System Overload

Part 1: Vulnerability

The document is a blur as I hurriedly scroll through the file. A glance at my watch. All right, still on time, it's gonna work... Breathe. Slowly, low in the chest, to ease the tension. The knot in my gut loosens a little. Hold on. Two sectorial reports to go through, and we're done. Integral eye implant Ophtalmeus 6. Ah, Gerhart wanted a comparative balance sheet of any technical failure. For the whole project, worldwide. The tension is back, the little meditation exercise from earlier forgotten. I move my second screen closer. End of year report for the Ophtalmeus 5 on one side, the new model on the other. There we go.

Timid knocks at the door.

What now ? Whoever that is, I'm tempted to ignore them.

Knocks more, slightly stronger. Still very discreet. Ah...

"Yes, come in."

Davis appears in the doorway. He looks uneasy. He knows he's interrupting.

"Pardon me, Mr. William, I know you did not wish for any employee meeting request to be transmitted to you today, but the chief engineer from Assistance & Maintenance insists on speaking with you. Personally."

The knot in my gut tightens.

"Well, I'll see him as soon as I'm finished with these reports. I'll need a couple hours, no more."

"The chief engineer specifically said that the issue unfortunately can't wait. He seemed... very nervous, sir."

I softly sigh.

"Very well. Tell him to come in then, Davis."

He nods, closes the door, cautious as always. My glance goes to the two balance sheets I was just starting to sift through. About a twentieth of the scrollbar. Sighing again, I minimize the opened documents.

All right. Efficiency. Let's deal with whatever the AM chief engineer wants. Back and forth to the coffee machine, and then the sheets, again. You can do it. But if he insists on coming in person, that sounds bad. It sounds like it will take a lot of time to deal with.

Knocks at the door.

"Come in."

Yes, that's him. What's the name, again... ? Ronand ? His silhouette appears in a slight highlight, a downloading progression logo appears for a brief moment on the top right. Paul Ronand, chief engineer, Support and Maintenance offices.

"Good afternoon, Mr. William, thanks for meeting with me so quickly."

Nervous tics: He speaks fast. Turns off his smart glasses with a sharp gesture. He still has his natural eyes. Quite surprising.

"It's all right. Please have a seat. So, what's the matter? A failure on one of our last products? Ophtalmeus 6 implants showed up some design defect? If that was the case, I'd be grateful to be informed now, so I wouldn't have to finish these reports."

My little joke falls flat. He shakes head, way, way too serious. Anxiety levels rise for me as well.

"It's not about a specific new series, but about our whole product range, Mr. William. A firmware vulnerability – the main software basis of our prosthesis."

"A vulnerability... Do you mean the implants got infected by malware or something like that ?"

He nods, rubs his well-groomed beard.

"We discovered it last night. It's too late. It's already been exploited. We don't know for how long, or how. Not yet, though..."

I interrupt him.

Angst lurks in my stomach. Everything is still too abstract, but my imagination is filling in the details. Pacemakers overloaded remotely. Breathing machines that... Leave it alone for now. Facts first. Facts. I start again :

"Wait, Ronand. Theoretically, we have enough... er... locks, on the prosthesis, at software level – the firmware as you say – so that the intrusive program can't act freely. It couldn't gain access to more privileges, correct? It can only access very limited functions."

He seems vaguely surprised that I know these terms.

"That's exactly the point, Mr. William : this vulnerability allows an elevation of privileges to the root level. The infection is already installed in superuser."

"Slow down, please... I understand some terms, but this is starting to go over my head."

"Sorry. Let's say, to put it clearly, that the virus installed itself in a way that's supposed to work only with administrator rights, as we use for the firmware updates, for example. Hence why, even when we'll find a way to patch the vulnerability..."

I close my eyes, raising my hand again to stop him :

"This, this part. Patching the vulnerability. Where are we on this?"

"Our programmers will be on this as soon as they can. Once we understand the flaw well enough."

I nod, opening my eyes.

"Very well. Please continue."

He thinks for a moment, then says :

"Even once the vulnerability is patched, we're not sure we'll be able to purge the malware from the prosthesis systems. We'll probably have to reinitialize it."

"You mean, install the whole system from scratch? I suppose we can do it remotely, correct? Directly into every implant, right as they log on?"

"Of course! But there are many other factors. For example : during the reinitialization, the prosthesis will be inactive. You can guess what could happen to the user then...!"

Silence, as heavy as molten lead.

"So we'll have to find an arrangement with every single individual user, so... But, wait. Are the effects of this malware really worth a complete reinitialization? After all, you detected it, fine, but are the users actually suffering any inconvenience?""

He doesn't seem to like this question. His glance darkens, he takes a moment before opening his mouth to answer. A loud ringtone interrupts him. He startles, looks at me, apologetic, and searches his pockets, finally finding the phone in his jacket.

"I'm sorry, sir, I have to..."

He stands, walking a few steps aside to answer the call.

"Yes ? So ? (He turns to me again. No doubt it concerns our current matter.) Oh my... Alright. Alright. Yes. Thank you."

His tone is bleak, not a good omen. I eye him as he slips his phone back into his pocket way too cautiously. He's already away, his brain spinning hard. Then he comes back to me, sighs.

"They're taking him to ER. He was in cardiac arrest."

"Who ? Why ? Say something!"

"A client who came to our medical team tonight. The first detected case of malware infection."