Terminal Compromise - Winn Schwartau (fiction book recommendations TXT) 📗

“How much?” Al Shapiro asked.

“You figure it out. Just keep it calm.” Shapiro noted it agree-

ably.

“Where the hell are the lawyers? I want that pinko-faggot news-

paper stopped by tonight.” McMillan’s rage presaged a very, very

bad day at First State.

“And someone, someone, find me that shit hole worm Sidneys. I

want him in my office in 30 seconds. Now,” he violently thrust

his arms in the air, “get the hell out of here until you have

some good news.”

Friday, December 4 RUN ON FIRST STATE AS IT STALLS ON OWN BAILOUT by Scott Mason

Since yesterday afternoon, First State Savings and Loan has been

in asset-salvation mode. Upon reports that computer hackers have

had access to First State’s computers and records for some time,

and can change their contents at will, the stock market reacted

negatively by a sell-off. In the first 15 minutes of trading,

First State’s stock plummeted from 48 1/2 to 26 1/4, a reduction

of one half its value. Subsequently, the stock moved up with

block buying. At the noon bell, the stock had risen modestly to

31. It is assumed that First State itself is repurchasing their

own stock in an attempt to bolster market confidence.

However, at 2:00PM, First State contacted banking officials in

New York and Washington, as well as the SEC, to announce that a

rush of worried depositors had drained the bank of it’s available

hard currency reserves, and would close until the following

morning when cash transfers would permit the bank to continue

payments.

Last quarter cash holding were reported in excess of $3 Billion,

and First State has acknowledged that any and all monies would

be available to those who desired it. In a press release issued

by First State at 1:00 PM they said, “A minor compromise of our

computers has caused no discernible damage to the computers, our

customers or the bank. A thorough investigation has determined

that the hacker was either a figment of the imagination of a

local paper or was based upon unfounded hearsay. The bank’s

attorneys are reviewing their options.”

The combination of the two announcements only further depressed

First State stock. It stood at 18 7/8 when the SEC blocked

further trading.

This is Scott Mason, who reported the news as he saw it. Accu-

rately.

Chapter 15 Sunday, December 6 Washington, D.C.

Miles Foster was busy at one of the several computers in his

Washington, D.C. condo. It was necessary, on a daily basis, to

stay in contact with a vast group of people who were executing

portions of his master plan. He thought it was going quite well,

exceedingly so in fact. Spread over 3 continents he remote

controlled engineers and programmers who designed methods to

compromise computers. With his guidance, though. He broke them

into several groups, and none of them knew they were part of a

much larger organization, nor did they have any idea of their

ultimate objective.

Each of his computer criminals was recruited by Alex; that’s the

only name that Miles knew. Alex. Miles had drawn up a list of

minimum qualifications for his ‘staff’. He forwarded them to

Homosoto, who, Miles guessed, passed them on to the ubiquitous

yet invisible Alex. That obviously wasn’t his real name, but

suitable for conversation.

Miles had developed a profile of the various talents he required.

One group needed to have excellent programming skills, with a

broad range of expertise in operating systems. An operating

system is much like English or any other language. It is the O/S

that allows the computer to execute its commands. Unless the

computer understands the O/S, the computer is deaf dumb and

blind. As a child learns to communicate, a computer is imbued

with the basic knowledge to permit it to function. It is still

essentially stupid, that is, it can’t do anything on its own

without instructions, but it can understand them when they are

given.

In order to violate a computer, a thorough understanding of the

O/S, or language of the computer is a must. Good programmers

learn the most efficient way to get a computer to perform the

desired task. There are, as in any field, tricks of the trade.

Through experience, a programmer will learn how to fool the

computer into doing things it might not be designed to do. By

taking advantage of the features of the Operating System, many of

them unknown and therefore undocumented by the original designers

of the O/S, a computer programmer is able to extract additional

performance from the equipment.

Similarly, though, such knowledge allows the motivated programmer

to bypass critical portions of the Operating System to perform

specific jobs and to circumvent any security measures that may be

present. For example, in most of the 85,000,000 or so DOS com-

puters in the world, it is common knowledge that when you ERASE a

file, you really don’t erase it. You merely erase the NAME of

the file. If a secretary was told to dispose of document from a

file cabinet, and she only removed the name of each file, but

left the contents remaining in the file drawers, she would cer-

tainly have reason to worry for her job. Such is an example of

one of the countless security holes that permeate computer land.

To take advantage of such glaring omissions, several software

companies were formed that allowed users to retrieve ‘erased’

files.

These were among the skills that Miles wanted his people to have.

He needed them to be fluent in not only DOS, but Unix, Xenix,

VMS, Mac and a host of other Operating Systems. He needed a

group that knew the strengths and weaknesses of every major O/S

to fulfill his mission. They needed to be able to identify and

exploit the trap doors and holes in all operating and security

systems. From an engineering standpoint, Miles found it terrifi-

cally exciting. Over the three years he had been working for

Homosoto, Miles and his crew designed software techniques and

hardware tools that he didn’t believe were even contemplated by

his former employer, the NSA.

The qualifications he sent to Homosoto were extensive, detailed

and demanding. Miles wasn’t convinced that anyone but he could

find the proper people. The interview process alone was crucial

to determining an applicant’s true abilities, and a mediocre

programmer could easily fool a non-technical person. While Miles

and Homosoto agreed that all programmers should be isolated from

each other, Miles felt he should know them more than by a coded

name over modem lines. Miles lost that battle with one swift

word from Homosoto. No.

To Miles’ surprise, within a few days of providing Homosoto with

is recruitment lists, his ‘staff’ began calling him on his com-

puter. To call Miles, a computer needed his number, and the

proper security codes. To a man, or woman, they all did. And,

as he spoke to them over the public phone lines, in encrypted

form of course, he was amazed at their quality and level of

technical sophistication. Whoever Alex was, he knew how to do

his job.

Over a period of a few months, Miles commanded the resources of

over 100 programmers. But, Miles thought, there was something

strange about most of those with whom he spoke. They seemed

ready to blindly follow instructions without questioning the

assigned tasks. When a programmer takes a job or an assignment,

he usually knows that he will be designing a data base, or word

processor or other application program. However, Miles’ staff

was to design programs intended to damage computers.

He had assembed the single largest virus software team in the

world, and none of them questioned the nature or ethics of the

work. Miles would have thought that while there is considerable

technical talent around the world, finding people who would be

willing to work on projects to facilitate the interruption of

communications and proper computer operations would have been the

most difficult part of recruitment. He realized he was wrong,

although he did not know why. Technical mercenaries perhaps? He

had never seen an ad with that as a job title, but, what the

hell. Money can buy anything. Weapons designers since Oppen-

heiner have had to face similar moral dilemmas, and with wide-

spread hatred of things American, recruitment couldn’t have been

all that difficult.

As he sat in his apartment, he was receiving the latest virus

designs from one of his programmers who lived in the suburbs of

Paris, France.