Forever Yours
26
Counterattack
IN ORDER to get Pythia Speaks across the line between sample concept and a testable program, Henry had to seriously consider what features he wanted the program to have. The obvious features were “Ask Question” and “Generate Response.”
For the sake of the program, however, he needed several other features that would not be exposed to users—at least not at first. The AI needed to not only generate the response, but record the conversation so it could add it to its data wall to learn from. Henry had soon discovered in his own testing, though, that there were often follow-up questions and answers. Since both were still limited to 140 characters, it could take three or four questions to finish the conversation.
Pythia needed short term access to the entire conversation. When it ended, the conversation had to be stored in the database so the AI could learn from it.
That brought another matter of ethics up to Henry.
“Should we be storing user information?” he asked. “This would be a typical feature for most AI programs. Some of the conversation bots in the market automatically answer, opening conversations with the human’s name. The bot can recall their previous interactions.”
“That would require another level of interface,” Lisa said. “We’d need to register users. Then, users would want access to previous conversations or the ability to store them, download them, print them, or otherwise use the previous data.”
“Whoa!” Luke said. “I thought part of our whole company stance was not collecting user data. Both the optimization and the search are based on that.”
“This is a different kind of application, though,” Henry persisted. “It’s accessed through the internet, not on their personal computer. We could probably store the user data in a cookie on their machine and only use it when they access Pythia, but it’s just as likely our own optimization software would delete the cookie.”
“I say no!” Isobel said emphatically. They all looked at her. “Do you realize how much privacy we don’t have anymore? The government has forced cell phone operators to disclose text messages and usage data. Social media sites are rolling over and showing their bellies to agencies demanding user data so they can search people out and deport them. Our little app has to be completely anonymous. I’d stop using it in a second if I thought any of my personal data was stored.”
“You’ve got a point,” Henry said. “People used to hide behind the anonymity of social media, but they’ve found out they aren’t anonymous at all and the government can look into any detail of their lives. Izzy, you just won a fan. If I’d been thinking properly, I’d never have suggested it.”
Isobel preened at his praise.
“That doesn’t mean no one would want to capture their conversation, though,” Lisa said. “How can we do that without exposing them?”
“For now, I think we should keep everything temporary. Once a new question is entered, the previous answer vanishes,” Henry said.
“We could put in a button for a screen-cap,” Lisa said. “If someone wanted to save the conversation, they could click the button and it would be sent to them as a download screen-cap.”
“I think I like the idea,” Henry said. “I’ll work on developing that. But for now, I think temporary and vanishing is optimum. On the other hand, we have lots of leeway for things like that with the Ask Dad app. Or whatever we call it.”
“What does Pythia look like?” Isobel asked.
“Oh, here are some sketches I’ve drawn for the background,” Lisa said. “I think I’ve about captured the concept of a dragon that is powerful but not threatening.”
“A dragon? Pythia was a woman, wasn’t she? The MoreChat app creates an avatar person who looks better than anyone I’ve ever met,” Isobel said.
“Just what we don’t want for this,” Henry said. “I even question the idea of using the dragon background. The image in the user’s mind should be what the user thinks, not something we push to them.”
“That’s one I agree with,” Luke said. “Not necessarily that we shouldn’t have the dragon image. We talked about the logic there earlier in the week. I’m thinking we need to keep the character of Pythia who answers questions as anonymous as the user. Even the dragon isn’t Pythia. It’s a symbol of foreknowledge and prophecy.”
The application was nearly ready to test.
“I’ve got to take off this morning for a meeting with Dr. Hendon,” Lisa said. “He’s coming back a day early from spring break specifically to meet with his advisees. It seems we never have time when classes are in session.”
“That’s cool,” Henry said. “Here’s the car keys. There should be plenty of parking with classes not starting until Monday.”
“Are you sure? Thank you, Henry. I should be back by noon. I’m excited to see the app running,” Lisa said.
“I should have everything transferred to the new server in a couple of hours. Why don’t you try connecting and get Hendon to try your interface?” Henry asked.
“That would be cool. Text me when it’s operational.”
Lisa left and Henry went to the office to bring the new server online. Isobel had been furious that they needed to buy a new server for the Pythia Speaks site, and that they were paying Lisa a full-time wage for the week. Still, Izzy seemed to spend more time during the day asking the oracle questions than working on spreadsheets. She loved the oracle.
Henry took his coffee up to the office and started working on getting the new server functioning. First, he needed to test the software on the server to see that the AI recognized its source material. Then he tested the interface to be sure it was connected properly. Finally, he was ready to bring the server online and route the Pythia Speaks URL to the server. At ten, he pointed his laptop browser at the site and asked a question.
“Will you live up to all our expectations?” Henry typed in the question box.
Pythia responded in just a second. “One who expects nothing will never be disappointed.”
Henry had to laugh. It was an appropriate and totally irrelevant answer to the question. Well, the training process was still underway. The more questions Pythia was asked, the richer its responses should become.
He sent a text to Lisa with the first question and response and told her the Pythia test site was online.
She sent a laughter emoji and said they’d try it.
Henry ran back downstairs for another cup of coffee. It had taken less than two hours to run the tests and get the site active and registered. He supposed it wouldn’t be available from everywhere yet as the URL had to propagate through the internet. He was on his way back upstairs when he heard a beeping alarm from the office. He ran upstairs, spilling coffee with almost every step. The sound was coming from his cellphone and he quickly thumbed it open.
“Attack detected. Tracing.”
It had been two months since he first activated his counterattack software. After his classmates had all been countered when they tried to hack his computer, he’d modified the software to give a warning when an attack was detected. Just a few weeks ago, he’d modified it again to alert him before counter measures were taken after he’d made changes to Kaitlyn’s trust fund.
The attack was not on Pythia, but on his corporate server. He switched the monitor to the corporate server and began looking at the AI’s route tracing. The software immediately flashed up a familiar address as a source. He was furious.
“Lisa!” He barked into his phone when she answered hers.
“Henry, it’s working great!” she responded immediately.
“We’re being attacked from the AI computer lab on campus. Someone’s trying to hack into the corporate server from there,” he said. “Get down there and find out what’s going on. Take Hendon with you!”
“Yes, sir!” she responded and disconnected.
Henry supposed he’d been awfully abrupt in ordering her around, but he was confident she’d find out who was trying to hack him from the university computers.
Then the AI flashed a new message. “Proxy one.”
Crap! The attack was not coming from the lab. The lab was being used as a proxy to get to his company computer. He investigated further and found the computer lab was being used as a proxy to attack over a dozen servers in different locations. His phone buzzed.
“No one’s in the lab,” Lisa said immediately.
“The lab is being used as a proxy to get to at least a dozen other servers. We aren’t the only ones being attacked. I don’t know yet where it’s coming from. The counterattack AI is wading through a morass of IP addresses. See if Hendon will approve shutting down all except one computer in the lab so I can continue to isolate the attack.”
“I’ll have to explain what you have,” Lisa said. “Am I violating confidentiality?”
“Can’t be helped. Nothing will be confidential if this attack succeeds. So far, my enhanced firewalls are handling it but it needs to be countered.”
She cut the connection again and Henry could soon see computers on the university lab network going dark. That would warn the attackers, whoever they were that someone was aware of the attack. It didn’t seem to dampen their enthusiasm. The hacking continued to probe the computer’s defenses.
“Proxy 2, Oslo, Norway,” the AI displayed. That was just great. The attackers were using a worldwide proxy network. “Proxy 3, Johannesburg, South Africa.” Henry’s phone rang again.
“Dr. Hendon has all but the main server offline. He’s on the phone notifying all other universities with significant AI research that an attack may be underway. It seems the attack is not only using the university lab as a proxy, but is also trying to crack the security here.”
“That’s smart. I can still see a dozen connections from the lab server. How many hackers are involved in this anyway?” Henry asked without expecting an answer.
“Proxy 4, San Francisco, CA,” the AI displayed.
“As soon as I have a fix on the point of attack, I plan to launch a counter. I’ve disconnected everything else connected to our server. Sorry, but you’ve been booted off. Could you please ask Hendon what he thinks an appropriate level of response is? Should I just kick them off or do some damage?”
“I’ll ask as soon as I can get his attention. Apparently, there’s some kind of calling tree the universities with labs like ours have set up just in case of an emergency like this. Over half the research on AIs is in university labs.”
“Proxy 5, Osaka, Japan,” the AI displayed.
“They’re really routing this through proxies all over the world. They must have had this planned for some time.”
“Proxy 6, Mumbai, India,” the AI displayed.
“I’m doing some additional work here on the server while Dr. H is on the phone,” Lisa said. “Some of the proxies are also in similar labs—some of them corporate as well as collegiate. This attack is massive. Most of them have some kind of protective measures activated. I’m disconnecting other servers from our lab. There are student computers connected as well.”
“If I don’t get a source soon, I’ll have to recommend shutting down to break the chain,” Henry said.
“Hang on.” Lisa was gone for a minute. “Dr. H says the only appropriate response to this kind of attack is nuclear. He suggests both a viral and immediate corruption campaign. Do you have such things?”
“I’ve done some research on this. I can do that.”
Henry began preparing the response. He would use the optimization code to totally kill the attacking computer, erasing its memory and system. But the more information the AI revealed to him, the more convinced he was that this was an organized attack that could have hundreds of computer hackers involved.
“Proxy 7. Hamburg, Germany.”
He looked at the settings he’d created for the counterattack software. They were the same settings he used for searching out a person’s connections.
“Proxy 8. Shanghai, China.”
With such a wide network going through so many proxies, Henry made his own executive decision without consulting with Lisa’s advisor. He changed the degrees of separation setting from zero to six. That was what he called the feature in the first place, though he’d never set it to more than zero. He was determined to get them all.
“Source Identified. Chengdu, China. Response?”
Henry pointed the counterattack to the two programs he’d prepared for the attack. And started the countdown. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. There was no zero and no warning. The attack suddenly ceased to exist.
“Jesus, Henry! What the fuck just happened?” Lisa yelled through the open line. Henry picked up his phone.
“Attack eliminated,” the AI on his server displayed.
“Shit! That was fast,” Henry panted. “I wanted to see how many computers were affected. I could have used that data. I guess it’s over.”
“Dr. Hendon said all the attacks he could identify through the lab were gone. He’s answering the phone non-stop right now.”
“Okay. I’ll start bringing things back online here and run system checks. When you get home, you can reconnect your computers.”
“Yeah. I’ll see you as soon as Hendon says I can go. He’s telling everyone on the phone to stand by and he’ll get the information to them.”
“Thanks for all the help, Lisa. I know I was yelling and abrupt. Please don’t hold it against me.”
“Believe me, that’s not what I’m thinking of holding against you.”
“I’m aware that Henry Pascal has a company currently testing a new search engine,” Hendon said, looking at Lisa. “And that you work for him. I’ve even installed the Open Cloak Optimization software on my own computer at Professor Jacoby’s suggestion. Since you were the relay between Henry and me, I can only assume the actual tracing of the attack and its end are his doing.” Lisa started to nod. “Don’t say anything,” Hendon continued, holding up his hand. “The attack was perpetuated and eliminated through the university AI lab. That is all anyone should ever know. Don’t talk about it to anyone else. Make sure Henry does not discuss it with anyone. Until we know the actual extent of the attack and damage, it should not be discussed with anyone.”
“Yes, sir. I understand and will give the message to Henry.”
“Please ask him to have a copy of the actual virus and whatever else was sent to the computers on an SD card on my desk first thing Monday morning. I know I’ll be asked for it by someone,” Hendon said.
Lisa stood to leave the lab and go home.
“And Lisa,” Hendon stopped her. She looked at him. “Thank you to you, to Henry, and to Open Cloak. That is all the recognition I’m afraid you’ll get from this.”
“I’ll let Henry know,” Lisa said. She left the lab and headed to the car. Once there, she sat behind the steering wheel shaking for twenty minutes. She looked at her watch and saw that it was nearly three in the afternoon. Neither she nor Henry had anything to eat since breakfast. She ordered a pizza, drove to the shop to pick it up, and headed home.
Lisa stopped in the kitchen to pick up a roll of paper towels and a couple of DPs to take to the fourth floor with her. When she reached the office, she saw Henry, apparently asleep, with his head on Chastity’s leg as she petted his hair.
“Oh,” Lisa said. Chastity turned her head.
“Sorry,” she said. “I guess this is your place now.”
“Not here. Don’t disturb him. I brought food and cokes.”
“I just got here and Henry was about to fall over,” Chastity said.
“There was a hacker attack on the server. It came through the university, so everyone was working to track it down and block it. It’s been a pretty intense day. I was over at the university,” Lisa said.
Voices on the stairs alerted them to Isobel and Luke arriving. Chastity gently woke Henry.
“Food and company are here,” Chastity said.
“Oh. I drooled on your leg,” he said straightening up.
“That’s never been a problem,” Chastity laughed.
Luke and Isobel arrived.
“Pizza?” Luke asked. “In the office?”
“It’s been an especially hard day,” Lisa said.
“We got attacked,” Henry said, standing and stretching. He headed straight for the pizza.
“Attacked? By who? Is everything okay?” Isobel asked. She quickly looked around the office as if commandos had invaded it.
Henry started to talk around a piece of the pizza, but Lisa put a finger against his lips and shook her head. He yielded to her.
“Somebody unknown tried to attack a whole lot of computers using the university as a kind of gateway. Ours was one of them attacked and Henry and I spent the past six hours or so trying to track down and defend against the attack. I happened to be at the university and was working with Dr. Hendon, my advisor. He’s really pretty remarkable, with connections all over the country who were working on countering the attack. They were finally successful, but we were all exhausted. I realized no one had anything to eat since breakfast and grabbed a pizza on the way home. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll have a piece before Henry eats it all.”
Henry looked at her curiously but didn’t offer any other explanations.
“You know there’s a minifridge in the corner over there with pop and seltzer in it, right?” Luke asked, pointing at the corner of the room behind Chastity’s desk.
“Oh, yeah. I didn’t know if there was DP in there, so I grabbed a couple of cans on the way up,” Lisa laughed.
“Hey! In other news,” Henry said, changing the subject, “Pythia Speaks is active and available online for testing.”
“All right!” Isobel shouted, going directly to her desk. Chastity and Luke both went to their computers as well and soon they were all asking the oracle any question that came to mind.
Henry watched Lisa as she launched the site as well and typed in, “Are we safe?”
“Be watchful and take precautions,” Pythia answered. They looked at each other and raised an eyebrow.
“Guess that’s good advice,” Lisa said.
After the partners had left the office, Lisa and Henry both went to their suites and took a nap, promising to see each other for their date later. They’d planned to celebrate the end of spring break by going roller skating that night.
When they woke up and met downstairs, they conceded they were both too tired for such a rigorous activity. Not only that, but Henry didn’t want to be far away from his computers if the alarm on his phone went off again. Lisa agreed. They decided to spend a quiet evening watching a movie on TV in the living room.
Lisa’s mother had provided an air popper for popcorn because she said microwave popcorn always left a smell in the oven that just couldn’t be purged. Lisa made popcorn and they settled next to each other to watch the second day of the Sweet Sixteen playoffs. The east coast games were all over, but it was always fun to watch the teams out west vying for another championship.
“I should have told my business partners about what really happened this afternoon, but you took over the narrative,” Henry said.
“You can tell them later if you think it’s wise or necessary,” Lisa said. “The last thing Dr. Hendon said before I left was to not reveal how much you had to do with it. He thanked us, but felt it was better in the short term to let the university take the heat if there was any. If it seemed everything was going to blow over, he’d definitely give you credit. Otherwise, he said his thanks were all the recognition we were likely to get.”
“I guess that’s good advice,” Henry said. “You never know these days if something is going to get you a big reward or get you thrown in a Central American prison. Besides, if the tech was widely known, we’d have everyone, including the government, trying to get hold of it.”
“They might still,” Lisa sighed.
“I guess that’s always been on my mind. I’ve never really exposed the counterattack software to the public. The guys who tried to hack the server in January are the only ones who really know about it,” Henry said.
“Is it patented?” Lisa asked.
“The attorney filed the patent for training an AI to search through connections last week. I haven’t called it out as a way to backtrack proxy servers. It’s just a part of the search code. And I’ve never exposed the counterattack code itself to anyone.”
“Speaking of which, Hendon wants the code you uploaded—the virus and whatever else you used—on a memory stick in his office first thing Monday morning. I suppose he’ll have to answer questions regarding how he actually stopped it.”
“That makes sense,” Henry said. “I’m happy to have it out of my hands.”
“Did you kill them, Henry?”
Henry turned to her penetrating stare.
“Don’t know and don’t care.”
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
