and closed my eyes, relishing the blackness after six hours of monitor face time. Michael’s offices were really classy and plush, but the screen glare from looking over Darius’s shoulder in that cold, bright server room had drilled holes in my eyeballs.
There was a knock at my door, followed by a small voice asking, “Are we going home already?”
I knew it was Liberty. God. Go away, I muttered under my breath, but aloud I said, “No…I have a four o’clock at the APD evidence warehouse to go through Michael’s cell phone. Wanna come with?”
“Sure I guess. I’ve found out more about Cody.”
The door opened and Christopher walked in. “You’re back.”
“Very good, Sherlock.” I groaned as he flipped on the light and sat down on the plump chair in front of my desk. “Are we taking a meeting now?”
“Hopefully. Sit down Liberty…this may take a while.”
I scooted my already sore ass back into a seated position and brushed my bangs out of my eyes. “What’s up?”
Christopher leaned back, automatically taking control. “What did you find at Linked?”
“I don’t think Michael or Darius were involved with the identity thefts. So far, we’ve got only one suspect…Cody Daniels.”
Liberty shook her head. “Oh no, it can’t be him. He was nice.”
“Some people seem nice, but behind the smile, they’re evil.” My voice was ragged with bitterness. I had known a lot of people who were not at all like they seemed. But still, there was no logical reason I was so upset about this man…this stranger.
“What made you focus on him?” Christopher asked.
I went through the details of the program I had run last night and the results on the screen with Cody centered in the bulls eye. I also told him that it would take a computer genius to do the things the hacker had done to Linked.
“If it is this fireman, then how did he do it…I mean physically?” Christopher was having trouble putting it all together on a logistics level. Computers weren’t his thing, so all the specifics about my program were gibberish to him.
I tried to simplify it. “Long and short is, Michael’s machine has been infected with a BOT, a really ingenious BOT. As soon as it got in, it automatically broke down into small, almost undetectable pieces. Then, somehow that fucker re-assembled itself, crawled through the servers, copied the personal identity records and shipped them out…to Cody’s computer or to a shell file. Then it disassembled itself and went to sleep. I don’t know if he remotely triggers it or if it’s on some sort of timer so that it wakes up and haunts the servers whenever another 250 to 500 new members are added.”
“Ever seen this before?” Christopher frowned and leaned forward, resting his arms on my desk.
“Never. And to your question about Cody…he may be the brains behind this or maybe he’s just a conduit.”
Christopher’s dark eyebrows lifted as an idea hit him. “Why don’t you just hack him back? Can’t you get into his system and look around?”
“I’m not a hacker,” I said, a little defensively. “In the cyber security business, it’s called being a penetration expert.”
“Christopher’s eyes widened and he shook his head, clearly not daring to comment on that.
I laughed. It wasn’t often I could catch Christopher off guard. “Actually, I thought about penetrating his files, but if he’s as sharp as I think he is, he’d see me. I decided that maybe we don’t need him knowing that we’re on to him. His machine still gets data and he could dump it in the deep net at any time.”
“Do you think he’s still holding some info?”
“There’s no way to tell how many files he’s captured. My guess is he’s got hundreds, maybe thousands, and he’s dribbling them into the marketplace a few at a time. The identity thefts seemed to happen in groups of five or six at a time.”
“He
There was a knock at my door, followed by a small voice asking, “Are we going home already?”
I knew it was Liberty. God. Go away, I muttered under my breath, but aloud I said, “No…I have a four o’clock at the APD evidence warehouse to go through Michael’s cell phone. Wanna come with?”
“Sure I guess. I’ve found out more about Cody.”
The door opened and Christopher walked in. “You’re back.”
“Very good, Sherlock.” I groaned as he flipped on the light and sat down on the plump chair in front of my desk. “Are we taking a meeting now?”
“Hopefully. Sit down Liberty…this may take a while.”
I scooted my already sore ass back into a seated position and brushed my bangs out of my eyes. “What’s up?”
Christopher leaned back, automatically taking control. “What did you find at Linked?”
“I don’t think Michael or Darius were involved with the identity thefts. So far, we’ve got only one suspect…Cody Daniels.”
Liberty shook her head. “Oh no, it can’t be him. He was nice.”
“Some people seem nice, but behind the smile, they’re evil.” My voice was ragged with bitterness. I had known a lot of people who were not at all like they seemed. But still, there was no logical reason I was so upset about this man…this stranger.
“What made you focus on him?” Christopher asked.
I went through the details of the program I had run last night and the results on the screen with Cody centered in the bulls eye. I also told him that it would take a computer genius to do the things the hacker had done to Linked.
“If it is this fireman, then how did he do it…I mean physically?” Christopher was having trouble putting it all together on a logistics level. Computers weren’t his thing, so all the specifics about my program were gibberish to him.
I tried to simplify it. “Long and short is, Michael’s machine has been infected with a BOT, a really ingenious BOT. As soon as it got in, it automatically broke down into small, almost undetectable pieces. Then, somehow that fucker re-assembled itself, crawled through the servers, copied the personal identity records and shipped them out…to Cody’s computer or to a shell file. Then it disassembled itself and went to sleep. I don’t know if he remotely triggers it or if it’s on some sort of timer so that it wakes up and haunts the servers whenever another 250 to 500 new members are added.”
“Ever seen this before?” Christopher frowned and leaned forward, resting his arms on my desk.
“Never. And to your question about Cody…he may be the brains behind this or maybe he’s just a conduit.”
Christopher’s dark eyebrows lifted as an idea hit him. “Why don’t you just hack him back? Can’t you get into his system and look around?”
“I’m not a hacker,” I said, a little defensively. “In the cyber security business, it’s called being a penetration expert.”
“Christopher’s eyes widened and he shook his head, clearly not daring to comment on that.
I laughed. It wasn’t often I could catch Christopher off guard. “Actually, I thought about penetrating his files, but if he’s as sharp as I think he is, he’d see me. I decided that maybe we don’t need him knowing that we’re on to him. His machine still gets data and he could dump it in the deep net at any time.”
“Do you think he’s still holding some info?”
“There’s no way to tell how many files he’s captured. My guess is he’s got hundreds, maybe thousands, and he’s dribbling them into the marketplace a few at a time. The identity thefts seemed to happen in groups of five or six at a time.”
“He
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