the friendship code

-the worse scenario happened-

Ahn's P.O.V:
Today is definitely the best day of my life. After seven years, I get the ultimate chance to see my idols live. After countless hours squealing in front of screens watching live performances, I'm now going to be up close and personal with BTS. With excitement, I'm all bouncy and my hands are shaking. Oh God, I can hardly stand this tension. This already started when I stepped out of the hotel room. On the way to the GMA studio, where BTS are giving their first interview about their new album in America after finishing their military service, it didn't get any better. On the contrary, my nervousness increased with every meter I got closer to the studio.
But once there, what I least wished for occurred. One of the studio employees announced that there was a cyberattack on the system during the night and encrypted almost all the computers and servers. He also said that it is their turn to fix this so that the show can go on as scheduled. He couldn't give any details by when exactly they want to have this fixed. Hopefully, they will get it done. It would be a great pity if the show had to be canceled.
But when I didn't hear anything about how they were doing after half an hour, I remembered that my best friend, with whom I'm on a short trip to New York City, is one of the best hackers in the world. Hopefully, she can help us. In the rush, I managed to pull one of the techs aside. "Hey. umm. My friend is a real hacking expert. She's cracked some stuff in the past where others have despaired. Could she take a look, maybe she can help you out?", I asked him. "Yes, sure, I'd love to. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to have a knowledgeable outside person look at it. I just hope she finds something we can work on. We're really starting to run out of time."
After the conversation, I gathered all my courage to call Lee. Because at that point, I knew she'd barely slept and would be pretty pissed and annoyed if I yanked her out of her sleep now. But I have to do it. It is an emergency. Even if she will see it differently. It also remains to be seen if she will pick up.

Lee's P.o. V:

*ring, ring*

Uh, what's that? Totally sleepy, I pated for my cell phone, which has been ringing for about 5 minutes straight. Why is this old thing making such a noise at this hour? But I should regret the look on the display quite fast when I read the name of the caller. Ahn, my best friend for countless years and exaggerating K-Pop fan. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better to put her in a mental hospital. However, actually think she is quite nice if you do not bring up the subject of music. Every now and then I wonder how we became friends in the first place. No idea.
Why is Ahn calling already? Shouldn't the recording not be over for another four hours? What the heck, let's see what she wants. Sleepy and annoyed, I picked up the phone.

L: "What *yawn* do you want? Do you even know what time it is?"A: "Lee! Please you have to help me uh us? The GMA studio is under a cyberattack. All the systems are encrypted. Nothing works anymore. And the IT nerds here can't get it working again."

L: "What? How? Why? Are there any display areas near you where you can see anything?"

A: "Yeah. Hang on a second. I'm going to switch to a video call. Hold on."

A few seconds later, Ahn's image appeared on the display.

A: "Well, I have no idea what that means. But it says something about access denied. Access denied?"
All at once, I was wide awake. Jesus. Someone is using IT technology to build a botnet. It's a way to attack more targets. Fast action is needed for something like this.

L: "Shit! Someone has installed malware. On purpose or not it doesn't matter. Stay where you are. I'm on my way. I'm having a hard time assessing the situation from here and over Skype."
I guess that's it for my sleep for the day. Let's see what I can get up to in this condition.
In the lobby, I grabbed an apple for the road, which every guest is free to eat, and left our hotel, heading for the nearest subway station. Fortunately, since our accommodation is on the outskirts of Brooklyn, so the ride to Time Square is not as too long. As is usual for 7 am, the trains heading to Manhattan resemble a can of sardines. Everyone squeezes into every available corner they can find to get to the office on time. Great. Collective sweating. Because the tin cans in the summer seem like Finnish saunas. Well, it's only a 15-minute drive and it's early in the morning. Therefore, the temperature should be bearable. Only the mass of commuters drives me now already the sweat on the forehead.

The thing is that I get panic attacks in large crowds of people and I currently do not have my dog Jojo by my side to get my fear under control in such moments. Then I have to go through it on my own. After what felt like an eternity between highly perfumed bodies, I reached the subway station near the studio. Erw. Hopefully, I'll get that smell out of my nose someday.
After a few minutes, I saw the Good Morning America studio's neon sign, whereupon I texted Ahn where I have to meet her. Halfway there, she came running towards me and then dragged me into the middle of the action. Can the day actually get any better? I guess so. Uh. Ahn! You know how much I hate being the center of attention, and now you want to throw willy-nilly in front of the hungry mob that mauls anyone who gets too close to their idols? Have you lost your mind? Somehow I regret agreeing to help. Hopefully, if I stay in the shadows, they won't spot me and I can fix the cyberattack undisturbed as quickly as possible. When I glanced at the LED screens, I immediately had an idea to prevent a much bigger disaster. First, the malware had to be identified. Only then could I unencrypt it and recover lost data. But identifying it will take some time due to massive amounts of data. Maybe the servers are still working, so the computing power can be shared by them. If not, the process won't be through in a hundred years and Ahn will wring my neck if I can't do it today. To do that, I need to find a way to connect to the servers to run the program.
But before that, all computers and other network devices have to be disconnected from the network. That means in reverse, the LAN cables have to come off. And that everywhere. On top of that, all wi-fi connections have to be cut as well, so that the whole thing is contained and not too many have to be restored or, in the worst case, replaced after the fact. Ugh. This is going to be fun. There are still people in every company who don't know what a fucking network cable looks like. Most of the time, the only thing that helps is the statement, just pull out all the cables, one of them will be it for sure. Fortunately, Ahn approached the IT manager and introduced me. After a short handshake and small talk, we quickly agreed on how to proceed. To be honest, the guy gave me the concession without hesitation that it would provide everything I needed to do this job. He also allowed me to use the control room for the studio since it is closest to the central server room. The day is going better than expected so far. This room is perfect. Short distances to the digital heart of the studio and massive monitors that I get to hog. Great. Let's go.
Behind the scenes, I yell at the entire staff to disconnect the devices from the network. But as expected, some did not do what was required. So they had to help out. But with the support of the rest of the staff, this went smoothly. In the control room, I sent most of the staff out there to make room for my equipment. After setting up, the connection to the servers was to establish. Crap, why can't I connect to the IP address one of the admins gave me? Is that out of date maybe? What's the point? Who has managed his IT so sloppily? Isn't it in his own interest to always have an overview of where and how what can be accessed?
After some fiddling around I found the right one. The software runs for a few minutes and should produce a result in no time or after a few hours. Time for a little nap. Can't hurt, can it?