and the men shook.
“Yes, absolutely,” replied Lau. “I am sure my associates will be interested in hearing the details of your proposal. I will call you at this number as requested.”
The Gamers still appeared to be nervous although a noticeable sense of relief appeared over the face of Walthaus when his professor emerged all smiles.
“Good. Oh, one more thing. I have something for each of you.” Lowe reached into his pocket and handed a gold coin to each of the Zero Day Gamers.
“Hey, this is the new Denarium Bitcoin,” said Walthaus. “They replaced the old defunct Casascius cryptocoin.”
“That’s correct, young man,” said Lowe. “These are issued by one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in the world and are considered the gold standard in cryptocurrency. Consider this a token of our gratitude for your assistance and a symbol of great things to come.” It also has a tracking device to help us keep up with your dumb asses.
Steven was impressed with Lowe’s skills as an undercover operative. He played the role perfectly and the body language of the four members of the Zero Day Gamers was telling.
“Driver, let’s go.”
I’m gonna kick his ass when we get out of here.
Chapter 47
August 19, 2016
The Hack House
Binney Street
East Cambridge, Massachusetts
“What the hell just happened?” asked Malvalaha. “Are those guys for real?”
“Were they feds?”
“I’ve never held a bitcoin,” said Walthaus.
“How did they find us?”
Lau’s head was still swirling. He had more questions than answers. Although he was being peppered with questions from the Zero Day Gamers, he was oblivious as he walked to the plate-glass windows in the loft and stared mindlessly across Binney Street towards MIT. Receiving the offer to teach at the famed technology institute was a pipe dream fulfilled. The job could be intense and consuming. The peer pressure was fierce. Over time he earned the respect of his faculty colleagues and thrived in their academic environment.
MIT was a famed research institution and its faculty was expected to produce innovative advancements in their field. Twenty years ago, the provost recognized the extraordinary expense associated with research endeavors as well as the time constraints placed on the faculty. The graduate students became an easily accessible labor pool for the professors. As Lau entered into his second job as a hacker for hire, the graduate students became integral in the expansion and success of the Zero Day Gamers. They were now going to receive a paycheck for their efforts which was retirement worthy.
“Professor, Professor, are you okay? What’s wrong?” asked Fakhri as she gently shook him by the shoulders.
Lau snapped out of his trance. He cleared his throat. “Nothing, everything is good. More than good, actually. I think we have a new client.” He was now beaming, which produced smiles on all of his loyal graduate students.
“Tell us!” insisted Walthaus as he flipped his bitcoin in the air—choosing heads or tails.
“I don’t know where to start. There is so much to discuss from the short conversation.”
Walthaus flipped the coin again. “How much? There’s a good starting point.” He had really matured since his first successful hack in the spring. Now it was all about the payday.
“Sure, why not,” Lau started as he rolled the bitcoin through his fingers like a high-stakes poker player analyzing his hand. “One million dollars in Bitcoin, obviously.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Malvalaha. “Nice payout. I’m going to buy that Porsche we talked about, Herm.”
“Sweet,” replied Walthaus. The two exchanged high fives.
“Each.” Lau paused to gauge their reactions. This would generate some high fives.
“What? Each?” questioned Fakhri. She approached Lau as if about to cry.
“Yes, Anna. Each. We will each be paid one million dollars for this job.” Then Fakhri cried. As did Walthaus, who fell into his chair with his face buried in his hands.
“Do you know what this can do for my family?” asked Fakhri through the tears.
“For all of our families,” added Malvalaha. He and Fakhri were hugging while Walthaus continued to shake his head in disbelief. He was muttering.
“Are you okay, Walthaus?” asked Lau. He leaned over and placed his hands on the young graduate assistant’s shoulders.
“Who do we have to kill?” he asked. A sudden look of apprehension came over the faces of Fakhri and Malvalaha.
“We’re not going to kill anyone, guys. Relax. We are going to do what we do best—send a message. In fact, you could even say we are going to perform a valuable public service.”
“White hat?” asked Malvalaha.
“You could say that,” replied Lau. He rolled a chair from one of the computer stations and sat, indicating Fakhri and Malvalaha to do the same. “Let me give you the rundown of the project and let’s brainstorm some ideas.”
“I for one don’t care what it is. If their money is good, I’m in,” said Walthaus. He was now twirling his bitcoin on the desk like a kid’s top.
“You are so greedy, Walthaus,” said Fakhri. “It’s the new girlfriend, isn’t it?”
Malvalaha laughed with Fakhri.
“She has needs and wants,” replied Walthaus. He puffed out his chest with pride.
“I bet she does,” said Fakhri dryly. She clearly didn’t approve of Wendy. Lau cleared his throat to get the Gamers back into focus.
“Listen up, everybody, if we are going to do this—” sai
d Lau, who was interrupted by laughter. “What?”
“A million-dollar payday and you seriously wonder if we’re in?” asked Walthaus. “Hell yeah I’m in.”
“Me too!”
“No question.”
“Then pay attention, we’ll be on a deadline. Everything must be a go by no later than August 31 or we get paid nothing. Everyone good with that?”
“Yeah.” Lau turned his cap backwards and laid out the details.
Their client, the Center for Infrastructure Protection, was in the process of securing funding for the Tres Amigas SuperStation. The purpose of the project was to tie the United States power grid together via three separate five-gigawatt superconductive high-voltage power lines. These power lines would permit the flow of energy throughout America via high-temperature superconductor wire. Tres Amigas would act as a power market hub of sorts, enabling the buying and selling of electricity between the three major power grids servicing the U.S. The entire cost of the project was in excess of two billion dollars but would generate many times that in profits for the owners of Tres Amigas.
“This all sounds like an interesting concept,” said Malvalaha. “How would we be involved?”
Lau walked to the kitchen to grab a Barq’s Root Beer. “Anyone?”
“No, thanks,” replied Walthaus.
Lau paused to take a sip and let out a little belch. Discussing Congress did that to him.
“Tres Amigas, via our client’s think tank, is going to lobby Congress this fall for funding,” said Lau. “They want us to help raise awareness of the vulnerability of the U.S. power grid to solar flares, nuclear EMPs and cyber attacks. Ironic, isn’t it?” Lau took another sip. His throat was dry.
“Fear is a great motivator. If we can scare Congress into acting, they will get their funding. Our job is to crash the grid.”
“You mean like we did in Vegas?” asked Fakhri.
“Except this project will be for the public good,” replied Lau. “It is very straightforward in its scope, but complex in its execution.”
“Very white hat,” repeated Malvalaha. He was chomping on Nicorette gum as part of his smoking cessation plan. His next step was electronic cigarettes. “In a way, we could redeem ourselves for the aftermath of Vegas.”
“We couldn’t predict how the public would react,” defended Fakhri. “The unions made it worse and never disclosed their involvement in the plan.” Lau was angry after the Vegas hack of the Nevada Energy servers. The hack was successful and received accolades online, but the union blindsided him with their staged walkout, leaving the casino patrons to fend for themselves. Lives were lost as a result and he vowed to be more careful. As a result, the American Airlines takeover and the Callaway Nuclear hack were of very short duration by design. He was toying with the targets. During his private conversation with Troutman, he insisted on brevity and Troutman agreed. We just want to get their attention, Troutman insisted.
“I voiced our concern and it was stipulated in the deal,” said Lau. “Now, let’s talk about what we know about the entire power grid before we throw out ideas on the intrusion. Walthaus, you’ve studied this more than any of us.”
“After the Vegas hack, I became interested in the issues raised on the vulnerability of the U.S. power grid to various threats—including cyber,” started Walthaus. “When we were contacted by Greenpeace, I thoroughly researched this in order to avoid a repeat of Vegas. This is why I suggested we execute the Callaway hack for a limited period of time to coincide with the Space Station flying overhead.” Walthaus stood and approached a chalkboard recently installed by Lau. Today, he was the professor.
“On a national scale, how does the grid work?” asked Fakhri.
Walthaus began writing as he spoke. “Generally, the delivery of electricity has three main components—power plants, transmission lines and the distribution to the end user through local utilities. The Vegas project affected a local utility while the Callaway project attacked a power plant.” He drew images of a nuclear plant’s cooling tower and stick houses, connected by lines.
“In addition, the power lines between the power plants and the utilities pass through variable-frequency transformers, which permit a controlled flow of energy. Without these transformers, the flow of power moves through the lines uncontrolled as to source and load. The result to the utility network would be a massive destabilization from the rapid changes in power. The converter transformers at the utility would be overloaded and fail.”
“Why isn’t the grid interconnected?” asked Lau. “How many components are there?”
“The better way to look at it is by region,” replied Walthaus. “The U.S. is divided into two major interconnected power grids. The Western Interconnection spans the entire West Coast from Canada to Mexico, and then east over towards the Midwest. The Eastern Interconnection includes all of the East Coast and extends to the base of the Rocky Mountains. Both of the major power grids exclude Alaska, Hawaii and Texas.”
“I can understand how Alaska and Hawaii are separated geographically, but why Texas?” asked Lau.
“Partly because of their historical desire for self-sufficiency and partly because of their bumper sticker Don’t Mess with Texas, the state maintained its independence during the early days of building the grid. During World War II, Texas was home to several factories vital to the war effort. Their utility planners were anxious to keep the assembly lines running and were concerned about the reliability of the power supply from other states. Texas continues to be the nation’s number one gas producer and one of the top coal producers.”
Lau interrupted. “Texas created its own island of energy. They didn’t need the rest of us.”
“Basically, yes,” replied Walthaus. “It has served them well. As a result, the Texas grid is exempt from the majority of regulations imposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission because they do not sell electricity across state lines.”
“Good for them,” said Malvalaha. “Texas is by far the largest user of electricity in the nation, yet their power costs are the lowest. Why would they submit to the federal bureaucracy?”
“It has worked out for them apparently,” said Fakhri. “But you have to wonder if this Tres Amigas proposal will meet with resistance from Texas.”
“What does that mean in Spanish anyway?” asked Malvalaha.
“Three friends,” said Walthaus. “If they were friends, they would have connected their grids already.”
“The client wants us to shut down all three of these grids at the same time?” asked Fakhri, turning her attention to Lau.
“Yes. He specifically said to avoid wasting time on Hawaii or Alaska. Their point will be made without the extra effort.”
Lau approached the chalkboard and erased the drawing. He wrote East – West – Texas across the top. “Let’s divide the research between the three amigos. Malvalaha will take the eastern grid, Fakhri will research the west, and Walthaus will try to crack the Republic of Texas.” Lau underlined each region.
“Electric systems are not designed to withstand or quickly recover from damage inflicted concurrently on multiple components. Our client wants us to coordinate the hack to put the country in the dark for a brief period of time, and then bring it back online. We need to research if this can be done simultaneously or staggered. For this reason, each of us will handle a different interconnection and I will consider the simultaneous approach. If it can’t be done as a coordinated effort, then I will tell our new client of the risks. I am sure they will understand.”
Of all the questions Lau answered that afternoon as the Zero Day Gamers conjured up a plan, one was not addressed—how did they find us?
Chapter 48
August 21, 2016
The Hack House
Binney Street
East Cambridge, Massachusetts
Lau impressed upon the Zero Day Gamers the importance of privacy and hiding their digital footprint. They utilized several approaches to use the web incogn
ito. First, they always browsed the web using privacy windows, preventing websites from planting tracking cookies to trace their whereabouts or follow their activities.
Second, they utilized a virtual private network—VPN. A VPN utilized advanced encryption to hide Internet use by creating a virtual data tunnel while the user’s true IP address remained hidden from the rest of the world. Lau used the example of an author who was raided by Homeland Security based upon a warrantless NSA analysis of his online research. The author’s computer was seized and he was detained indefinitely as a domestic terrorist. The author finally convinced DHS he was researching a novel and he was eventually released. The Zero Day Gamers would not be.
“I have to provide an update to Mr. Troutman this afternoon, so let’s see where we are on our research,” said Lau. He pushed himself up to sit on the kitchen island countertop, allowing his feet to swing beneath him. He was feeling good. The Red Sox were on their way to clinching their division early and the thought of bitcoins in his virtual wallet was alluring. “Fakhri, West Coast, talk to me!”
“We collectively researched the documents and filings contained on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission website,” replied Fakhri. “Based upon their latest classified filings with the Senate Committee on Energy, FERC has identified nine critical substations out of fifty-five thousand in need of additional security.”
“How did you access classified filings, or do I want to know?” asked Lau.
“It was actually simple, Professor,” replied Walthaus. “One of the committee members is Senator Al Franken, the former Saturday Night Live comedian. In his 2008 Senate race, activists for Greenpeace were accused of helping Franken commit voter fraud to secure his election by a mere three hundred votes.”
“So, he’s a funny crooked politician,” said Lau, his feet now beating against the kitchen island cabinets like a kid.
“It’s more than that, Professor,” said Malvalaha. “All three of us were amazed at the amount of detailed information Greenpeace had on the Callaway Nuclear Power Plant—some of which was not publically available.