“James has some emails to show you on his laptop, Joe. It’s rather alarming.”
After looking at the emails, the president asked, “Are you sure these emails are real?”
“Yes, sir, I checked the information on the addresses that were attacked. His response was completely accurate.”
The president shook his head several times while saying, “I’d never have believed George would do something like this. This isn’t going to be enough to convict him. George has some very good lawyers. We need to get some real proof to nail him. I also need to get those students out of jeopardy without having the federal government directly involved. The Chinese could think we’re behind all of this.”
“Maybe we could put some pressure on George to get the students out, and I believe I know how to do it, Mr. President. I’ll contact him first thing tomorrow morning and set up a meeting.”
“You’ll need to light a fire under George’s ass, James. The Chinese will eventually figure this out. That could end any hope for the students, including Kim. My primary concern is this attack on our fleet referenced in Kim’s email. This makes Kim the highest priority. No matter what happens, we need to get him out of China to find out what he knows.”
“I understand, Mr. President.”
Barbara arranged for a White House limousine to drive James and Rick back to the condo. When they walked in, both JoAnn and Allison were wearing pajamas and bathrobes and having a nightcap. James and Rick said hello before going back to James’s office.
“I’ll schedule my meeting with George for tomorrow. Can you arrange for me to be wired, Rick? I’ll also need a small listening device I can leave in his office.”
“Not a problem, James.”
22
George Solomon was having a great week. He’d just humiliated the Chinese government in front of its own people while using Chinese students to do it. In addition, the attacks on US businesses from China had moved public opinion almost fifteen points in favor of the foreign cyber-attack legislation. He’d accomplished this with no real damage to the United States or China.
The attacks on US businesses, while widespread, hadn’t caused any serious harm. George had ordered all the data that was collected to be destroyed. The attacks on the Chinese websites did no permanent damage in China other than harm the population’s respect for their government. George was happy that the Chinese were upset. If they were going to sponsor cyber attacks against America, then that attack dog could come back and bite them in the ass, like it just had.
The decline in the stock market had caused a panic on Wall Street, which resulted in a temporary drop of more than four thousand points, but it was quickly returning to normal. He was sure that his investment companies had done well, since his philosophy was to buy whenever there were sudden drops in the market based on panic. That was a bonus, but it wasn’t part of his plan. The only thing left was to make certain no one found out.
He was awakened from his pleasant daydream by Nadya.
“You need to move on getting those students out of China, George. They may have evidence of what you did. If the government figures out what happened, you’ll be prosecuted. You could be wearing an orange jumpsuit.”
“I’m not going to pay four million dollars to the Chinese government just to expedite the student’s travel permits, Nadya.”
“You’re being childish, George, and your fiancée agrees with me. If you don’t move quickly, we won’t be able to make the final arrangements for the chartered flights or the hotel reservations for the students. There is also a payment due today to secure the reservation of the International Congress Centre in Munich as the symposium site.”
“The Chinese are bluffing. Once they give in, everything else can be handled. This is just poker, Nadya, and it’s a game I’m good at.”
“Yeah, and the stakes are the students’ lives and your freedom. You need to fold, George, or this could be your last hand.”
As they were talking, George got a call from James Jordan.
“James, what can I do for you today?”
“I’m nearby, George, and I’d like to meet you at your office.”
“Sure, James, looking forward to it.”
When James arrived, Nadya escorted him back to George’s office. As he sat down, James attached the listening device to the underside of his chair while his hand was hidden from George’s view.
“What can I do for you today, James?”
“We have a problem, George. Someone in China sent an email to my VSI account last night. They informed me that our VSI flagship product had been compromised during the recent cyber attacks by a group of Chinese students. He also claims that our product had supported malware attacks against Chinese government websites. I verified the email by using my government position to identify the network addresses that were attacked. They matched perfectly with the ones he provided. He identified you as being involved and provided copies of emails from you, Nadya, and Sean Flaherty that prove your involvement. The students are very concerned that they might be caught by the Chinese government. VSI could be ruined if this got out, George. Why would you do this?”
As George listened, his face slowly transitioned from joy to concern and then to outright fear.
“I’m not going to insult your intelligence by lying about this, James. I need to know what you intend to do with this information.”
“I’ll take it to the FBI and the president, unless you fix this. Why’d you do it?”
“To discredit the Chinese government and increase public support for the foreign cyber-attack legislation. Have you seen the news about the impact on public opinion? Believe me, I had no intention of hurting VSI or those students. In fact, I’m making plans right now to get them to Munich, and I guarantee that I’ll make good on any revenue VSI loses because of this.”
“This was reckless behavior, which is uncharacteristic of you. How did you ever believe that you’d get away with it?”
“I was told the connection to VSI couldn’t be discovered.”
“Who told you that, George? Was it someone who worked for VSI?”
“I can’t tell you that, but I can fix this. Just give me a little time.”
“I’ll give you until tomorrow to solve this, and then I take it to Barbara Chang and the FBI.”
With that, James walked out, leaving the listening device in place.
George Solomon had just seen his day and possibly his life go from the highest ecstasy to the deepest depression in the course of a two-minute conversation. He knew he was probably not going to recover unscathed, but he at least had an opportunity to minimize the damage if he acted quickly.
He called Nadya into his office.
“Give the Chinese anything they want to process the travel permits for the students, Nadya. I also need you to charter their flights to Munich within the next twenty-four hours, and make sure all of the students have a hotel room and transportation.”
“You never finalized the payments to the hotels, George. I’m certain that at this late date, the only rooms available will be in the highpriced five-star hotels reserved for VIPs.”
“Tell the symposium manager that these students are the VIPs. Have him move the others to whatever is left or I’ll withdraw my support for this symposium.”
“I may need your help with this. What are you going to do?”
“Hire an attorney.”
George called Jason Fisher of Fisher and McGowan.
“Jason, this is George Solomon, how are you today?”
“Fine, George, what can I do for you?”
“I want to have Mr. Sean Flaherty elevated to partner and transferred to your Washington DC office as my personal attorney.”
“I can’t do that without getting the approval of the other partners, George.”
“Last time I checked, our annual fees with your firm were in excess of eight figures. If you want to keep my account, I suggest you do whatever you have to so that Mr. Fla
herty is a partner by close of business. I also want him in my office by nine tomorrow morning. Is that clear?”
“Yes, George. I’ll take care of it.”
Nadya came back into George’s office and said, “Everything has been taken care of with the Chinese and the symposium manager.”
“Good. I want you to email Mr. Flaherty and tell him he’s just been made a partner in his law firm at my direction. In addition, tell him to send emails to each of his contacts in Beijing, Harbin, and Shanghai, ordering them to notify their students that they’ll all be attending the symposium. I’m leaving for the rest of the day. If you need me, call me at home.”
When George got home, he poured himself a vodka and made a phone call.
“Don’t talk, just listen,” George said. “James Jordan knows that the VSI systems were compromised and were the reason for the cyber attacks on China. I was able to control the situation by telling him I’d make good on any damages to VSI. It’s just a matter of time before he figures out who sabotaged the VSI technology. You need to fix it.”
James called Rick after the meeting with George.
“Hi, James. Did you enjoy your meeting?”
“Yeah, I really did, Rick. What’re you doing?”
“I’m in my office listening to George. Looks like he’s moving heaven and earth to get Kim and the rest of the students out of China. I guess your little discussion with him worked. George also called his law firm and asked for Sean Flaherty to be promoted to partner in the firm. He wants him transferred to DC to be his personal attorney. What do you make of that?”
“Well, I don’t think it’s gratitude for a job well done. I think he’s trying to buy Flaherty’s loyalty and keep him from talking. I’m not an attorney, but that would be my guess.”
“Mine too. The director is thinking about using Dimitri to tail George. What do you think?”
There was no answer.
“Are you still there, James? Did you hear me?”
“I heard you, and I think it’s a good idea. I was just looking at a text from Tom. He wants us to come to VSI and look at the log book and audit logs from the laboratory systems. You up for a road trip?”
“Sure, I’ll meet you at the condo.”
James and Rick made it down to VSI in a little over an hour. Tom met them in the lobby and took them directly to the laboratory. “I’ve seen more of you in the past week than in the previous year, boss.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re probably getting tired of my face.”
Tom smirked. “Do you believe in ghosts?”
“No, but Rick gave me an office in the Hoover Building that everyone thinks is haunted. Why do you ask?”
“I think we may have a ghost in this laboratory. Come, I’ll show you. After you left VSI, Philip changed the employee identification badges. The new ones are smart cards with the employee’s identification information and other relevant data. We use them to get in the building after-hours and to log on to our computers.”
“When did this happen?”
“About six months ago.”
“You think he implemented it because of all the security incidents?”
“I’m certain of it. It allows us to control and log all employee operations while they’re using the network and labs, including who made what changes to all VSI network and lab systems. Watch as I log into the test system we used the other day by using my smart card badge. I’m putting my badge in the smart card reader and entering my PIN and password. That’s required for anyone who wants to log into the system as an administrator with elevated privileges. Now I’m logging into the audit files for the test system and searching the audit files from eight days ago at about three in the afternoon. You can see the names of everyone who logged in around that time. It shows the date, time, and operations performed for each name. All of the names are VSI employees whom we know had authorization to be in the lab and to access the test system. But watch what happens when I do a search for 10:12 p.m. that evening. What name do you see?”
“My God, it’s Philip’s name,” James said. “That’s impossible, he was already dead.”
“Yeah, I know. Look at the operations he performed.”
James quickly examined the log file.
“Philip’s ghost reset the system clock forward to the same date and time that we entered the other day when we were testing the patch. So whoever logged in had Philip’s ID badge, and was testing the patch that implemented the attacks on the Chinese websites. But how’d they have Philip’s PIN and password, Tom?”
“I don’t know, but that information is a lot easier to get than a badge from a person who’s deceased. I’ll bet half the people in this lab know other employees’ PINs and passwords. I’ve even seen them ask others to enter it for them while they’re working on something else in the lab. The lab is always less formal than the real world. That’s why Philip required the use of smart cards. It’s the only way to control and track who’s doing what.”
“So an imposter used Philip’s badge?” Rick asked.
“Yes, but that’s not all. Look at the lab entry and exit log book for that same date, for entry at 10:05 p.m. and exit at 12:22 a.m. What do you see, boss?”
“Are you kidding me? I don’t believe it.”
“I know, boss. It sure looks like Philip’s signature, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, Tom. We both are very familiar with that signature. But ‘P. Wu’ is only three letters. It would be easy to fake. Even so, it looks real. It would have to have been made by someone who knew Philip’s signature pretty well, and that he generally just used his first initial.”
James saw several people enter the lab. “Let’s continue this conversation in a more private venue, such as my old office.”
As James walked into his VSI office, he saw that nothing had changed since he left. Everything was still in the same place, and nothing was missing. He sat down behind his old desk and put his feet up like he had in past private meetings with his staff.
“You look good behind that desk, boss. It reminds me of our design meetings.”
“Thanks Tom. I’ll be back, so don’t sell anything yet.”
James looked at Rick and said, “So what would you conclude, G-Man?”
“G-Man? That word hasn’t been used to describe FBI agents since J. Edgar Hoover was the director. In answer to your question, though, I would conclude that the badge was provided to the imposter by someone who was at the scene of Philip’s murder, when his briefcase disappeared. The imposter had to know Philip’s PIN and password and enough about how he signed his name to provide a pretty good forgery in the log book. The same person either developed the patch or knew enough about it and the laboratory equipment to test it. Ergo, it was someone who worked at VSI, had excellent technical skills, knew Philip pretty well, and had a connection to his murder.”
James pointed at Tom. “Your turn, Tom. Who do you know at VSI that meets the first three of the four requirements Rick just stated?”
“It could be either Theresa, Chris, or me. We all work at VSI, have the technical skills, and knew Philip very well. I knew Philip’s PIN, but I didn’t know his password. Also, on the date and time listed in the log book I was at a bachelor party for Gary Hayden, one of our engineers. I already checked the date, since I did the same analysis before you got here.”
“Thanks, Tom. I never really thought it was you, and I’m still not certain it’s Chris or Theresa. There isn’t enough evidence to prove it’s either of them.”
“True. But as the only law enforcement officer in the room, I believe they’re good enough suspects to be questioned.”
“I agree with that, Rick. Are Chris and Theresa still off-site, Tom?”
“Yes, Chris is with his development team. I talked with him yesterday. Theresa is on vacation, but I have no idea where she went. She just suddenly notified Chris and me by email that she was stressed and needed to take some time off.”
“Can you give me their phone numb
ers, Tom?”
“Sure, Rick. I have them in my phone. I’ll text them.”
“I know I’ve kept you busy, Tom. But have you had a chance to review the Zeus folder I gave you during my last visit to VSI?”
“Yes, I evaluated the design, and my team implemented the code in the development lab. It’s definitely based on VSI technology, but it has a target locator and command and control capability that’s incredibly sophisticated. I’m having fun playing with it, and I’ve made some modifications to decrease the size of the object code. It’s definitely Philip’s design, and it’s one hell of an antiworm. We’re going to integrate it into some of our current VSI technologies, boss.”
“How does it compare to the Backfire worm, Tom?”
“Backfire is also very sophisticated, and it’s designed to be offensive. Whoever developed it has talent, and there’s enough similarities to Zeus that I’m certain it was developed by someone who knows our technology.”
“I agree, Tom. It’s getting late, and Rick and I need to leave.”
Rick handed Tom his card and said, “Ask both Chris and Theresa to call me when you hear from them.”
As they were walking to the car, James said, “I think Theresa is the more likely suspect. Her position gave her control over all product modifications, including all patches. Philip also didn’t want her to be the new CEO. It was in his will. I think we should concentrate on her.”
“I’ll look at both, James. I’ve been trained to always expect the unexpected. Can you drop me at my house?”
“Sure, no problem, Rick.”
When James got home, he immediately called Barbara. He described what they’d seen at VSI and told her that a rogue VSI employee could be involved in the cyber attacks.
“Thanks, James, I’ll let Shelly know. That bug you planted in George’s office was a great idea. It looks like all the arrangements for the students have been completed, and they’ll be on their way to Munich. George is also going, and we recorded his itinerary as he was dictating it to his secretary.”
Cyber Countdown Page 31