Since the author also requests remuneration, we would ask these

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

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The STU-III phone added funny electronic effects to the voices
that spoke over it; all in the interest of national security.

"Hello?" Jacobs asked.

"Homosoto is dead."

"I heard," Jacobs said. "It sounded clean."

"Very pro. Won't be a problem."

* * * * *

Scott saw the galley for the afternoon paper. The headline, in 3
inch letters shocked him:

RICKFIELD RESIGNS

He immediately called Senator Nancy Deere.

"I was going to call you," she said. "I guess you've heard."

"Yes, what happened?" He shouted excitedly over the rumble of the
high speed train.

"I guess I should take the blame," Nancy said. "When I confront-
ed the Senator this morning, he just stared at me. Never said a
word. I begged him for an explanation, but he sat there, expres-
sionless. He finally got up and left."

"That's it? What happens now?"

"I see the President," she said.

"May I ask why?"

"Off the record," she insisted.

"Sure." Scott agreed. What's one more source I can't name.

"I heard about the resignation from the White House. Phil Mus-
grave. He said the President was very concerned and wanted a
briefing from my perspective. He's beginning to feel some heat
on the computer crimes and doesn't have a clue. I figure they
need to get up to speed real fast."

"It's about time," Scott said out loud. "They've been ignoring
this forever."

"And," Senator Deere added, "they want you there, too. Tomorrow,
9A.M."

The hair on Scott's neck stood on end. A command performance
from the White House?

"Why, why me?

"You seem to know more than they do. They think you're wired
into the hackers and Homosoto."

"I'll be there," Scott managed to get out. "What do I do . . .?"

"Call Musgrave's office at the White House."

"I bet the paper's going nuts. I didn't tell them I had left or
where I was going," Scott laughed.

Scott called Doug who had half of the paper looking high and low
for him. "You made the big time, huh kid?" Doug said feigning
snobbery. "What world shattering events precipitated this mag-
nanimous call?" In fact he was proud. Very proud of Scott.

Scott explained to Doug that he would call after the White House
meeting, and he wasn't quite sure why he was going, and that
Nancy was taking over the hearings and he would stay in DC for a
few days. And no, he wouldn't tell more than was in print, not
without calling Doug or Higgins - at any hour.

Doug sounded relieved when Scott volunteered that there would be
no hotel bills. Phew. Forever the cheap skate. The story of the
year and he's counting pennies. God, Doug was a good editor.

Scott's stories on computer crime and specifically the dGraph
situation aroused national attention. Time, Newsweek and dozens
of periodicals began following the story, but Scott, at Doug's
suggestion, had wisely held back enough information that would
guarantee the privacy and quality of his sources.

He was right in the middle of it, perhaps making news as much as
reporting it, but with Doug's and the Times' guidance, Scott and
the paper were receiving accolades on their fair yet direct
treatment of the issues.

Doug thought that Scott was perhaps working on the story of the
year, or maybe the decade, but he never told him so. However,
Scott was warned that as the story became major national news,
the exclusivity that he and the Times had enjoyed would be in
jeopardy. Get it while the getting is hot.

No problem.

It just so happened Scott knew Miles Foster personally.

* * * * *

"Sonja? I'm coming down. Tonight. Can you recommend a good
hotel?" He jibed at her while packing away his laptop computer
for the trip to Washington. He called her and was going to leave
a message, but instead he was rewarded with her answering the
phone.

"Chez Lindstrom is nice, but the rates are kind of high."

"King or twin beds? Room with a view? Room service?"

"E, all of the above," she laughed. "Want me to pick you up at
National?"

"Naw, I'll take the train from work. I may need to buy a few
things when I get there, like a suitcase and a wardrobe. It's
kind of last minute."

"I gather I wasn't the prime reason for your sudden trip," Sonja
said in fun.

"No, it was, I wanted to come, but I had to do some . . .and then
I found out about . . .well I have to be there tomorrow, but I am
leaving a day early." He pleaded for understanding, not realiz-
ing she was kidding him. He couldn't tell her why he was being
so circumspect. Nothing about the meeting.

"Well," she said dejectedly, "I guess it's O.K. If."

"If what?" Scott brightened.

"If we can have a couple of friends over for dinner. There's
someone I'd like you to meet."

* * * * *

"Holy shit," Scott said as Sonja opened her apartment door and
admitted Miles and the stunning Stephanie.

Miles stopped in his tracks and stared at Scott. Then at Stepha-
nie. "What's the deal?" he said accusingly.

"This is Sonja Lindstrom and her friend Scott Mason," Stephanie
said. "What's wrong, hon?" She still had her arm wrapped around
Miles' arm.

"It's just that, well, we've met, and I was just kind of sur-
prised, that's all." He extended a hand at Scott. "Good to see
you again." Scott warmly reciprocated. This was going to be an
interesting evening.

"Yeah, ditto," Scott said, confused. "What happened to you? I
thought you were coming back?" He was speaking of Amsterdam.

"Well, I was a little occupied, if you recall," Miles said refer-
ring to the triplets in Amsterdam. "And business forced me to
depart earlier than I had anticipated."

"Where? To Japan?" Scott awaited a reaction by Miles, but was
disappointed when there was none.

Stephanie and Sonja wondered how the two had already met; it was
their job to report such things to Alex, but it really didn't
matter any more. They were quitting.

The first round of drinks was downed quickly and the tension in
the room abated slightly. The four spoke casually, albeit some-
what guardedly. The harmless small talk was only a prelude to
Scott's question when the girls stepped into the kitchen. Per-
haps they left the room on purpose.

"Listen," Scott whispered urgently to Miles. "I know who you
are, and that you're tied up with Homosoto and the computer
nutsiness that's going on everywhere. You have a lot of people
looking for you and we only have a few seconds," Scott said
glancing up at the kitchen door. "I see the situation as fol-
lows. You get to tell your side of the story to the authorities
in private, or you can tell me first and I put it in tomorrow's
paper. This may be your only chance to get your side of the
story out. All of sudden, you're big news. What'll it be?"
Scott spoke confidently and waited for Miles' answer.

Miles intently scanned every inch of Scott's face in minute
detail. "That fucking gook. You're damn right I'll talk. First
of all, it's a lie," Miles hissed. "If they're coming after
me, I have to protect myself. Can't trust a fucking slant eye,
can you?"

The girls returned with fresh drinks and sat down on the white
leather couch. Miles and Scott continued their discussion.

"What happened?" Scott asked. Miles looked over at the stunning
Sonja, stripping her naked with his stare and then at Stephanie
who had caught his stare.

"It's very simple," Miles said after a while. His dimples deep-
ened while he forced a smile. "Homosoto's fucked us all." He
nodded his head as he looked at his three companions. "Me.
Royally. How the hell can I defend myself against accusations
from the grave." He shrugged his shoulders. "And you," he point-
ed at Scott. "You've kept the fear going. Haven't you. You
picked up the scent and you've been writing about it for months.
Setting his stage for him. Like a puppet. And then? After you
sensitize the public, he commits suicide. He used you."

"And then, you two," Miles said to Stephanie and Sonja. "You
could be out in the cold in days. Bet you didn't know you were
in on it. Am I right?"

"In on what?" Scott asked Miles and Sonja.

"Tell him," Miles said to Sonja. "I've never met you, but I can
guess what you do for a living."

"She's a PR person," interjected Scott.

"Go on, tell him, or I will," Miles said again.

Sonja's eyes pleaded with Miles to stop it. Please, stop. I'll
do it in my own way, in time. Please, stop. Scott glowered at
Miles' words and awaited a response from Sonja. How could he
distrust her? But what did Miles mean?

The front door bell rang and broke the intense silence. It rang
again as Sonja went to answer.

"Yes, he's here," she whispered.

The door opened and Tyrone Duncan came into the room while anoth-
er man stood at the door. Tyrone walked up to Miles. Scott was
in absolute awe. How the hell? Ty had said tomorrow.

"Mr. Foster? Miles Foster?" Tyrone asked without pleasantries.

"Yeah," Miles said haughtily.

"FBI," Ty said flashing his badge. "You're under arrest for
trafficking in stolen computer access cards and theft of serv-
ice." Tyrone took a breath and waved a piece of paper in the
air. "We searched your apartment and found telephone company
access codes that . . . "

"I want to call my lawyer," Miles interrupted calmly. "Now," he
commanded.

" . . . have been used to bypass billing procedures."

"I said I want to call my lawyer," Miles again said emphatical-
ly.

"I'll be out in an hour," he said aside to Stephanie and kissed
her on the cheek. His arrogance was unnerving; this wasn't the
same Miles that Scott had known in Amsterdam. There, he was just
another misguided but well-intentioned techno-anarchist who was
more danger to himself than anyone else. But now, as Tyrone read
a list of charges against him, mostly arcane FBI domain inter-
state offenses, Miles took on a new character. A worldly crimi-
nal whom the FBI was arresting for potential terrorist activi-
ties.

"And those are for starters, Mister," Tyrone said after reading
off a list of penal violations by code number. As if following a
script, Tyrone added, "you have the right to remain silent . . ."
He wanted to make sure that this was a clean arrest, and with
this many witnesses, he was going to follow procedure to the
letter. Mirandizing was one of the steps.

Scott Mason's adrenaline flowed with intensity. Did he ever have
a story to tell now! An absolute scoop. He was present, coinci-
dentally, during the arrest of Miles Foster.

Front page.

"I want to call my lawyer," Miles repeated.

"Make it quick," said Tyrone. Miles rapidly dialed a number from
memory.

Miles turned his back on Tyrone and the others and spoke calmly
into the phone.

"It's me."

Pause.

"It's me. I need assistance."

Arrogance. Pause.

"A laundry list of charges."

Disinterest. Pause.

"Had to happen, sooner or later, yeah," Miles said happily.
Pause.

"I gotta dinner party. I don't want to miss it." He smiled at
Stephanie and blew a kiss. "Great. Make it quick." Miles hung
up.

Miles turned to Tyrone and held his wrists out together in front
of him. "Let's go," Miles said still smiling cooly.

Tyrone gently snapped the cuffs on Miles and ushered him toward
the door.

"Back in an hour or so," Miles defiantly said to Scott, Sonja and
Stephanie over his shoulder as the front door closed behind Miles
and his escorts.

Scott watched in disbelief. Miles, the Spook, ever so calm, cool
and collected. Not a fluster. Not a blush.

Who had he called? That was the question that bothered Scott
throughout the rest of the evening.

* * * * *

The White House, Washington, D.C.

The President looked grim. The normally affable Republican had
won his second term by a landslide and had maintained unprece-
dented popularity. The Democrats had again been unable to con-
jure up a viable candidate after another string of scandals
rocked the primaries and the very foundation of the party itself
Their entire platform focused on increasing the Peace Dividend
beyond the aggressively reduced $180 Billion Defense budget. It
was not much of an attack on a President whose popularity never
fell below an astounding 65% approval, and the only ebb was due
to a minor White House incident involving a junior aide, the
junior aide's boyfriend and the Lincoln Bedroom.

The recession that was started by the Iraqi situation in Kuwait
during the summer of 1990 was not as bad as it could have been.
The world wide militaristic fever, proper Fed Reserve response
and the Japanese all took credit for easing the problem through
their specific efforts. In fact, the recession was eased due in
part to all of their efforts as well the new Europe. The Presi-
dent was rewarded, ultimately, with the credit for renewing the
economy almost glitch-free.

But the President was still grim. America was again at war, and
only a handful of people in the upper echelons of the Government
even knew about it. It would be in the paper in the morning.

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

Chapter 26

Midnight, Tuesday, January 19
Scarsdale, New York

Scott Mason awaited Kirk's midnight call.

Now that they had a deal, a win-win situation, Kirk and his
phriends had become gung-ho. Kirk agreed to help Scott in the
dGraph and Freedom situations if Scott would make sure that his
articles clearly spelled out the difference between the white-hat
and black-hat hackers.

Journalistic responsibility demanded fair treatment of all sides
and their respective opinions, and Scott attempted to bring
objectivity to his analyses. He did this well, quite well, and
still was able to include his own views and biases, as long as
they were properly qualified and disclaimed.

Additionally, Kirk wanted assurances of total anonymity and that
Scott would not attempt to identify his location or name. Scott
also had to agree to keep his Federal friends at a distance and
announce if they were privy to the conversations.

In exchange for fair portrayals in the press, privacy and no
government intervention, Kirk promised Scott that the resources
of Nemo would be focussed on finding defenses to the virus at-
tacks in dGraph and Freedom software. If Kirk and Homosoto were
right, millions of computers would experience the electronic
equivalent of sudden cardiac arrest in less than two weeks.

The Times, Higgins and Doug agreed to the relationship but added
their own working caveats. In order to treat Kirk as a protected
source, they pretended he was a personal contact. Instead of
reporter's notes, Scott maintained an open file which recorded
the entirety of their computer conversations. There were no
precedents for real-time electronic note taking, but Higgins felt
confident that the records would protect the paper in any event.
Besides, Supreme Court rulings now permit the recording of con-
versations by hidden devices, as long as the person taping is
actually present. Again, Higgins felt he had solid position, but
he did ask Scott to ask Kirk's permission to save the conversa-
tions on disk. Kirk always agreed.

At midnight, Scott's computer beeped the anticipated beep.

WTFO

I heard a good one.

JOKE?

Yeah, do they work over computer?

TRY ME.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were in Europe and
got to meet the Pope. Dopey really wanted to asked the Pope a
few questions. "Mr. Pope, Mr. Pope. Do you have pretty nuns?"
"Of course we do, Dopey." "Mr. Pope, do you have fat ugly nuns?"
"Why, yes, Dopey, we do." "And I bet, Mr. Pope, that you have
some tall skinny nuns, too." "Yes, Dopey we do." "Mr. Pope? Do
you have nuns in Chicago?" "Yes, Dopey, we have nuns in
Chicago?" "And in San Francisco and New York?" "Yes, Dopey."
"And do you have nuns in Africa and Australia and in France?"
"Yes, Dopey. We have nuns everywhere." Dopey took a second to
think and finally asked, "Mr. Pope? Do you have nuns in Antarc-
tica?" "No, Dopey, I'm sorry, we don't have any nuns in Antarc-
tica." The other six dwarfs immediately broke out into a laugh-
ing song: "Dopey fucked a penguin. Dopey fucked a penguin."

HA HA HA HA HA!!! LOVE IT. REAL ICE BREAKER. HA HA.

Facetious?

NO, THAT'S GREAT. IS YOUR RECORDER ON?

You bet. No plagiarism. What have you got?

MORE THAN I WISH I DID. DGRAPH FIRST. WE HAVE IDENTIFIED 54
SEPARATE DGRAPH VIRUSES. I HAVE A FILE FOR YOU. IT LISTS THE
VIRUS BY DETONATION DATE AND TYPE, SYMPTOMS AND THE SIGNATURES
NEEDED FOR REMOVAL. ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO PRINT IT ALL?

Daily. Our science section has been expanded to every day from
just Tuesday. I have all the room I need.

YOU MIGHT MAKE ME RECONSIDER MY OPINION OF THE MEDIA.

Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts.

HA HA. WE'VE JUST TOUCHED THE SURFACE ON FREEDOM, BUT THE WORD'S
OUT. FREEDOM WILL BE AS GOOD AS DEAD IN DAYS. THE NUMBER OF
VIRUSES MUST NUMBER IN THE HUNDREDS. IT'S INCREDIBLE. I'VE SEEN
A LOT OF VIRUSES, BUT NONE LIKE THIS. IT'S ALMOST AS THOUGH THEY
WERE BUILT ON AN ASSEMBLY LINE. SOME ARE REAL CLOSE TO EACH
OTHER, EVEN DO THE SAME THINGS, BUT THEIR SIGNATURES ARE DIFFER-
ENT MAKING IT EXTRA HARD TO DETECT THEM. EACH ONE WILL HAVE TO
BE DONE INDIVIDUALLY.

I suggest we start with the dGraph viruses. You said 54, right?

SO FAR.

Send me the file and I still may have time to get it into tomor-
row's paper. They usually leave a little room.

I'LL SEND DGVIRUS.RPT. IT'S IN ASCII FORMAT, EASY TO READ INTO
ANY FILE YOU'RE WORKING WITH.

I think I can handle it.

* * * * *

DGRAPH VIRUS LIST
by Scott Mason

The dGraph Virus Crisis has set the computer industry into a
virtual tailspin with far reaching effects including stock
prices, delayed purchasing, contract cancellation and a bevy of
reported lawsuits in the making.

All the same, the effects of the Crisis must be mitigated, and
the New York City Times will be providing daily information to
assist our readers in fighting the viruses. DGraph is now known
to contain at least 54 different viruses, each designed to exe-
cute different forms of damage to your computer.

According to computer security experts there are two ways to deal
with the present virus crisis. The best way to make sure that an
active security system is in place in your computer. Recommenda-
tions vary, but it is generally agreed by most experts that
security, especially in the highly susceptible desktop and laptop
personal computers, should be hardware based. Security in soft-
ware is viewed to be ineffective against well designed viruses or
other offensive software mechanisms.

The second way to combat the effects of the dGraph Virus, but
certainly not as effective, is to build a library of virus signa-
tures and search all of your computers for matches that would
indicate a viral infection. This technique is minimally effec-
tive for many reasons: Mutating viruses cause the signature to
change every time it infects another program, rendering the virus
unidentifiable. There is no way to be sure that all strains have
been identified. Plus, there is no defense against subsequent
viral attacks, requiring defensive measures to be reinstituted
every time.

Preliminary predictions by computer software experts are that
between 1 and 5 million IBM compatible computers will be severely
effected by the dGraph Viruses. Computers tied to local area and
wide area networks are likely to be hit hardest.

Beginning today, we will publish the known dGraph Virus charac-
teristics daily to help disseminate the defensive information as
rapidly as possible.

dGraph Version 3.0

Virus #1
Detonation Date: 2/2/XX
Symptoms: Monitor blinks on an off, dims and gets bright.
Size: 2413
Signature: 0F 34 E4 DD 81 A1 C3 34 34 34

Virus #2, #3, #4, #5
Same as above but different dates.
2/3/XX, 2/4/XX, 2/5/XX, 2/6/XX

Virus #6
Detonation Date: 2/2/XX
Symptoms: Erases hard disk.
Size: 1908
Signature: E4 EE 56 01 01 C1 C1 00 01 02

Virus #7
Detonation Date: 1/22/XX
Symptoms: Reformats hard drive.
Size: 2324
Signature: 00 F1 8E E3 AA 01 F5 6B 0B 0D

Virus #8
Detonation Date: 1/23/XX
Symptoms: Over exercises hard disk heads causing failure.
Requires hard disk to be replaced.
Size: 2876
Signature: FF 45 7A 20 96 E6 22 1F 07 0F 2E

Scott's article detailed all 54 dGraph Viruses. Every wire
service and news service in the country picked up the story and
reprinted it in their papers and magazines. Within 24 hours,
everyone who owned or used a computer had some weapons with which
available to him. If they chose to believe in the danger.

* * * * *

Wednesday, January 20
The White House

"So what about this Mason character?" Secretary of State Quinton
Chambers asked challengingly. The President's inner circle was
again meeting to discuss the government's reaction to the impend-
ing chaos that Mr. Homosoto posthumously promised. The pre-dawn
hours were viewed as an ideal time to have upper level meetings
without the front door scrutiny of the press.

Phil Musgrave pulled a folder from the stack in his lap and
opened it. "Born 1953, he had an Archie Bunker for a father but
he came out a brain - IQ of 170. Against Nam, who wasn't; he
protested some, but not a leader. No real trouble with the law;
couple of demonstration arrests. City College, fared all right,
and then set up his own company, worked in the defense industry
writing manuals until he hit it big and sold out. Divorced, no
kids. Wife is kinda wacky. The news business is new to him, but
he's getting noticed fast."

"Is he a risk?"

"The FBI hasn't completed their investigation," said Phil. "If
he is a risk, it's buried deep. Surface wise, he's clean. Only
one problem."

"What's that?"

"He's an independent thinker."

"How's he done so far?"

"So far so good."

"So we let him continue?"

"Yesterday he said he was willing to help, but I have a sneaky
suspicion he'll do better on his own without our interference.
Besides, he prints every damn thing he does."

"What about their identity?"

"No way. He will maintain source protection, and I don't think
it matters right now. Maybe later."

"What about the FBI friend?"

"The FBI is aware of it, and views it favorably. Duncan's rela-
tionship has been exclusively personal until recently. It seems
to serve both sides well."

"So you're saying he's working for us and not knowing it?"

"He probably knows it, and probably, like most of the media,
doesn't care. His job is to report the news. It just so happens
that we read the same newspapers. Let's leave him alone."

The President held up his hand to signal an end to the debate
between State policy and the White House Chief of Staff. "Unless
anyone can give me a good goddammed reason to fix something that
seems to be working," he said, "let Mason do his job and let us
do ours." He looked around the Oval Office for comments or
dissent. It was a minor point and nobody thought it significant
enough to pursue. Yet. "Next?" The President commanded.

Refills of coffee were distributed and the pile of Danishes was
shrinking as the men casually dined during their 6:00 A.M. meet-
ing.

"OSO Industries appears, by all first impressions, to have noth-
ing to do with the threats." Henry Kennedy was expected to know
more than anyone else at this point. "Investigations are contin-
uing, but we have no reason to suspect a smoking gun."

"One man did all of this?" asked the President skeptically.

"We have no doubt that he accomplished at least the dGraph vi-
ruses with accomplices and a great deal of money." Henry knew
his material. With the combined help of the NSA, CIA, FBI and
international contacts, the National Security Advisor was privy
to an incredible range of information. He was never told direct-
ly that U.S. agents regularly penetrated target computers as part
of any investigation, or that they listened in on computers and
communications to gather information. But Henry Kennedy preferred
it this way; not to officially know where he got his data.
Professional deniability.