the conference table, and part of a wall lit up and displayed what appeared to be a web of dots, some connected, others not, but none with any common point.
"That is the work of someone we call the Ghost." Bill took a chair and Laurence another. The other two were already sitting down and shuffling their notes. "The name is more descriptive than you might think. The intruder appears out of nowhere, leaves to nowhere, and leaves no trace of where he came from or went. All we know is what servers he has accessed and what files he looked at." Bill looked at Laurence over his reading glasses. "He's been deep in DARPA, Mr. Johnson."
"How do you know it's the work of one person?" Laurence looked at his handout that listed files accessed and servers exploited.
"The basic pattern he leaves is a complete lack of identifying information." Bill sat back. "The best any of us can do is forge identifying packets. He..." Bill hesitated for a moment, "or they..." he didn't want to reinforce an assumption, "don't even have that. All the packets we've filtered appear local to every server, as if originating on that computer. There is no hint of any network activity whatsoever. The consistency of it represents a pretty clear fingerprint."
"You've vetted the personnel at the compromised locations?" Laurence pursed his lips as he fingered through the reports.
"Yes. Some of the locations are remotely managed data centers too, like Seattle." Bill pointed on the report Laurence was holding. "There were no staff present at those locations at the time of the incursions." He scanned over the data, already familiar with the Seattle occurrence. "The abundance of incidents hints at a team of hackers, but the identical nature of the attacks points to an individual. Even our own teams demonstrate a small level of variance in their attacks no matter how closely they work together."
"How far did you get on tracking these events?" Laurence already suspected the answer.
"What you see is what we have." Bill threw up his hands and leaned back. "There's no real pattern in the files that are accessed, or even the project being hacked into. He's hit up administrative servers and research servers."
"The pattern could be the lack of a pattern."
"We've considered that and tried culling non-critical files. It hasn't helped in tracking the intruder down, however." He looked at the other two who sat without a word. "There's, uh..." Bill looked down, "something else." He took a breath. "We had two agents working on this consecutively."
Laurence sat quietly, looking at him. He knew exactly what Bill was talking about, remembering the two recent additions to the memorial. Bill fidgeted in his seat, playing with his pen and looked at Laurence. "There is more to this than what we see here." He tapped the folders with his pen. "We have no idea if they got close or not. Only that they both ended up having... accidents." Then he leaned forward. "Consider this full disclosure."
Laurence nodded. Bill looked at him for a moment, then he and the other two stood up. "Good. Welcome to the team. I'll send you on to Linda for your access card and phone. I'm sure you know the drill." Laurence grabbed his folder and followed Bill out. He pointed the way and shook Laurence's hand again.
Linda smiled at him as Laurence walked up. "Hello, Mr. Johnson."
"Hi." Laurence smiled back.
"Put your right hand on the scanner, please." Linda looked at her computer as Laurence complied. "Okay, left." He switched hands. "Thanks. Now put your chin here and look at the red dot." She pointed to what looked like something Laurence would find in an optometrist's office. The red dot flickered briefly. "Good. Now, put your index finger on that, please." Laurence saw what looked like a little scanner but it just had a dot. As he put his finger on the groove, he felt a quick prick. A blood sampler for DNA collection.
"Is that it?" He rubbed his finger. He couldn't remember the number of times his
"That is the work of someone we call the Ghost." Bill took a chair and Laurence another. The other two were already sitting down and shuffling their notes. "The name is more descriptive than you might think. The intruder appears out of nowhere, leaves to nowhere, and leaves no trace of where he came from or went. All we know is what servers he has accessed and what files he looked at." Bill looked at Laurence over his reading glasses. "He's been deep in DARPA, Mr. Johnson."
"How do you know it's the work of one person?" Laurence looked at his handout that listed files accessed and servers exploited.
"The basic pattern he leaves is a complete lack of identifying information." Bill sat back. "The best any of us can do is forge identifying packets. He..." Bill hesitated for a moment, "or they..." he didn't want to reinforce an assumption, "don't even have that. All the packets we've filtered appear local to every server, as if originating on that computer. There is no hint of any network activity whatsoever. The consistency of it represents a pretty clear fingerprint."
"You've vetted the personnel at the compromised locations?" Laurence pursed his lips as he fingered through the reports.
"Yes. Some of the locations are remotely managed data centers too, like Seattle." Bill pointed on the report Laurence was holding. "There were no staff present at those locations at the time of the incursions." He scanned over the data, already familiar with the Seattle occurrence. "The abundance of incidents hints at a team of hackers, but the identical nature of the attacks points to an individual. Even our own teams demonstrate a small level of variance in their attacks no matter how closely they work together."
"How far did you get on tracking these events?" Laurence already suspected the answer.
"What you see is what we have." Bill threw up his hands and leaned back. "There's no real pattern in the files that are accessed, or even the project being hacked into. He's hit up administrative servers and research servers."
"The pattern could be the lack of a pattern."
"We've considered that and tried culling non-critical files. It hasn't helped in tracking the intruder down, however." He looked at the other two who sat without a word. "There's, uh..." Bill looked down, "something else." He took a breath. "We had two agents working on this consecutively."
Laurence sat quietly, looking at him. He knew exactly what Bill was talking about, remembering the two recent additions to the memorial. Bill fidgeted in his seat, playing with his pen and looked at Laurence. "There is more to this than what we see here." He tapped the folders with his pen. "We have no idea if they got close or not. Only that they both ended up having... accidents." Then he leaned forward. "Consider this full disclosure."
Laurence nodded. Bill looked at him for a moment, then he and the other two stood up. "Good. Welcome to the team. I'll send you on to Linda for your access card and phone. I'm sure you know the drill." Laurence grabbed his folder and followed Bill out. He pointed the way and shook Laurence's hand again.
Linda smiled at him as Laurence walked up. "Hello, Mr. Johnson."
"Hi." Laurence smiled back.
"Put your right hand on the scanner, please." Linda looked at her computer as Laurence complied. "Okay, left." He switched hands. "Thanks. Now put your chin here and look at the red dot." She pointed to what looked like something Laurence would find in an optometrist's office. The red dot flickered briefly. "Good. Now, put your index finger on that, please." Laurence saw what looked like a little scanner but it just had a dot. As he put his finger on the groove, he felt a quick prick. A blood sampler for DNA collection.
"Is that it?" He rubbed his finger. He couldn't remember the number of times his
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