plot brewing somewhere in the world. Would you be able to detect it?”
Bill opened his eyes. “We keep tabs on many sources of suspicious activity.”
“Say, in China.”
“China, Iran. Russia, North Korea. You name it.”
“What if they’re no longer in that country, and have moved their operation to the United States?”
“We’re aware of such moves as they occur.”
“Say someone is preparing to attack the A root server.”
Bill stared at him blankly. “The what?”
Oh boy. Just as Jake had worried, CIA employees were not technical specialists.
Bill seemed sensitive about the gap in his knowledge of the IT world, and quickly moved to cover it up. “We’re aware of specific threats hackers have posed to large corporations, the U.S. Government, defense contractors and the like.”
“How about the Chinese?”
“They steal secrets from oil companies, patent lawyers, pharmaceutical companies, whatever, on a daily basis. They relentlessly exploit every crack in classified and unclassified systems.”
“How do they do it?” Jake asked.
Bill closed his eyes. “There are various disparate groups of hackers in China, even a group of girl hackers. But there’s also a concerted military effort to coordinate attacks with industrial and military needs. The government can tap into its reserve of private hackers for whatever it wants. They turn off anti-virus software, then go in and attack computers. Or they get the key to become system administrators. Or they send out email spyware, or insert Trojan Horses, etc.”
“Okay,” Jake cut him off. “You’re talking about stealing business or military secrets. But breaking into the A root server would compromise and possibly bring the entire World Wide Web to a grinding halt. Who is prepared to jeopardize the internet?”
Bill’s eyes flashed open. His look told him that he thought Jake might be off his rocker. “The Chinese government has nothing to gain from bringing down the internet. Their whole emphasis is to give them an edge in the world economy.”
“I accept that,” Jake said. “But let’s just think outside the box for a moment. Your agency knows China inside and out. Who might want to shut down the internet completely?”
Bill scratched his beard. “I can’t imagine. Are you sure someone’s trying to do that? And how?”
Now the CIA was asking him questions.
“All we know so far,” Jake said, “is that a minority-owned company, run by Chinese-Americans and employing programmers on work visas from China, is providing encryption software to the root server of the internet. The Department of Commerce has identified recent attacks on the server, at all but the highest security level.”
Bill appeared to be in listening mode.
“Given access to the A root server,” Jake went on, “they can remove links to all .com URLs, or re-name websites, or I suppose re-route traffic to their own computers. In short, they can control all access to email and web addresses.”
“This would be a massive computer attack,” Bill said. “I don’t think anybody has thought that big before.”
“And I’m asking you to. I’ve talked to Homeland Security and it seemed over their heads. I talked to the military, and they’re hampered from counterattacking. And I’ve talked to the National Security Agency and they can’t prevent a thing. So I’m turning to you to help us identify the source of these attacks, figure out what they’re up to and thwart it. In essence, what we need is post 9/11 think before the next 9/11 event occurs. We need Hack Attack think before the attack. Imagine the unimaginable.”
“We are aware of various provincial elements within China jockeying for more control over the national agenda…”
“Go on.”
Bill closed his eyes again. “Of course there are always nationalist elements, but also politicians who are out to make a name for themselves. Our embassy and consulates and our China Bureau would be up on the
Bill opened his eyes. “We keep tabs on many sources of suspicious activity.”
“Say, in China.”
“China, Iran. Russia, North Korea. You name it.”
“What if they’re no longer in that country, and have moved their operation to the United States?”
“We’re aware of such moves as they occur.”
“Say someone is preparing to attack the A root server.”
Bill stared at him blankly. “The what?”
Oh boy. Just as Jake had worried, CIA employees were not technical specialists.
Bill seemed sensitive about the gap in his knowledge of the IT world, and quickly moved to cover it up. “We’re aware of specific threats hackers have posed to large corporations, the U.S. Government, defense contractors and the like.”
“How about the Chinese?”
“They steal secrets from oil companies, patent lawyers, pharmaceutical companies, whatever, on a daily basis. They relentlessly exploit every crack in classified and unclassified systems.”
“How do they do it?” Jake asked.
Bill closed his eyes. “There are various disparate groups of hackers in China, even a group of girl hackers. But there’s also a concerted military effort to coordinate attacks with industrial and military needs. The government can tap into its reserve of private hackers for whatever it wants. They turn off anti-virus software, then go in and attack computers. Or they get the key to become system administrators. Or they send out email spyware, or insert Trojan Horses, etc.”
“Okay,” Jake cut him off. “You’re talking about stealing business or military secrets. But breaking into the A root server would compromise and possibly bring the entire World Wide Web to a grinding halt. Who is prepared to jeopardize the internet?”
Bill’s eyes flashed open. His look told him that he thought Jake might be off his rocker. “The Chinese government has nothing to gain from bringing down the internet. Their whole emphasis is to give them an edge in the world economy.”
“I accept that,” Jake said. “But let’s just think outside the box for a moment. Your agency knows China inside and out. Who might want to shut down the internet completely?”
Bill scratched his beard. “I can’t imagine. Are you sure someone’s trying to do that? And how?”
Now the CIA was asking him questions.
“All we know so far,” Jake said, “is that a minority-owned company, run by Chinese-Americans and employing programmers on work visas from China, is providing encryption software to the root server of the internet. The Department of Commerce has identified recent attacks on the server, at all but the highest security level.”
Bill appeared to be in listening mode.
“Given access to the A root server,” Jake went on, “they can remove links to all .com URLs, or re-name websites, or I suppose re-route traffic to their own computers. In short, they can control all access to email and web addresses.”
“This would be a massive computer attack,” Bill said. “I don’t think anybody has thought that big before.”
“And I’m asking you to. I’ve talked to Homeland Security and it seemed over their heads. I talked to the military, and they’re hampered from counterattacking. And I’ve talked to the National Security Agency and they can’t prevent a thing. So I’m turning to you to help us identify the source of these attacks, figure out what they’re up to and thwart it. In essence, what we need is post 9/11 think before the next 9/11 event occurs. We need Hack Attack think before the attack. Imagine the unimaginable.”
“We are aware of various provincial elements within China jockeying for more control over the national agenda…”
“Go on.”
Bill closed his eyes again. “Of course there are always nationalist elements, but also politicians who are out to make a name for themselves. Our embassy and consulates and our China Bureau would be up on the
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