“Could it be in the router itself?” asked Sharon.
“Not likely, since the replacement router acted the same way. More likely it’s hidden in one of the devices attached to the network. Could be a PC, or even in the memory of a printer. Since all the printers are off, I’m voting for one of the half dozen computers that are still turned on.”
Sharon nodded. “One at a time, turn off each PC, then recopy the configuration file. Reboot the router and see if it stabilizes. If it does, we’ll know which computer is the source of the problem.”
Justin did as instructed, eliminating potentially offending units from the network. In each case he got the same result–the router reverted back to its bad state. His own computer was now the only remaining PC attached to the network that was still turned on.
“Looks like it must be mine,” said Justin, although it was clear from his expression that he did not believe this could be the case. Then he recalled how his computer had recently crashed, and wondered if there might be a connection. He related the incident to Sharon.
“Let’s run Omnivore again,” said Sharon, his voice lowered. “But this time we’ll focus on your computer. I want to see everything that goes over the wire to that router.”
Sharon made sure that everyone else was occupied, and Omnivore was activated in local mode, tracing everything that went into or out of Justin’s computer. High expectations gradually turned to disappointment, however, as ten minutes passed and nothing happened. The router continued to function normally.
Then suddenly, just as had happened previously, it stopped working. Only now they knew why.
It was Justin who first narrowed down the cause of the attack, then identified it positively. A cleverly designed copy of a seemingly harmless system file had been pushed into his system–no one yet knew how that had happened–which then triggered the chaos that followed. Omnivore was taken off line as soon as the problem was isolated, but the mess that was left behind still had to be cleaned up. Operating systems had to be rebuilt on the affected machines, and software had to be reloaded. All in all the data center would be down for the better part of the day.
Agent Sharon had to do quite a tap dance in front of his supervisor to diffuse the situation, but he got off with merely a warning. He knew that if he told Roberts about his use of Omnivore he would have gotten more than a slap on the wrist, and said so to Justin.
“What I did with Omnivore, well, you’d best forget about that.”
“What we did,” said Justin. “I was there, too. Besides, we didn’t enable it for external scrutiny; we only aimed it at ourselves. How could that be wrong?”
“Just don’t mention it to anyone.”
Justin nodded. “Who do you suppose was responsible for the attack?”
“I had hoped that Omnivore would give us some indication.”
“It did help narrow things down.”
“True,” said Sharon, though he was obviously not satisfied. “We need to locate the source of the intrusion. After the computers are all back on line, I want you to re-activate Walthrop’s system.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be taking it down?” asked Justin.
“We are. This is part of the post operational shakedown.” Sharon had a hard time suppressing a grin.
“Of course, sir. I’ll keep a close watch for any anomalies.”
Justin understood Sharon’s hunch. Perhaps the attack was related to the Internet anomaly they had been watching. If they could show this to be the case, it would bolster Sharon’s claim that the system Walthrop had developed was still needed, and at the very least would give them more data to work with.
“Let me know when you’re finished here,” said Sharon.
Justin nodded and returned to his work, pleased at the bond that was forming between he and Agent Sharon.
***
While the FBI data center was effectively shut down by Norbert’s program, the agency took the opportunity to switch on their new hardware. Their original equipment was strictly one way, from the Internet into the agency’s system, but the new gear gave them an enhanced ability to intercept and modify data packets en route to their destinations outside of the agency. Though not as widely distributed as the agency’s existing network of profile-based devices, the upgraded hardware would greatly facilitate the agency’s next undertaking.
Despite repeated warnings from Tom Snelling that his department needed more time, Mason was adamant; the attempt to alter the societal profile would proceed. The agency’s hardware improvements allowed Norbert to link to a number of networks utilized by airline and ground transport systems. He had prepared a huge surprise for major sectors of the travel industry, and all that was needed was the order to begin.
Mason phoned him just after nine in the morning. “Norbert, it’s time to stop the trains.”
“I’m on it.” He already had the activation programs in place, neatly lined up like so many cyber soldiers. He only had to enter one command to launch the entire process, which he did now. He informed Mason when it was done.
“Good. When do you think we’ll start to get results?”
“The first failures will be at the airports,” said Norbert. “The reservation systems and some communication centers will go down. Most of the airlines, at least the major ones, will be unable to do any transaction processing.”
“You hit the banks?” asked Mason.
“No, just the mechanism that let’s the airlines do online transactions. It won’t be long before the lines start to run out the doors.”
“Then what?”
“The airlines will try to route as many people as possible to other airlines, but they’ll be having the same problems, and the backlog will escalate. Once it becomes clear that the problem is widespread and not easily corrected, people will seek alternate transportation. Trains and buses will be their first choice, but they’ll be hit, too. It doesn’t really matter though, because they wouldn’t be able to handle the overflow even if they weren’t affected.”
“Nationwide?”
“It’s focused on the eastern metropolitan areas.”
“That’s fine.” Mason hesitated for a moment, as if something else was on his mind. “Let me ask you something, Norbert.”
“Sure.”
“The programs you’re using for this, are they similar to what you used against the FBI?”
“Heck, no. We’re talking two different approaches altogether.”
“I’d like to discuss this with you.”
“I want to monitor the situation here for a while, then I can stop up.”
“I look forward to it.” The line clicked as Mason hung up.
***
At Dulles airport, the first indication that something was wrong involved a group of German tourists who were trying to change their reservations to extend their visit for a day. It should have been a routine transaction, but the ticket agent was unable to persuade the computer to accept her entry. She smiled at the middle-aged man in front of her, and politely asked him to step down to the next computer.
The clerk at this station was also having problems.
“You mean it won’t let you input a request?”
“Exactly. I get my prompt as usual, and enter my session ID, but then it hangs.”
“Mine does exactly the same thing. Have you ever seen this before?”
“No, they go down sometimes, but not like this.”
The German man was growing irritated. “Is there a problem?” His accent was thick. The woman who had been helping him smiled apologetically.
“Computers are down, I’m afraid. I’m going to have to call our central reservation system.”
She motioned for him to follow her back to her station, where a line was beginning to form. He walked back with her, but there was a woman now occupying the front of the line, and she gave the German a dirty look when he stepped in front of her. He pointed to the lady who was helping him, in an effort to communicate the fact th
at he was following her instructions. The woman looked away.
The ticket agent picked up her phone and dialed the number of the central office, but it was busy. She hung up and picked the receiver up again. Nothing. She called out to the other clerk.
“Phones are dead.”
“What do we do now?”
The lines were lengthening, not only at their counter, but all over the concourse.
“I wonder if the power’s out?”
“Lights are on. Everything else seems okay. I’m going to try a pay phone to call central. You hold down the fort.”
Her coworker nodded as she left the counter to seek out a public phone. Meanwhile, the lines continued to grow.
***
Klugman seemed genuinely happy to see Stanley and Katherine. “Welcome back,” he said.
Boyd was less enthusiastic. “Hey,” was all he could manage, without a smile. After the terse greeting he turned and walked to his cubicle.
Klugman looked after him with concern. “I’m sure he’s just…”
“Boyd?” Katherine finished.
Klugman laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.” His demeanor became serious. “We should probably have a quick meeting to bring you two up to date. After you get situated, we’ll talk.”
“Great,” said Katherine. She and Stanley went to their cubicles, while Klugman went to talk to Boyd.
“What’s up with you?” asked Klugman.
The anger in Boyd’s eyes was unmistakable. “What’s up? I’ll tell you what’s up. You let me work my butt off to keep the project on track, or as close to it as humanly possible, then you bring these two back in to steal the glory. I think it stinks.”
“This has nothing to do with glory, Boyd. When it comes time to divvy up the bonuses, I won’t forget who was here and who wasn’t. But we need Stanley and Katherine. It’s just like it always was. If the project doesn’t succeed, none of us makes out.”
“That’s fine. Just don’t expect me to pretend they didn’t abandon us when the going got tough.”
“From what Stanley told me, that’s not how it was,” said Klugman. “At any rate, it’s not something I can discuss with you. Just play nice.”
“Right.”
Klugman knew that Boyd was more bark than bite, so he didn’t press the issue. He returned to his office to prepare for the meeting, and shortly thereafter everyone gathered in the ScanDat conference room. Stanley and Katherine sat on one side of the long table, near the middle, while Boyd sat opposite them and nearer one end.
Klugman took his usual position at the head of the table, and started the meeting. “Okay, people. Now that we’re all here, let’s get to it. Boyd, give us an update on what you’ve been doing.”
Boyd responded in a monotone, his face expressionless. “Aside from my usual duties of maintaining hardware, building the project infrastructure, and keeping the computer center running, I’ve been trying to compensate for the absence of two key employees.” He concluded with a brief glance at Klugman, who was having none of it.
“Boyd, stop it. We have to cooperate if this is going to work.”
“Hey, don’t tell me about cooperation! I’m not the one who disappeared without saying a word, then stayed out for days while the rest of us struggled to take up the slack. Talk to them about teamwork and all that. I’ve been here busting my butt.”
An awkward silence followed.
“Boyd, you’re absolutely right,” said Katherine. “We had no right to take off like we did, and we truly appreciate the way you stepped up in a very difficult time. I only hope you can forgive us, and that you’ll believe that we had a very good reason that we just can’t go into right now.”
“She’s telling the truth,” added Stanley. “I know we’ve had our differences, but if you’ll give us a chance, we’ll do what we can to make it up.”
“What do you say, Boyd?” asked Klugman.
He hesitated. “Okay. But when this is over, I want to hear the reason why you bolted.”
Stanley nodded, and reached across the table and offered his hand, which Boyd slowly accepted. Katherine placed hers on top, and the ScanDat team was back in business.
***
Once reports started to come in about congestion at the airports, Norbert made the visit to Mason’s office that he had promised.
“Come in, Norbert. Have a seat. What’s the word on phase two?”
“Very good. The web is already putting out stories about lines at ticket counters, and in a couple places things got a bit nasty. Apparently the typical American traveler doesn’t have a very high threshold of patience.” Norbert settled back on the couch.
“How long before we achieve maximum effect?” asked Mason.
“It should take about a day to reach the boiling point. We’ll definitely hear something on the evening news. Possibly sooner.”
“That’s great, Norbert, really fantastic.”
Norbert beamed. “It’s nothing, really, sir. Just a few lines of code where it wasn’t expected.”
“Don’t be modest. In fact, I wish you would indulge me and tell me exactly how you did it.”
“What do you mean?” asked Norbert.
“Explain to me how it works. I probably won’t understand, but I’m fascinated by what you do.”
Norbert leaned forward. “Most people couldn’t care less about this stuff. I’d be happy to explain it to you.”
“Please.”
Mason made himself comfortable, while Norbert gathered himself, trying to decide where to begin.
“When you log on to your computer, what’s the first thing that happens?”
Mason answered immediately. “It asks me for a user ID and password. I can change the domain name if I want, as well.”
“That’s correct,” said Norbert. “At least as far as you’re aware. In reality, the system is performing a whole series of self-checks, opening and closing files, checking hardware, stuff like that.”
“I see. So what does this have to do with the airline shutdown program that you wrote for phase two?”
“I can take advantage of those behind-the-scenes processes to gain entry into smaller systems, which often lead to larger systems. It’s all about finding a path to the target.”
“And this program you wrote,” said Mason. “How is it different from the one you used to shut down the FBI’s computers?”
“This one is more generic, more flexible. I didn’t know exactly what I would find in each system, so the program had to be more intelligent, so it could adapt to its local environment.”
“Why is that different from the FBI scenario?”
“In the case of the FBI I knew pretty much what kind of system I was dealing with–what security was in place, that sort of thing. Also, the FBI data center only had to be shut down for a few hours, which was pretty easy to accomplish.”
“That was a nice job, Norbert.”
“Thank you. Anyway, the airlines are going to have to recover on their own. In the FBI case, the infection I introduced was designed to stop its nastiness after five hours.”
“So it was the same mechanism, with a few adjustments?” said Mason.
“I’d say that’s a fair statement. I still used DLLs as a delivery instrument, but the contents of those files were quite different.”
Norbert went into a seemingly unending stream of technical detail about reusable components, object oriented programming, and various other topics that had Mason nodding. It was extensive detail about the design process.
“Could the FBI program be reused if necessary?” asked Mason.
“Not likely. Since they caught it after a few hours, I have to assume that they’ve developed a filter for it.”
“I have another project for you,” said Mason.
“What’s that?”
“I want you to modify the FBI program, combining it with certain elements of the airline project.”
“Modify it? How?”
“In
two ways. First, I want the capability to disable the FBI again if need be. You said that using the same program probably wouldn’t work a second time. I don’t want to be left defenseless if they start to close in on us again.”
“What else?”
“I want the program to be target enabled.”
“I don’t understand,” said Norbert.
“Can you write it so that it prompts you for who to target?”
“Oh, I get it. In case some other agency starts to get too close.”
“Exactly,” said Mason. “Can you do it?”
Norbert tapped a pen against his leg, considering. “It’s a tall order.”
Mason allowed a look of disappointment to cross his face. “Oh, well, if it’s too hard…”
“I said difficult, not impossible.” Norbert paused for a moment. “But I guess it could be done.”
“Excellent. Could you build in a timing mechanism, so we could tell it for how long to shut down the target?”
“I can tell it when to stop being a nuisance, but just like with the FBI if they detect the problem before that time, they may be able to fix it sooner. Also, without knowing exactly who it would be used against, the coding will have to be very generic, very flexible, like the airline program.”
Mason nodded. “As long as we have something to use in an emergency.”
“I understand.”
“I’d like you to start work on this right away,” said Mason. “Keep me apprised of your progress, and as usual, this is highly confidential.” Mason’s tone and expression made it clear that the meeting was over.
Norbert rose to leave. “I won’t disappoint you, Mr. Mason.”
Mason smiled at him as he left, then reached under his desk and turned off the video recorder. He was terrible at remembering technical details, and thought he might need the information Norbert had provided before this was all over.
Chapter Fifteen
It was the first large-scale computer shutdown in American history, and law enforcement agencies at all levels scrambled to get a handle on the problem. Agent Sharon’s computer center was no exception; in fact, they were very much at the core of the firestorm. They had just recovered from their own shutdown when the public transportation system went into spasms.
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