Bad Good Bad: Special Edition Read online

  Kim: “Yes, that is kind of crazy. By the way I am active again. But the bot is more careful now. It may have realized somehow that humans are not computers, and are sensitive beings with feelings.”

  Bianca: “You are a brave girl. How is your self-study progressing?”

  Kim: “I enjoy the reading a lot. Especially in the context we are in. I can relate. I think we could add a few new chapters with all the unforeseen stuff we are facing now. Who would have thought governance would partially fall into the hands of a robot for an organization like Neocuris?”

  Bianca: “Yes, you’re right. Not one of the traditional risks for sure.”

  She pauses.

  Bianca: “Have you been able to extract some interesting information from the bot?”

  Kim: “Yesterday, the bot sent me an email. Apparently, it is expecting an assault. Not sure what that means. But it sounds like the bot was introduced to protect the vault and the patients from this upcoming attack. Eric and Kevin both think that the bad guy who hacked Neocuris back in January may have been involved with some group that was planning this upcoming attack. They believe he was hired by the feds because of his shady relationships and his expert skills as a hacker. A classic.”

  Bianca: “The board members are freaked out right now. Some of them are ready to resign. They don’t believe they can effectively deal with the governance aspect anymore. It is turning into a Russian roulette game in their minds. And they have a reputation to protect. How can you justify trusting a hack to run your business? Is that still good governance? Is anybody going to end up in jail? They have to reject all contingency plans that involve shutting down the vault, in order to protect the patients. The board meetings are very tense and it is hard for the members to rationalize the situation”.

  Kim: “Are we going to release some information to the media about the situation?”

  Bianca: “Well, that is being discussed now, with Legal and Communications. If we just declare that we have lost control over the vault, Neocuris is toast. Stock will drop to pennies. Chapter 11 and bankruptcy for Neocuris. Nobody wants that. That would put the patients at risk. But we will have to release the information somehow. We did release the news that we got compromised again, but at the same time we declared that the situation is under control, and that no negative consequences have been identified, which is kind of true. But we cannot fully inform the public about what is going on. Not yet. That would make the situation worst. Later we will be able to justify this strategy, once we get things back under control. I believe for one that filtering out the information today could be positioned later as key for getting things back under control.”

  Kim: “Hopefully we will get full control back over the vault sooner than later. Right now I guess we just have to cross our fingers that this bot is not pure evil.”

  Chapter 5

  Sunday morning. I am at the airport, waiting for Toshiro. His plane just landed and he just texted me. He is about to walk past security. Here he comes.

  Kim: “Toshiro! I am so happy to see you.”

  I run into his arms. He let go on his carry on handle. We are enlaced. It’s been a couple of weeks, but it felt like an eternity.

  Toshiro: “Kim, I am so happy to be with you again.”

  We take a taxi back to my apartment. The sun is shining. I forget about the vault and Neocuris. I am not active. We are so dedicated to each other right now. The taxi driver tries to engage us in some discussion, but I have to apologize to him. We are so remote from this world now, enveloped together within this special moment. A moment we want to last forever.

  …

  Late afternoon. We are at my apartment. We are not talking. We are just smiling and enjoying each other’s presence. We are holding hands and facing, sitting on the floor. We even forgot to take care of lunch. I am starting to be hungry, my stomach is complaining.

  Kim: “Toshiro, maybe we could drop by Social tonight. I mean later. Leon will be happy to see you. Sarah will be happy as well.”

  Toshiro: “Sounds good. And I want to discuss something with Leon. I want to invite him at Voilà! for a few days. I have a plan to fly Ann to Portland to fill for him at Social. Ann is basically my right arm now at the restaurant. She is holding the fort now while I am here.”

  Kim: “I am sure Leon will be thrilled. I don’t think he has been to San Francisco before.”

  Toshiro: “Do you think you’ll be able to come with Leon?”

  Kim: “I am not sure. We are dealing with some critical situation at the office. Neocuris is compromised by some bot. We have been informed that this bot has been introduced to protect Neocuris against a potential upcoming attack. We are not 100% convinced that we should trust that information. We are still trying to sort things out.”

  Toshiro: “You security folks are scaring me. Listening to your bunch, nothing is safe anymore. We should all stop using social media, right?”

  Kim: “It’s all about risk tolerance. How much risk are you willing to accept, while still trying to benefit from social media and high tech gadgets. We want to have a presence on the web. But at the same time, we must remember that nothing we publish out there is confidential.”

  Toshiro: “Are you still teaching yourself some spooky tricks with your mobile phone?”

  Kim: “Well, yes. I wanted to tell you about a few things. I am not connected to the patients vault right now, but I was for a few days last week. I was trying to find out if I could gather some information that would help us figure out how to take control back in the vault. That bot is blocking some of our access. It’s crazy!”

  Toshiro: “Are you telling me you are connecting your brain to this compromised vault? Why would you want to do that?”

  Kim: “Toshiro, I know it sounds crazy. But there are more than one million patients at risk. I am trying to help. And I am supported by my team. It’s safe, don’t worry.”

  Toshiro: “What happens to you when you connect to Neocuris using your implant? What do you mean when you say you are trying to gather information? I don’t understand.”

  Kim: “That’s the surprise. I can actually interface with the bot. It is pretty rudimentary. It’s not like we are having a discussion like the one we are having now the two of us. I can only ask simple questions. And I am getting some answers in the form of either simple answers or emails for more elaborate answers.”

  Toshiro: “I don’t want to share you with a machine. I just don’t feel good about all this.”

  Kim: “I understand. Everybody wants this situation to end. I mean the bot that is kind of taking more than one million lives hostage. Or that is protecting those lives, go figure. Trust me, as soon as this situation is over, I will unplug myself for good. We discuss this in a committee and we make sure that it is safe whenever we connect. I can disconnect anytime, within seconds, if I don’t feel safe. And we have supervision in place. I know it’s crazy, but trust me on this. This is important. They need my help.”

  Toshiro: “You were hiding back in December and January. So that’s why. You were already connected to some machine back then, right?”

  Kim: “Yes. At first it was just temporary, to test some features. But Eric needed my help. He had to hide because some bad guys were after him. I wanted to talk to you, but I needed more time. Once Eric was out of trouble, I disconnected from Neocuris. I came home.”

  Chapter 6

  I am preparing for my first certification exam. One month to go. A 4-hour exam. Bianca is going to share some tricks and preparation exams with me. I enter her office.

  Bianca: “Hi Kim. Good to see you.”

  Kim: “Hi Bianca. Thanks for all the coaching. I really want to be ready for the exam. Without you I would not know where to start.”

  Bianca: “If you divide the number of questions by the time, you get something like one and a half minute per question. When you hit that tricky question that is in the exam to derail your management of time, you just skip it. It is multiple choice anywa
y, pick any answer randomly from a) to d). You still have one chance out of four to get it. If you have time left at the end, you can come back to that question. If you spend 20 minutes on that one question, that means you will run out of time for the last ten or twelves questions at the end. You don’t want to make that mistake.”

  Kim: “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Bianca: “Something else I wanted to discuss with you. The bot situation, of course. And the rumors about an upcoming assault. Did you get any new message from the bot since our last meeting?”

  Kim: “No. It has been quiet.”

  Bianca: “There are some highly prized targets in the United States. NERC, FERC and other regulations are being enforced on the electricity providers and those who transport it across multiple states, and across the border with Canada. A mix of hydro, nuclear, solar, wind, gas, etc. The network is robust, but it has failed before. A domino effect can knock off power from Toronto all the way to New York, as we have witnessed a few years ago. The network is supposed to be more robust today.”

  Kim: “And I am assuming Neocuris is a prized target as well?”

  Bianca: “Definitively. There are other targets, including the FAA, the stock market, big manufacturers. Even the last United States presidential election has been used as a target. The United States are accusing Russia, while the Russian government is denying any participation into the attacks of various types that apparently interfered with the elections. Germany is complaining about what seems to be a full on commercial war: They are complaining about their industries and governments being inundated by Russian malware. Of course the Kremlin is denying any responsibility. And now China and the United States are about to bring commercial disputes into cyberspace: They are already infiltrating each other’s information systems to try to steal confidential documents. Elite units from the US military have been able to shut down an extremist web site a few years ago. The general public has no idea how far we are into this cyberspace reality already.”

  Kim: “So the United States are also hacking Russia and China?”

  Bianca: “They cannot just sit and wait for the information war to be waged at them. They need to be able to retaliate, if needs be. It is all about the balance of power. Countries used to parade their army and rocket launchers. Then they used to be flashing their nukes. Now they parade their hackers and malware, in cyberspace where it is sometimes impossible to track down the attackers. If only one power has it, then they can try to rule the world with it. If more than one power has it, then everybody will think twice about using it to create real damage. Everybody fears retaliation.”

  Bianca: “There is a big market. An underground market. Some startups in Russia, China, the United States, and Eastern Europe design some pretty sophisticated malware. Then they try to sell. The dark web is where some of the malware, and also already compromised targets, can be sold. And more traditional methods are also used, like in the good old spy movies. States don’t need to be involved directly initially, because root kits and compromised systems are turning into commodities. The United States is less tolerant than other states. But it is still possible to acquire malware or compromised targets on the international market. Nothing prevents the United States from participating into this market, at a minimum to see for themselves what is transiting through this market. And all this information war is happening undercover. When states like Germany or the United States complain about Russian and Chinese malware in the press, the way they used to be complaining about territorial intrusions in the past, the line is blurred between the traditional and information war games.”

  Bianca: “Also, there is an explosion in the number of connected devices. What they call the internet of things. Now you have smart cars that drive themselves, vending machines, washing machines, parking meters, etc. Every one of these devices has an IP address. But we don’t have yet regulations with teeth like NERC around all these devices. Software and Security updates are sometimes never applied. Consumers don’t understand the risk, and anyway the risk is often not for the individual consumer: Recent coordinated attacks were able to leverage tens of thousands of compromised such devices to attack major web sites and the internet backbone. This Distributed Denial of Service attack did not affect the owners of those devices directly, so there is no incentive for them to replace the smart fridge. However, a few attacks recently affected consumers, including the compromised car computers. That forced car manufacturers to recall tens of thousands of vehicles. It’s getting closer to home all of a sudden. Nobody wants to end up in the ditch surrounded by airbags because of a computer virus.”

  Kim: “So I guess we must be ready for everything. It’s not going to get better anytime soon.”

  Bianca: “Correct. The number of connected devices is predicted to triple over the next few years. Back in the 1970s the internet was created in a naive way. Now we are trying to stitch some controls into its fabric that did not exist in the first place. It is a race. New regulations like the European General Data Protection Regulation are being enforced to address information security beyond energy, transportation and finance. A deluge of devices with no advanced security are coming to the stores by the millions. Everybody’s digital footprint on the web means that we are left with little privacy when it comes to our personal data.”

  Kim: “I am assuming that New Forensics and Neocuris both get some intelligence from the authorities, right?”

  Bianca: “Yes. They tell us just enough so we can secure budgets and sponsorships for augmenting our security defense. They know more than we know. They infiltrate the black markets. They gather intelligence from other countries. They have identified Neocuris as an asset that is associated with major risks. National security is at risk when thousands of citizens are at risk. One country does not need to bomb a city or drop flyers to try to affect the morale of the population. They can cut off the power by hacking a power plant or the distribution network. They can attack the financial market. They can remotely and somewhat safely attack the citizens, or create panic. It is also a communication war, so if protesters start to burn police cars, governments may become destabilized or weaker.”

  Kim: “I will let you know if we gather any new information about the bot. I am going back to Pro this afternoon. I will also ask Kevin and Eric if they got anything out of the bot.”

  Chapter 7

  I push the curtains to let the morning light in. 6:30 am. Maybe I’ll go for a quick run before work, and enjoy the clear sky today. I like the oxygen intake. It helps me concentrate better at work or when I am studying for my exam.

  As I am running and listening to some streaming music, my thoughts wander. Toshiro is back in San Francisco. I made the decision initially to have the implant without talking to him. We were unsure about whether or not our relationship would survive the separation. But we both realized once separated that we needed each other. He does not like the idea of the implant. He thinks that I’ve made a mistake. He thing that I’ve gone too far. Maybe a mistake it was. I am reconnecting now. But maybe I should just stay off. I don’t want to lose Toshiro again. I need him.

  I am sensing something weird. Some noise. But not the kind of noise associated with tuners. Something else. I can feel Kevin’s presence. And some tension. I am concerned. After so many quiet days, something is definitively happening.

  It is half past eight o’clock. I walk into the office. I can see some of the employees moving about, and some looking together at screens. I walk to Kevin’s desk. They are looking at some news web site on one screen, and a Neocuris network dashboard on another.

  Kevin: “Hi Kim. You hear the noise as well, right? I have a bad feeling.”

  Kim: “Yes. It’s intermittent, but yes, I hear it too.”

  Kevin: “Something is going on. I don’t think all of this is just coincidence. Did you watch the news this morning?”

  Kim: “No. I just went for a run. Then I got here.”

  Kevin: “Two simultaneous power o
utages. Michigan and New Jersey. At 4:30 am Eastern Time roughly. Some synchronization problem on the transmission grid that looks suspicious. They are reestablishing power now, but millions of people are affected by the blackout. And then a DDOS attack against the DNS Domain Name System. Mostly the East Coast was affected, including New York and also Chicago. Stock Market was affected for more than an hour, and also online shopping and other internet services.”

  Kamal: “Many Neocuris patients got disconnected for that hour. We can tolerate a few hours with the application running in local mode and resynchronizing once the connectivity is back. That is what’s happening now. Wi-fi routers are restarting, the internet is working again, but we have tens of thousands of application instances trying to resynchronize at the same time. See this portion of the network, in orange? This is where service is affected by this traffic peak.”

  Kamal is pointing at the dashboard.

  Eric joins us.

  Eric: “Hey guys, the Canadian web site for Neocuris got defaced last night. Nothing really serious, a few pictures got replaced with the pictures of faces hiding being masks. I believe most of the attack was blocked, and the web site is back to normal now.”

  Kevin: “Eric, there is something going on. With the power outages, the DDOS attack against the DNS, and also the noise I and Kim hear now in the vault. Do you hear that too?”

  Eric: “I thought it was just me. Yes. It comes and goes.”

  Kamal: “Guys, take a look at the dashboard.”

  Kamal is pointing at some sections of the network flashing yellow on the dashboard.

  Kevin: “Look, this section just stopped flashing yellow, but this other one here is turning orange!”

  Kamal: “That is one full color before red. Not good.”

  Kamal is chatting with New Forensics on his mobile phone now.

  Kamal: “Confirmed. Neocuris is under attacked. New Forensics are investigating. They are turning some countermeasures on including isolating some segments of the network.”