Since the author also requests remuneration, we would ask these

W >> Winn Schwartau >> Since the author also requests remuneration, we would ask these

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53

Oh no, he thought, the hammer was dropping. He turned back to
Higgins. "Yeah?"

"Good work. You're onto something. Keep it up and keep it
clean."

"No problem." Scott floated on air. "No, problem at all."

Back at his desk, Scott called Hugh Sidneys. He still worked at
State First, as far as he knew, and it was time to bring him out
of the closet, if possible.

"Hugh?" Scott said affably. "This is Scott Mason, over at the
Times?"

"Yeah? Oh, hello," Sidneys said suspiciously. "What do you
want?"

"Hugh, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"I think you know. Would you like to talk here on the phone, or
privately?" Sometimes leaving the mark only two options, neither
particularly attractive, would keep him within those bounds.
Sidneys was an ideal person for this tact.

The pregnant pause conveyed Sidney's consternation. The first
person to speak would lose, thought Scott. Hugh spoke.

"Ah, I think it would be . . .ah better . . .if we
spoke . . .at . . ."

"How about the same place?" Scott offered.

"OK," Hugh was hesitant. "I guess so . . .when?"

"Whenever you want. No pressure." Scott released the tension.

"I get off at 5, how about . . .?"

"I'll be there."

"Yes ma'am. This is Scott Mason. I'm a reporter for the Times.
I will only take a few seconds of his time. Is he in?" Scott
used his kiss-the-secretary's-ass voice. Better then being
aggressive unless it was warranted.

"I'll check, Mr. Mason," she said. The phone went on hold.
After a very few seconds, the Muzak was replaced with a gruff
male voice.

"Mr. Mason? I'm Francis MacMillan. How may I help you?" He
conveyed self assuredness, vitality and defensiveness.

"I won't take a moment, sir." Scott actually took several sec-
onds to make sure his question would be formed accurately. He
probably only had one chance. "We have been researching an
article on fraudulent investment practices on the part of various
banks; some fall out from the S&L mess." He paused for effect.
"At any rate, we have received information that accuses First
State of defrauding it's investors. In particular, we have
records that show a complicated set of financial maneuvers that
are designed to drain hundreds of millions of dollars from the
assets of First State. Do you have any comment?"

Total silence. The quality of fiber phone lines made the silence
all the more deafening.

"If you would like some specifics, sir, I can provide them to
you," Scott said adding salt to the wound. "In many cases, sir,
you are named as the person responsible for these activities. We
have the documents and witnesses. Again, we would like a comment
before we go to print."

Again Scott was met with silence. Last try.

"Lastly, Mr. MacMillan, we have evidence that your bank's comput-
ers have been invaded by hackers who can alter the financial
posture of First State. If I may say so, the evidence is quite
damning." Scott decided not to ask for a comment directly. The
question was no longer rhetorical, it was implicit.

If feelings could be transmitted over phone wires, Scott heard
MacMillan's nerve endings commence a primal scream. The phone
explosively hung up on Scott.

* * * * *

Thursday, December 3
First State Bank, New York

Francis MacMillan, President of First State Savings and Loan,
bellowed at the top of his lungs. Three Vice Presidents were in
his office before 7:00 A.M.

"Who the fuck's in charge of making sure the damned computers are
safe?"

The V.P. of Data processing replied. "It's Jeanne Fineman,
sir."

"Fire him."

"Jeanne is a woman . . ."

"Fire them both. I want them out of here in 10 minutes." McMil-
lan's virulent intensity gave his aides no room for dissent.

"Sir, why, it's almost Christmas, and it wasn't her fault . . ."

"And no bonus. Make sure they never work near banks, or comput-
ers ever again! Got that?" Everyone nodded in shock.

"Al?" McMillan shouted. "Buy back our stock, quietly. When
the market hears this we're in for a dump. No one will believe
us when we respond, and it will take us a day to get out an
answer."

"How much?" Al Shapiro asked.

"You figure it out. Just keep it calm." Shapiro noted it agree-
ably.

"Where the hell are the lawyers? I want that pinko-faggot news-
paper stopped by tonight." McMillan's rage presaged a very, very
bad day at First State.

"And someone, someone, find me that shit hole worm Sidneys. I
want him in my office in 30 seconds. Now," he violently thrust
his arms in the air, "get the hell out of here until you have
some good news."

* * * * *

Friday, December 4

RUN ON FIRST STATE AS IT STALLS ON OWN BAILOUT
by Scott Mason

Since yesterday afternoon, First State Savings and Loan has been
in asset-salvation mode. Upon reports that computer hackers have
had access to First State's computers and records for some time,
and can change their contents at will, the stock market reacted
negatively by a sell-off. In the first 15 minutes of trading,
First State's stock plummeted from 48 1/2 to 26 1/4, a reduction
of one half its value. Subsequently, the stock moved up with
block buying. At the noon bell, the stock had risen modestly to
31. It is assumed that First State itself is repurchasing their
own stock in an attempt to bolster market confidence.

However, at 2:00PM, First State contacted banking officials in
New York and Washington, as well as the SEC, to announce that a
rush of worried depositors had drained the bank of it's available
hard currency reserves, and would close until the following
morning when cash transfers would permit the bank to continue
payments.

Last quarter cash holding were reported in excess of $3 Billion,
and First State has acknowledged that any and all monies would
be available to those who desired it. In a press release issued
by First State at 1:00 PM they said, "A minor compromise of our
computers has caused no discernible damage to the computers, our
customers or the bank. A thorough investigation has determined
that the hacker was either a figment of the imagination of a
local paper or was based upon unfounded hearsay. The bank's
attorneys are reviewing their options."

The combination of the two announcements only further depressed
First State stock. It stood at 18 7/8 when the SEC blocked
further trading.

This is Scott Mason, who reported the news as he saw it. Accu-
rately.

****************************************************************

Chapter 15

Sunday, December 6
Washington, D.C.

Miles Foster was busy at one of the several computers in his
Washington, D.C. condo. It was necessary, on a daily basis, to
stay in contact with a vast group of people who were executing
portions of his master plan. He thought it was going quite well,
exceedingly so in fact. Spread over 3 continents he remote
controlled engineers and programmers who designed methods to
compromise computers. With his guidance, though. He broke them
into several groups, and none of them knew they were part of a
much larger organization, nor did they have any idea of their
ultimate objective.

Each of his computer criminals was recruited by Alex; that's the
only name that Miles knew. Alex. Miles had drawn up a list of
minimum qualifications for his 'staff'. He forwarded them to
Homosoto, who, Miles guessed, passed them on to the ubiquitous
yet invisible Alex. That obviously wasn't his real name, but
suitable for conversation.

Miles had developed a profile of the various talents he required.
One group needed to have excellent programming skills, with a
broad range of expertise in operating systems. An operating
system is much like English or any other language. It is the O/S
that allows the computer to execute its commands. Unless the
computer understands the O/S, the computer is deaf dumb and
blind. As a child learns to communicate, a computer is imbued
with the basic knowledge to permit it to function. It is still
essentially stupid, that is, it can't do anything on its own
without instructions, but it can understand them when they are
given.

In order to violate a computer, a thorough understanding of the
O/S, or language of the computer is a must. Good programmers
learn the most efficient way to get a computer to perform the
desired task. There are, as in any field, tricks of the trade.
Through experience, a programmer will learn how to fool the
computer into doing things it might not be designed to do. By
taking advantage of the features of the Operating System, many of
them unknown and therefore undocumented by the original designers
of the O/S, a computer programmer is able to extract additional
performance from the equipment.

Similarly, though, such knowledge allows the motivated programmer
to bypass critical portions of the Operating System to perform
specific jobs and to circumvent any security measures that may be
present. For example, in most of the 85,000,000 or so DOS com-
puters in the world, it is common knowledge that when you ERASE a
file, you really don't erase it. You merely erase the NAME of
the file. If a secretary was told to dispose of document from a
file cabinet, and she only removed the name of each file, but
left the contents remaining in the file drawers, she would cer-
tainly have reason to worry for her job. Such is an example of
one of the countless security holes that permeate computer land.

To take advantage of such glaring omissions, several software
companies were formed that allowed users to retrieve 'erased'
files.

These were among the skills that Miles wanted his people to have.
He needed them to be fluent in not only DOS, but Unix, Xenix,
VMS, Mac and a host of other Operating Systems. He needed a
group that knew the strengths and weaknesses of every major O/S
to fulfill his mission. They needed to be able to identify and
exploit the trap doors and holes in all operating and security
systems. From an engineering standpoint, Miles found it terrifi-
cally exciting. Over the three years he had been working for
Homosoto, Miles and his crew designed software techniques and
hardware tools that he didn't believe were even contemplated by
his former employer, the NSA.

The qualifications he sent to Homosoto were extensive, detailed
and demanding. Miles wasn't convinced that anyone but he could
find the proper people. The interview process alone was crucial
to determining an applicant's true abilities, and a mediocre
programmer could easily fool a non-technical person. While Miles
and Homosoto agreed that all programmers should be isolated from
each other, Miles felt he should know them more than by a coded
name over modem lines. Miles lost that battle with one swift
word from Homosoto. No.

To Miles' surprise, within a few days of providing Homosoto with
is recruitment lists, his 'staff' began calling him on his com-
puter. To call Miles, a computer needed his number, and the
proper security codes. To a man, or woman, they all did. And,
as he spoke to them over the public phone lines, in encrypted
form of course, he was amazed at their quality and level of
technical sophistication. Whoever Alex was, he knew how to do
his job.

Over a period of a few months, Miles commanded the resources of
over 100 programmers. But, Miles thought, there was something
strange about most of those with whom he spoke. They seemed
ready to blindly follow instructions without questioning the
assigned tasks. When a programmer takes a job or an assignment,
he usually knows that he will be designing a data base, or word
processor or other application program. However, Miles' staff
was to design programs intended to damage computers.

He had assembed the single largest virus software team in the
world, and none of them questioned the nature or ethics of the
work. Miles would have thought that while there is considerable
technical talent around the world, finding people who would be
willing to work on projects to facilitate the interruption of
communications and proper computer operations would have been the
most difficult part of recruitment. He realized he was wrong,
although he did not know why. Technical mercenaries perhaps? He
had never seen an ad with that as a job title, but, what the
hell. Money can buy anything. Weapons designers since Oppen-
heiner have had to face similar moral dilemmas, and with wide-
spread hatred of things American, recruitment couldn't have been
all that difficult.

As he sat in his apartment, he was receiving the latest virus
designs from one of his programmers who lived in the suburbs of
Paris, France. While there was somewhat of a language barrier
when they spoke, the computer language was a common denominator,
and they all spoke that fluently. It broke down communications
errors. Either it was in the code, or it wasn't.

Miles knew this designer only as Claude. Claude's virus was
small, less than 2K, or 2000 characters, but quite deadly. Miles
went over it and saw what it was designed to do. Ooh, clever,
thought Miles. As many viruses do, this one attached itself to
the Command.Com file of the DOS Operating System. Rather than
wait for a specific future date, the next time the computer was
booted, or turned on, Claude's virus in the O/S would play havoc
with the chips that permit a printer to be connected to the
computer. In a matter of seconds, with no pre-warning, the user
would hear a small fizzle, and smell the recognizable odor of
electronic burn. During the time the user poked his nose around
the computer, to see if the smell was real or imaginary, the
virus would destroy the contents of the hard disk.

According to Claude, whose English was better than most French-
men, there was a psychological advantage to this type of double-
duty virus. The victim would realize that his computer needed
repair and take it be fixed at his local computer shop. But,
alas! Upon its return, the owner would find his hard disk trashed
and attempt to blame the repairman. Deviously clever. Of course
this type of virus would be discovered before too long. After a
few thousand computers had their printer port blown up, word
would get around and the virus would be identified. But, mean-
while, oh what fun.

As Miles prepared to send Claude's latest and greatest to another
of his staff for analysis and debugging, the computer dedicated
to speaking to Homosoto beeped at him. He glanced over at Nip-
Com. He labeled all his computers with abbreviations. In this
case, Nippon Communications seemed appropriate.

<<<<<>>>>>

MR. FOSTER

Miles scooted his chair over to NipCom and entered his PRG re-
sponse..

Here Boss-san. What's up

YOU TELL ME.

Huh?

I READ THE PAPERS. AGAIN YOU MOVE PRECIPITOUSLY.

What are you talking about?

FIRST STATE BANK. YOUR INFECTORS ARE WITHOUT DISCIPLINE

I still don't know what you mean

THE PAPERS HAVE SAID THAT FIRST STATE BANK WAS INVADED BY HACKERS
AND THEIR STOCK DROPPED VERY MUCH. IT IS STILL NOT TIME.

Oh, that. Good bit of work.

NO SO MR FOSTER. I AM NOT PLEASED WITH YOU

Me, why? I didn't have anything to do with it

EXPLAIN

Nothing to explain. My group doesn't do that, and even if they
did, so what.

WHAT ABOUT THE VIRUSES? I READ EVERY DAY OF NEW COMPUTER VIRUS.
THEY MUST BE STOPPED.

Why? It's all in good fun. Let 'em release them all they want.

THEY WILL HURT OUR PLANS

Bull. If anything, they help us.

HOW IS THAT?

Getting folks good and nervous. They're beginning to wonder who
they can trust. It sure as hell won't be the government.

BUT IT IS IN THE PAPERS.

So?

THE BANKS WILL PROTECT THEMSELVES. THEY WILL SEEN WHAT THE
HACKERS DO AND MAKE OUR JOB MORE DIFFICULT.

Not a chance. Listen, there are hundreds, maybe thousands or
more of small time hackers who poke around computers all the
time. Sometimes they do some damage, but most of the time they
are in it for the thrill. The challenge. They are loosely
organized at best. Maybe a few students at a university, or high
school who fancy themselves computer criminals. Most of them
wouldn't know what to do with the information if they took it.

The only reason this one hit the papers is because First is under
investigation anyway, some fraud stuff. Literally thousands of
computers are attacked every day, yet those don't appear in the
paper or TV. It's kind of like rape. Companies don't want to
admit they've been violated. And since damage has been limited,
at least as far as the scale upon which we function, it's a non-
issue. I DO NOT SEE IT THAT WAY.

Well, that's the way it is. There are maybe a half dozen well
coordinated hacking groups who care to cause damage. The rest of
them, ignore them. They're harmless.

I WISH I BELIEVED THAT

There's not much we can do about it.

WHY NOT STOP THEM

We can't. Look at our plans. We have hundreds of people who
have a single purpose. We operate as a single entity. The hack-
ers are only a small thorn. Industry can't do much about them,
so they ignore them. It is better that we ignore them, too.

FIND THEM

Who?

THE FIRST BANK ATTACKERS

Why?

I WANT THEM STOPPED

I told you, you can't do that. It's impossible. Call the Arab.

LOOK AT US, MR FOSTER. NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.

What do you want me to do with them?

TELL ME WHO THEY ARE. I WILL TAKE CARE OF IT.

I'll see what I can do.

DO IT.

<<<<<>>>>>

Fuck, thought Miles. Sometimes Homosoto can be such an asshole.
He doesn't really understand this business. I wonder how he got
into it in the first place.

He remembered that he had to get Claude's virus properly analyzed
and tested, so he sent it off to an American programmer who would
perform a sanity-check on it. If all went well he would then
send it out for distribution into America's computers through his
BBS system set up just for that purpose.

With Diet Coke and Benson and Hedges Ultra Lights in hand he
figured he might as well have someone look into Homosoto's para-
noia. With some luck they could get a lead on this anonymous
hacker and maybe Homosoto would leave him alone for a few hours.
The constant interruptions and micro-management was a perpetual
pain in the ass.

Miles moved over to his BBS computer and told ProCom to dial 1-
602-555-3490. That was the phone number of the Freedom BBS,
established by Miles and several recruits that Alex had so ably
located. It was mid morning Arizona time. Revere should be
there.

<<<<<>>>>>

Welcome to the Freedom BBS
Owned and Operated by the
Information Freedom League
(Non-profit)

Are You a Member of the IFL? Y
ID: XXXXXXXXX
PASSWORD: XXXXXXXX

Pause . . .

WELCOME TO THE FREEDOM BBS, MF. HOW ARE YOU TODAY?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

FREEDOM FLASH!!!!!!!!!

Another hacker has been convicted of a computer crime and
has been sentenced to 1 Year in jail, a fine of $25,000 and
2000 hours of community service!

His crime? Larry Johnson, a respected hacker from Milwau-
kee, WI, was a founding member of the 401 Group over 10
years ago. Since then he has been hacking systems success-
fully and was caught after he added $10,000 to his bank
account.

GOOD FOR THE SECRET SERVICE! Congratulations Guys!

The IFL believes in a free exchange of information for all
those who wish to be willing participants. We whole-heart-
edly condemn all computer activities that violate the law
and code of computer ethics. All members of IFL are expect-
ed to heed all current computer legislation and use comput-
ers exclusively for the betterment of mankind.

Any IFL member found to be using computers in any illegal
fashion or for any illegal purpose will be reported to the
Computer Crime Division of the Secret Service in Washington,
D.C.

Remember, hacking is a crime!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A little thick, thought Miles, but effective. And a stroke of
genius. He patted himself ion the back every time he saw how
effective Freedom, his computer warfare distribution system was.

DO YOU WANT THE MAIN MENU? No

DO YOU WANT TO SPEAK TO REVERE? Y

LET ME SEE IF HE IS HERE, OR IF YOU NEED TO LEAVE A MESSAGE.

ONE MOMENT PLEASE. . .

THE SYSOP IS WAITING. PLEASE ENTER YOUR PIN: XXXX-XXXX

Pause . . .

MF? IS THAT YOU?

Betch'ure ass. Revere? How's trix?

SAME OL' SAME OL'. YOU?

Trying to make a profit. Hey, we gotta talk.

OUT LOUD?

No whisper.

OK. LET ME SET IT.

<>

Pause . . .
<>
Pause . . .
<>

MF?

Still here.

GOOD. SURPRISES THE SHIT OUT OF ME EVERY TIME THIS WORKS.

Me too.

WHAT CAN I DO? GOT ANOTHER PRESENT?

Couple of days, sure. Some doosies.

WHAT'YA GOT?

A graphics program that kicks the living shit out of VGA Master
and Paint Man. Deadly too.

HOW?

Copies portions of itself into Video RAM and treats it as a TSR.
Next program you load gets infected from Video RAM and spreads
from there. Undetectable unless you're running debug at the same
time and looking for it. Then it stealths itself into all V-RAM
applications and spreads outside the O/S.

TRIGGERS?

I forget the exact trigger mechanism, but it gives constant
parity errors. Nothing'll run.

OK! LOOKIN' GOOD.

Also have a few Lotus utilities, a couple of games.

THE GAMES ARE GOING GREAT GUNS. WE SHOULD BE SELLING THEM IN THE
STORES.

How many?

AS OF A WEEK AGO, MORE THAN 240,000 PACK-LADIES HAVE BEEN DOWN
LOADED. THAT'S OUR BEST SELLER.

Anyone sending money?

SURPRISINGLY, YES. WE'RE TURNING A PROFIT.

Shit. That's not what we wanted.

CAN'T KEEP A GOOD PROGRAM DOWN.

Yeah Yeah Yeah. Need some info.

THAT'S OUR MIDDLE NAME. WHAT DO YOU NEED?

You hear about the First Bank hacker?

SURE! I GOT A DOZEN PEOPLE TAKING CREDIT FOR IT.

You're kidding

NO! IT'S A GOOD ONE. BRING A BANK TO IT'S KNEES. STOP STOCK
TRADING. SEC INVESTIGATION. A LOT OF OUR FOLKS WOULD HAVE BEEN
PROUD.

Was it us?

NO WAY.

Then who, really?

DAMNED IF I KNOW OR CARE.

Care

WHAT? SINCE WHEN DO WE CARE ABOUT THE AMATEURS?

Since now. Things are heating up too soon. I need to know who
pulled the job.

I CAN GET A LOT OF PEOPLE TO ADMIT IT, BUT I CAN'T VERIFY IT.

Whoever did it is not likely to advertise it openly. We may need
to pull him into the open.

GOTCHA

Here's my thinking. Assume the hack is just a kid. He's getting
no credit and receives a shitty allowance. So, we offer a re-
ward. Whoever can prove that they are the one's who broke into
First Bank, we'll send them a new 386. Whatever, use your imagi-
nation.

THINK HE'LL BITE?

If it's a pro, no. But this doesn't ring of a pro. The news-
papers know too much.

AND IF WE FIND HIM?

Just get me his number and shipping address. Make sure he gets
the computer too.

OK BOSS. ANYTHING ELSE?

Keep up the good work. Oh, yeah. I need the estimates.

NO PROBLEM. THEY LOOK GREAT. IN JUST OVER 2 YEARS, WE HAVE
GIVEN AWAY OVER 1,300,000 INFECTED PROGRAMS AND NONE HAVE GONE
OFF YET. ACCORDING TO PLAN.

Love it. Peace.

BYE, YOU MF.

<<<<<>>>>>

* * * * *

Monday, December 7
New York City

The phone on Scott Mason's desk had been unusually, but grateful-
ly quiet. Higgins had been able to keep the First State lawyers
at bay with the mounds of information the paper had accumulated
on MacMillan's doings. The bank's stock was trading again, but
at a dilution of over 75%. Most individual customers had cashed
out their accounts, including Higgins, and only those long term
portfolios remained. Scott's stories on First Bank had won him
recognition by his peers. No awards, but an accolade at the New
York Journalists Club dinner. Not bad, he thought.

Now the hard work continued for him. The full background analy-
ses, additional proof, more witnesses now that Sidneys was under
Federal indictment and out of work. MacMillan was in trouble,
but it was clear to Scott, that if the heat got turned up too
much, there was a cache of millions offshore for the person with
the right access codes.