I Hate That I Loved You!

12- First Strike

At Bennetti Group:

Everyone was dead scared.

People nervously held their breath.

The temperature of the conference room dropped making it extremely cold like Antarctica.

A few shivered and gulped.

Some were so nervous, that their palm, forehead, and back covered in a cold sweat.

There were also a few who were on verge of crying. Nobody was expecting this to happen.

Sitting in the custom made large Italian leather chair, was Zain Bennetti, the mighty CEO & President of Bennetti Group, staring at everyone with a deathly glare.

Presenters felt their legs quiver in fear. Chills ran down their spine.

His face was so stoic, cold, and frigid like someone who is about to start a holocaust.
His eyes extremely dark, scrutinizing movement of each & everyone present in the conference room.

Conspicuous displeasure on his face.

Even with his fearsome countenance, the female employees couldn't help but swoon at his handsomeness.  Their thoughts drifted. So dominating, formidable yet so pleasant to look at.

The conference room was so silent that the ticks of the clock were heard loud and clear.

Tick...
Tock...
Tick...
Tock..

After a few unbearable minutes, he finally spoke.

"How the hell did this happened?" Zain muttered brusquely in his intimidating tone.

Everyone gulped.

They felt like they have lost their voice.
Not a single sound came from anyone.

Everyone was trembling. None of them wanted to be a scapegoat. Devil was simply too terrifying.

"You have 8 hours to give me a complete report. I need answers."

Without another word, Zain stood up from his chair and adjusted his cufflinks.

"Meeting is dismissed."

The people held their breath as they heard his command.

"T.t.t Thank you, Boss. We will start our investigation and send out the report ASAP!" someone among the crowd spoke little leery.

Everyone respectfully gave a bow when Zain walked past them exiting the conference room.

They maintained that position. No-one dared to move a muscle until the sound of footsteps slowly faded and completely disappeared.

Everyone sighed in relief.

Thank god the meeting had ended. 
Almost all of them felt as if they were resurrected from death.

Secretary Anna was on verge of tears as she was the first one to encounter the deadly Asura when she notified him about the incident and urgent conference meeting.

"Start preparing the report. Engage tech experts ASAP. We need to get to the bottom of this or else we are all screwed."
One of them said in an instant, mummers of agreement could be heard.

"We have to release a general notification to our clients before news reaches them from another source." Secretary Anna chimed in.

Everyone agreed.

Bennetti Groups' network was breached last night. Someone has hacked into one of their servers and had encrypted(locked) some of their files.
Some files were less risky but some of them had client's records, latest contracts, and payment information.

Bennetti Group infrastructure was updated with latest security protocol. Breaching the network and breaking into the last defense was not something a novice hacker can accomplish.

The culprit must have been way too skilled to accomplish this task. Notorious hacker has threatened them asking ransom of 50 bitcoins (~USD $576,390.00) in next 48 hours to the given link.

Otherwise they will advertise and put the hacked information up for sale in the Cybercrime Underground (A dark world of notorious hackers).

If this data is exposed, Bennetti Group's stock will plummet and it's bound to suffer more losses. Not much though financially as they have ability recover it quickly, but it will be a significant dent on their reputation.

This will also have a negative impact on investors and shareholders. It's a disaster!

They must act quickly.

Bennetti Groups experts and technical team started working diligently on restoring the compromised server and break encryption as quickly and safely as possible.

In parallel, their PR team released statement to contain the negative impact. They dint disclosed any more information but they vaguely assured that Bennetti Groups takes full responsibility about their client's privacy and information. There's no significant damage or loss of data. So far situation is under control. Investigations are going on. Do not trust or believe any rumors unless anything is posted on official account.

PR team assiduously worked on removing negative news.
They took measures to keep control  on the incident coverage keeping a close eye on all media activities.

Everyone in Bennetti Group was trading on thin ice!