Forever Yours
45
Under Fire
CHASTITY GOT THEM OUT of Provincetown on a private seaplane at four in the afternoon. They landed at Boston Harbor and caught a taxi to the airport. The flight from Boston had a connection in Newark and then to Pittsburgh, but they managed to get to the apartment about midnight. Henry had periodic updates with Darrel and Scott. Scott had his security team in full operation. Conrad and Rebecca were both in the office with Darrel.
Henry planned to go directly to the office, but they all encouraged him to get some sleep first. The counterattack software was having difficulty tracing the attack.
“They seem to have learned from the last major attack,” Conrad said when he talked to Henry. “They’re using a rotating series of proxies so by the time the protection AI traces through about five proxies, the attack has changed to a different set. It’s clever for protecting themselves, but it’s also easier to shut them off as soon as they make contact. We are rotating open ports on the server. They have to try again to get another port, so they don’t have time to search for another before we’ve worked down the chain of proxies.”
“Shut down everything that’s non-critical for the search. All company computers offline,” Henry instructed. “Then do a hot upgrade of the server to the newest version of the counterattack AI. Make sure San Jose has it ready to launch as well.”
“Got it. See you in the morning.”
Henry did not go to bed immediately. Lisa and Chastity expected him to go straight to the office, but instead he went to the fourth floor lounge with his laptop. He looked at the clock and then decided to make the call he’d been anticipating with dread.
“Schwartz,” came the abrupt answer to the call.
“General, I need to know if Open Cloak Design is still considered a military asset,” Henry said without further preamble.
“You’ve not shipped the code for the new network defense system,” Nathan said carefully. “I would have to say that with secret military development being undertaken in your facility, you are still a military asset.”
“This military asset is under cyberattack. We are preparing a counterattack, but the attackers are cycling proxies. We’ve not yet definitively identified the source, but have deployed the new counterattack software on our servers so we can strike when there is a confirmed target.”
“Do you have an idea of where the attack is coming from?”
“It appears to be coming from Russia, but we have not yet identified a single IP address.”
“Henry, do not destroy Russia’s computer grid!”
“No, sir. You know the commercial software is restricted to one degree of separation. With the nature of this attack, I’m afraid that will not be enough. These guys are pretty savvy.”
“I’m on my way to Pittsburgh. I’ll see you at the office at 0530.”
“I’ll be there, sir.”
The call ended abruptly. Henry relaxed. He’d called in the cavalry. It seemed silly to think that the cavalry was armed with the weapons he’d sold it, but he’d consider the irony of that later. In the meantime, he launched his private search engine from his laptop.
Both Page Services and Open Cloak were under attack. Page Services was owned by Open Cloak now, but the only thing being served on behalf of the company was Pythia Speaks. Henry began his searches with ‘Known opposition to Open Cloak Design.’ He launched a second search while the first was still running. ‘Known opposition to Pythia Speaks.’
It only took a few minutes before he had refined the searches so that he could compare them. The summary spoke volumes.
“Rev. Daniel Reeves of the Sword of the Spirit Evangelical Church (formerly Texas Fundamental Congregation, renamed in April 2029) has frequently spoken about both Pythia Speaks and Open Cloak Design, decrying artificial intelligence and the ‘antichrist oracle’ it spoke through. He has rallied thousands of members of his congregation to boycott and obstruct the two in any way they can.”
Henry entered his next search. ‘Connections between Rev. Daniel Reeves of the Sword of the Spirit Evangelical Church and Russian computer hackers.’ The search engine brought up a news announcement that the church had broadened its streaming online with audiences in thirty-two countries, including Russia. Henry let the search continue running as he went to bed and cuddled next to Lisa for three hours.
Henry arrived at the office at five-twenty with Chastity and a couple of three-quart coffee thermoses. It would get the day started off with a jolt. General Schwartz showed up at the elevator before they’d gone up.
“General, welcome,” Henry said.
“I hope that’s strong coffee you are carrying.”
“Lots of it, sir,” Chastity said. Schwartz was in uniform and was an imposing sight.
“I figured I’d better give this an official look as an attack on a military asset,” he said. “We’ll do a couple of photos when this is over and a press release that will keep you clear of repercussions. Let’s just make sure we don’t go too hard.”
“I appreciate your guidance, sir.”
They arrived in the office and Rebecca came out of Conrad’s office. She was startled by the general’s presence and almost snapped to attention. She was in blue jeans and a T-shirt, though, and didn’t salute.
“General!” she exclaimed. “Please excuse my attire. We were called in yesterday afternoon to deter an attack.”
“And is the attack deterred?”
“Not yet, sir. We believe we have an IP address, however. The network defense is working, though the enemy is using additional subterfuge,” she said.
“What can we do with a single IP address, Henry?” Nathan asked.
“We can put that computer out of business,” Henry said. “We are pretty sure there are at least a hundred computers involved in the attack.”
“Rebecca, what is the status of the deployment of our military counterattack software?”
“The military version, sir?” Rebecca said. It was obvious she was not expecting the general’s presence and that she and Conrad were cooking something up. “Sir, we were preparing the final test of our version before locking it down for transfer to the Pentagon.”
“Where was this test to take place?”
“Sir, version 0.91a has been deployed on this company’s servers.” She hesitated.
“And?”
“And also at the server farm in San Jose,” she said quietly.
“Good work. Let’s see what we can verify.”
They all poured cups of coffee and went into the conference room where Darrel had the large screen projector showing a split between messages being received from the software in Pittsburgh and that displayed in San Jose.
“Henry, Nathan, it’s good to see you both. Henry, I’m sorry we cut your honeymoon short,” he said.
“We were supposed to get back today,” Henry said. “It’s just something I want our attackers to pay for. I don’t even want to know how much Chastity had to pay to get us back early.”
“I’m more concerned about what Isobel will say,” Chastity said as she poured a cup of coffee for Darrel. “I plan to expense it.”
“Conrad, I understand we have an IP address?”
“Yes, Henry. It’s IPv6—128-bit protocol. So, its security is higher than an average hacker. Fortunately, the AI is tracing directly through it now to determine what other devices are connected,” Conrad said.
“Here’s another address for you to check and cross reference,” Henry said, sliding a slip of paper across the desk. “Is there any sign that the hackers know we’ve traced them?”
“Nothing obvious,” Darrel said. “They seem to think we have to backtrack through their proxies each time in order to counterattack. We are watching this one computer directly without showing our presence.”
“Do we have visual?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, sir,” Rebecca answered. “We have a direct feed from the hacker’s camera and a link to his display.”
“How’d we do that?” Henry asked.
“That’s military grade hacking,” Nathan chuckled.
Both audio and video appeared on an inset. They could see a hacker focused on the computer with the results being shown on the corporate server display. They could hear him speaking in Russian.
“I have contact with the second IP address,” Conrad said. “It is definitely engaged in the attack on Page Services and has a second degree link to the other IP.”
An inset appeared in the Page Services window with another hacker answering the first.
“They’re in the same location!” Schwartz said.
“See if we can get an estimate of how many computers are engaged in the attack,” Henry said.
“With as sophisticated as this attack appears to be, I’d say we need to respond with a complete wipe of the involved systems,” Nathan said. “Do you have something that will accomplish that, Henry?”
“Yes, sir. We did a significant upgrade of the optimization software before we released the network version. We upgraded the code that was used in the last counterattack. Of course, the few attacks we’ve had since then were countered with a slap on the wrist version.”
“Of course. I think you can load the full wipe version as soon as we know the depth of our target.”
Conrad was engaged in tracing connections with the search AI and Darrel was monitoring the frequency of attacks and the shifting of access ports. If the hackers had thought they might not be the best and strongest at this game, they might have been alarmed by the tactics employed to disable attack paths so quickly on so many computers. Presently the AI was treating the attack like a game of hide and seek.
Henry went to work loading the response settings and sending them to the team in San Jose.
“We are loaded,” Scott said.
“We have at least twenty computers attacking this network and Pythia Speaks,” Conrad said. “The server farm reports random attacks have hit over three hundred of the six hundred servers at that location. I’d say we have a minimum of four hundred boxes involved in the attack.”
“We’ve done some estimates,” Nathan said. “We now estimate, based on the damage your counterattack a year and a half ago did, that each degree of separation is an order of magnitude more than the previous. One box at level zero. Ten at level one. One hundred at level two. To get four hundred boxes, we need to go to level three with a potential reach of one thousand units. Captain Bernard, set the response level at three degrees.”
“Response level locked in,” Rebecca said. “Counterattack is loaded.”
“Execute,” Nathan said. Rebecca hit the enter key.
“Oh, that was clever,” Conrad said. “They managed to set one of the boxes at the server farm as a proxy.”
“Damage?” Henry asked.
“No,” Conrad said. “One of the features in the new version is to ignore the proxies when executing the counterattack. We only identified it as a sudden disconnect.”
“Status?” Nathan barked.
“Network defense is reporting a cessation of hostile activity on all servers at Open Cloak and Page Services,” Rebecca said. “We should have an estimate of number of casualties in a few minutes.”
“How are we getting that?” Henry asked.
“The military package includes a traffic assessment in the target region. While not all the boxes may have been in Russia, seeing the percent of traffic decrease will give us an estimate of total number of enemy killed,” Rebecca said.
“It’s actually based on the same way we estimate enemy casualties on the battlefield when we are sending rockets. We see a satellite image of life signs and look at the reduction in life signs after an hour,” Nathan said.
“Hmm. I’ve always wondered what the destructive capacity of the counterattack actually was. I might put in a request to have our response level reset to two degrees of separation instead of just one.”
“I’ll consider the request,” Nathan said.
“I do wish there was immediate feedback,” Henry said. “It’s spooky when everything just goes silent.”
“On the internet, no one can hear you scream,” Nathan responded.
It took the rest of the morning to complete the assessment. Every box on the server farm was scrubbed and restarted. Darrel did the same for the corporate server and for each computer in the office as it was brought online again. Then the data started rolling in from the Pentagon at Nathan’s request.
The report showed the major outage was in St. Petersburg, but also showed pockets of outage in India and Saudi Arabia. It was harder to assess whether those locations were actively involved in the attack or if they were simply collateral damage.
“All told, the estimate is of 730 units going dark at exactly the time of the counterattack,” Nathan said. “Captain Bernard, I’d say your beta test was a success. Your job for the rest of this week will be to package up the product and clean all evidence of the Pentagon’s presence from here.”
“You mean this was a test?” Henry barked.
“Oh, no. Just a fortuitous happenstance,” Nathan said. He lowered his voice so only Henry could hear him. “I’m saving Bernard’s ass. She was planning to deploy the military grade response before we got here. Otherwise, there was no reason for her to have the beta deployed both here and at the server farm.”
“Got it. Thank you,” Henry said. “Conrad, I think we can safely say our beta test was also successful. I believe Luke has a waitlist of institutions ready for preliminary release. Find a clever name for the app and let’s get it packaged. Uh… tomorrow. For today, let’s see that there is a person or two responsible for monitoring the systems both here and in San Jose, and the rest of us take the rest of Sunday off.”
“Let me take you to dinner, Henry. You and your wife. It seems like we should have a little bit of a celebration. Rebecca, why don’t you and Conrad join us,” Nathan said. “Darrel? Dinner?”
“Thank you, Nathan.”
“Nathan,” Henry said, pulling him aside. “Where my wife and I go, Chastity also goes. Do you mind?”
“Oh! Hmm. Of course not. Anyone else?”
“I’ll reward the others on my own.”
Henry and Chastity stopped at the row house long enough to pick up Lisa and head out to the club for dinner. There, they met Nathan, Conrad, Rebecca, Darrel, and were surprised to find Luke and Isobel as well.
“How did you happen to get here for this?” Henry asked his friends.
“We were just going out for dinner when we saw you all troop in. We’ve been monitoring the situation at the office all night, but decided we’d be better staying out of the way of the pros. Congratulations on getting it stopped,” Luke said.
“I just don’t want to hear my phone alarm going off again anytime soon,” Henry sighed. “You remember General Schwartz, don’t you?”
“I do indeed,” Luke said. “It’s good to see you again, General.”
“And you. Please let’s ignore the uniform and just call me Nathan. Mrs. Riordan, how nice to see you again, too,” Nathan said.
“Oh, you can call me Izzy,” Isobel said. “I love your uniform.”
Henry raised an eyebrow at Luke but his friend just shrugged. Very few people in the company called Isobel anything but Mrs. Riordan. It was her thing.
They sat at dinner and ordered cocktails. Chastity, Lisa, and Henry had virgin Margaritas.
“This event will trigger the release of the remainder of the funds owed your company by the Army,” Nathan said. “I believe we still owe you half of the five million.”
“Oh, I’ll drink to that,” Isobel said, raising her glass. Henry wasn’t sure what she was drinking, but she ordered another.
“I’m withdrawing my request for a reset to two degrees,” Henry said. “I believe we are better locking it to one degree and calling for help if we need something more. Most of the institutions that will be buying the network defense system only face individual or small group hacks.”
“I would have granted it for your use,” Schwartz said.
“I would say that the major server farms and software developers are the most vulnerable to an attack like we faced today,” Henry said. “I don’t think the university would have been attacked last year if it hadn’t been a channel to get to various corporate servers. I’d had a run-in with some Chinese wanting to take over the company by more subtle means earlier.”
“You are probably right,” Nathan said. “And having too much power in individual hands is a recipe for disaster. I believe we will limit our military grade to six levels. At orders of magnitude, that would blank 100,000 boxes. The seventh degree would be a million and the eighth would be enough to plunge the world into chaos. If it was launched against a government entity, it could completely wipe out that government. I don’t like that idea.”
“If you stop to think about what can happen with access to our government, it wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility that another division of the government would get its hands on the program. It needs to have codes like nuclear codes in order to launch it. By your estimates, if it was set to the tenth degree of separation, it would be capable of ending the electronic age as we know it,” Henry said.
“It’s a sobering thought and one that I will give serious consideration to before we install it anywhere. I believe our developers should be able to take that part in hand when we’re back in Washington.”
They finished the meal. Henry thanked the general again and all left the club except Luke and Isobel, who decided to stay for a nightcap.
“Are you okay to drive, honey?” Lisa asked.
“Tired, but also kind of jazzed,” Henry said.
“Well, I’m going to curl up in the back seat. You and Chastity can keep each other company up front.”
They got in Henry’s Spark and Lisa got her feet tucked under her as she leaned against the rear passenger side. Chastity got in front and Henry started the car.
“You know, you really need to trade this old thing in and get something new. Maybe electric, or one of those fuel cell models,” Chastity said as she belted herself in.
“But this has been a good and dependable car. And it only has 207,000 miles on it.”
“Geez, Henry. Do you ever spend any of your money?” she giggled.
“I just got married,” Henry protested. “I need to plan for our future. I have two wives to care for.”
Henry stopped at the traffic light near the exit of the club.
“I still think you should have a family car then,” Chastity insisted. “I wish there was a way for us all three to ride together instead of having one isolated in the back.”
Henry pulled away when the light changed.
“That’s probably…”
A black car ran the light from the left and T-boned Henry’s Chevy. He didn’t hear the crash, or see the flaming sword painted on the hood of the car.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
