Brian Saves the World, Maybe

Chapter 22 - Bits and Pieces

Pamela watched as Brian walked away, a look of contempt on her face. IT people! Think they can do whatever they want. Always wanting to control things. She was convinced all problems in the company could be traced back to IT.

Scowling, she returned to her desk and picked up the phone to call Jack. Mid-dial, her scowl suddenly melted to a blank expression, and she put the phone back down. Her hand moved to the mouse. She opened a file on her computer called Ledger and added an entry under GL 7256739 in the amount of ten thousand dollars. Another file on her computer mapped this entry to "Project 84." She closed the file.

Pamela blinked a few times, and her scowl returned. She picked up the phone and called Jack Martin.

"Jack. Brian Walker was just in here. Said he was doing some kind of IT equipment audit. I know what this is about, and it won't work!"

She slammed the phone down.

* * *

Soon after Brian got back to his office, his phone vibrated. It was a message from Jack:

"Someone defaced the Talon website. FIX THIS!"

Brian quickly pulled up the site.

At the bottom of the main page, there were headshots of the leadership team at Talon.

Sure enough, someone had superimposed an image of The Joker over Jack Martin's face.

He couldn't help but chuckle. Jack did bear a striking resemblance to the DC villain (it was the eyebrows).

The website was managed by an outside company. He could ask them to fix the image, but someone at Talon would need to investigate further.

Brian texted Ralph about it.

"Someone hacked the website. Can you check the logs on the web server for any clues on where the attack came from?"

Ralph's reply came quickly.

"lol"

A minute later, Ralph was at the door, a smirk on his face. "I already know where the attack came from." He shut the door and sat down. "It was me."

Brian's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Jack's a joker," Ralph said, folding his arms.  "So, it worked."

Brian shook his head, wondering how quickly he would be able to replace his only technician. "How did you do it?"

"I found a simple vulnerability and exploited it. The exploit allowed me to download a file from the server, containing hashed passwords. Then I just ran that against a cracking utility. In less than an hour, I had a working login. Someone should really look at securing that web server."

Brian sighed. My technician is a hacker. "Ralph, you know I have to fire you, right?"

Ralph seemed unfazed, still wearing his smirk. "Relax, I didn't do any real damage. And nobody visits our website, anyway."

Ralph had a point. But he couldn't just sweep this under the rug.

His skills could be useful, TV said.

Huh?

Perhaps you can get him to join our team.

Brian frowned. "You know, I'll have to give a report on this, and the attack can probably be traced back to your computer."

Ralph smirked again. "Not likely. I routed my traffic through a multi-hop, anonymizing network. Logs will show a connection from China. It will just look like a random attack."

Brian couldn't help but be impressed. He bit his lip, considering. "Ralph, If you went through all that trouble to cover your tracks, why tell me you did it?"

He shrugged. "Cuz you're cool, Boss."

On the other hand, his judgment is somewhat questionable.

The voice in my head doesn't think I'm cool. Think I can live with that.

No, I meant, he may be somewhat reckless. He had no reason to tell you what he did.

Brian frowned. "I'm going to need some time to think about this," he said. "In the meantime, call the web site vendor and have them clean up your mess, before Jack fires both of us."

The website was soon fixed, and Brian spent the rest of the afternoon writing up a report about the incident, calling to attention that the logs showed the traffic had come from China. Jack was known to criticize Chinese companies on social media, so maybe he would see it as attempted retribution.

As Brian got into his car to head home for the day, he noticed the black canvas bag Dale had given him. He looked inside it again, shaking his head. I need to get back to that Gateway program, he thought. Maybe Aunt Carol would just give him another red phone.

He took out his cellphone and made a call.

"Hi Jessica... Do you have plans tonight?"

* * *

"He destroyed it? How?" Jessica looked shocked.

The two sat across from each other at a diner.

"No idea. It's Dale. I don't know how he does half the things he does. Do you think you can get my aunt to replace it?"

"Wow. I don't know." She was biting her lip. "I'm not supposed to contact the Resistance, except for emergencies, and even if I did, they may not be willing to replace it. They guard that stuff pretty tightly, because it comes from the Caf..."

"The Cafeteria?"

Jessica's eyes widened. "You know about the Cafeteria?"

Brian sighed. "Everyone reacts like that when I mention it. No, I don't know about it. I just know of  it, and that it's a big deal for some reason. What is it?"

Jessica was silent for a moment. Then she looked Brian in the eyes. "I'll show you."