there’s an attack, it’ll come through the Internet. Not through a smashed window.’
‘We’ll see,’ Saul replied cryptically.
‘I doubt that Gazo will be much good to us, either,’ Cadel continued, tapping out codes and passwords. Numbers unrolled across the screen in front of him. Panels blinked on and off. Layer by layer, he worked down into the core of Judith’s network, while he toyed with the idea of tweaking the collision resistance in a cryptographic hash function. Would Vee be tempted to launch a length extension attack? ‘Gazo could fell an army at fifty paces,’ he muttered, ‘but that’s not much good if we’re up against a hacker in Hong Kong.’
‘Hong Kong?’ Saul echoed.
Cadel shrugged.
‘Somewhere that’s not Sydney,’ he amended. ‘Somewhere that’s a long way from here.’ And then he saw it.
There. Right there, in the back trace.
‘That might be true,’ Saul was saying. ‘But until we’ve established that you need protective custody –’ All at once he stopped, having caught sight of Cadel’s expression. ‘What’s up? Cadel?’
‘Oh, shit.’
‘Is there a problem?’
‘Somebody was in here.’ Cadel couldn’t believe his eyes. ‘Somebody got past my firewalls!’
‘Cadel.’ Saul rose. ‘Leave it. Don’t touch it.’
‘This is crazy!’ Cadel cried, ignoring him. ‘How could –? Unless Judith’s to blame.’
‘Cadel,’ Saul repeated. He grabbed Cadel’s shoulder, but was shaken off.
So he moved towards the power supply.
‘Don’t!’ Cadel barked. ‘Just let me do this!’
‘It’s not safe.’
‘Yes, it is. He can’t electrocute me. I have to see what’s happened.’ Peering at the screen, Cadel scowled as he began to check Judith’s programs. All of them had been hijacked by a piece of malware designed to reroute commands and disable passwords. It had rummaged through bitmaps and subroutines. It had seized control of the operating system.
It had turned on the CCTV cameras – and the microphones, as well.
‘Oh, Christ,’ Cadel groaned.
‘What?’ By now Saul was gripping the back of Cadel’s chair. ‘Tell me.’
‘He’s been eavesdropping.’
‘What?’
‘Whoever built this house wanted a sound-recording facility,’ Cadel explained, frantically jabbing at the keyboard.
Click-click. Click-click-click-click-click.
‘Judith told me about it. The original owners were paranoid. They liked to know what their cleaners were saying, and whether they were using the phone or the TV … stuff like that.’ He paused for a moment, glancing around atSaul. ‘Judith had the mikes disabled, but they’re on, now. And so are the cameras.’
The detective hissed. Then he straightened, and yelled ‘
Fiona!
’ before addressing Cadel in a voice that was barely audible.
‘Can you switch them off again?’
‘You bet,’ Cadel replied. ‘I’m pulling the plug.’
‘
Fiona
!’
‘I might as well, since he’s going to find out I’ve been in here anyway.’ Grimly Cadel began the process of diagnosis and deletion – without backing up. He simply didn’t have the time. ‘I reckon it’s Vee,’ he muttered. ‘Because he’s using a chatroom bot. And I recognise the privilege escalation exploit.’ This fact in itself was infuriating. It meant that all his good work had been overthrown by Judith’s carelessness. ‘I mean, how can I possibly patch something like this when Judith comes along afterwards and stuffs it up?’ he burst out. ‘I
told
her not to use the same damn password on e-commerce sites!’
‘What is it?’ All at once Fiona appeared, framed in the doorway. She was clutching a toothbrush. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘This system’s infested,’ Cadel replied. And Saul said, ‘We have to leave.’
‘What?’
‘Not yet.’ Cadel didn’t take his eyes off the data unfolding in front of him. ‘There’s no need to panic. I just disconnected, so we’re not exposed any more. I don’t think.’ (Though that
‘We’ll see,’ Saul replied cryptically.
‘I doubt that Gazo will be much good to us, either,’ Cadel continued, tapping out codes and passwords. Numbers unrolled across the screen in front of him. Panels blinked on and off. Layer by layer, he worked down into the core of Judith’s network, while he toyed with the idea of tweaking the collision resistance in a cryptographic hash function. Would Vee be tempted to launch a length extension attack? ‘Gazo could fell an army at fifty paces,’ he muttered, ‘but that’s not much good if we’re up against a hacker in Hong Kong.’
‘Hong Kong?’ Saul echoed.
Cadel shrugged.
‘Somewhere that’s not Sydney,’ he amended. ‘Somewhere that’s a long way from here.’ And then he saw it.
There. Right there, in the back trace.
‘That might be true,’ Saul was saying. ‘But until we’ve established that you need protective custody –’ All at once he stopped, having caught sight of Cadel’s expression. ‘What’s up? Cadel?’
‘Oh, shit.’
‘Is there a problem?’
‘Somebody was in here.’ Cadel couldn’t believe his eyes. ‘Somebody got past my firewalls!’
‘Cadel.’ Saul rose. ‘Leave it. Don’t touch it.’
‘This is crazy!’ Cadel cried, ignoring him. ‘How could –? Unless Judith’s to blame.’
‘Cadel,’ Saul repeated. He grabbed Cadel’s shoulder, but was shaken off.
So he moved towards the power supply.
‘Don’t!’ Cadel barked. ‘Just let me do this!’
‘It’s not safe.’
‘Yes, it is. He can’t electrocute me. I have to see what’s happened.’ Peering at the screen, Cadel scowled as he began to check Judith’s programs. All of them had been hijacked by a piece of malware designed to reroute commands and disable passwords. It had rummaged through bitmaps and subroutines. It had seized control of the operating system.
It had turned on the CCTV cameras – and the microphones, as well.
‘Oh, Christ,’ Cadel groaned.
‘What?’ By now Saul was gripping the back of Cadel’s chair. ‘Tell me.’
‘He’s been eavesdropping.’
‘What?’
‘Whoever built this house wanted a sound-recording facility,’ Cadel explained, frantically jabbing at the keyboard.
Click-click. Click-click-click-click-click.
‘Judith told me about it. The original owners were paranoid. They liked to know what their cleaners were saying, and whether they were using the phone or the TV … stuff like that.’ He paused for a moment, glancing around atSaul. ‘Judith had the mikes disabled, but they’re on, now. And so are the cameras.’
The detective hissed. Then he straightened, and yelled ‘
Fiona!
’ before addressing Cadel in a voice that was barely audible.
‘Can you switch them off again?’
‘You bet,’ Cadel replied. ‘I’m pulling the plug.’
‘
Fiona
!’
‘I might as well, since he’s going to find out I’ve been in here anyway.’ Grimly Cadel began the process of diagnosis and deletion – without backing up. He simply didn’t have the time. ‘I reckon it’s Vee,’ he muttered. ‘Because he’s using a chatroom bot. And I recognise the privilege escalation exploit.’ This fact in itself was infuriating. It meant that all his good work had been overthrown by Judith’s carelessness. ‘I mean, how can I possibly patch something like this when Judith comes along afterwards and stuffs it up?’ he burst out. ‘I
told
her not to use the same damn password on e-commerce sites!’
‘What is it?’ All at once Fiona appeared, framed in the doorway. She was clutching a toothbrush. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘This system’s infested,’ Cadel replied. And Saul said, ‘We have to leave.’
‘What?’
‘Not yet.’ Cadel didn’t take his eyes off the data unfolding in front of him. ‘There’s no need to panic. I just disconnected, so we’re not exposed any more. I don’t think.’ (Though that
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