Page 20 of No Questions Asked

Tim didn’t seem bothered by my lack of response, thank goodness, and he immediately turned to Slash. “I haven’t heard anything about you, sir, but I understand you know your way around a keyboard. I’m Tim Wilson. Glad to make your acquaintance and look forward to your help. We could really use it around here.”

Tim’s exuberance was kind of catching, and to my surprise, I found myself liking him without even knowing him, which was a pretty unusual thing for me. He looked around his office, ruefully shaking his head. “I’d ask you to sit, but I don’t have a free chair in here and it’s too small for the three of us anyway. Let’s head to the Server Room and I’ll show you around. We can talk there.”

We walked down a hall and Tim stopped in front of a door, using a key to unlock it. Single file, we headed into a dim, cool room filled with a decent array of computers, routers, wires and monitors. The servers, mounted on a table, had been stacked into a tower and several empty workstations held a variety of laptops and desktop computers, most of them running various programs. It was a small setup, but looked efficient.

“Why don’t you start by telling us what problems you’ve had,” I said to Tim, trying to figure the best way to get a handle on things. Slash continued to walk about the room inspecting the equipment.

“It’s pretty straightforward. We’ve been fighting off systemic and a series of well-executed attacks. One of them has been recently successful.”

Tim’s blatant admission surprised both Slash and me, as we both turned to face him. “How recent?” I asked.

“A few days ago,” Tim said. “Possibly the day you signed on to help us out. I haven’t been able to tell how long they’ve been inside, but they penetrated our email system. As soon as I discovered it, I let the staff know. I advised them to be careful about anything they transmitted for the time being. But I couldn’t afford to shut them out until I knew where they’d been and what they were looking at. In other words, I don’t want them to know we know they’re in...yet. After some discussion, we made a collective decision to proceed as if nothing had happened.”

“That’s smart,” I said quietly and I meant it. A rookie might have panicked and shut everything down. Tim had thoughtfully considered his options and taken one that had given us the best chance to trace the hackers, while still alerting staff to the compromise and to be careful with what they said in electronic communication.

“Luckily we have a separate firewall protecting the scientific data and research material,” he continued. “I’m reasonably confident they haven’t breached that one yet, but obviously everyone is concerned about protecting the integrity of the data as we head into field testing of the vaccine. I just don’t know how long we can hold them off, which is why we’re bringing you guys on board.”

I liked this guy even more because he’d been absolutely straight with us from the start. My initial assessment was that he would be an asset to us as we figured this out. “So, what approach do you think we should take from here?”

Tim looked surprised by the question. “Wow. That’s nice that you’ve asked me. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I heard they had got a couple of heavy hitters in here to help out with things. I guess I envisioned aMen in Blackscenario where you storm in, take over and freeze me out. Which would have been fine with me as long as you helped the organization. Vaccitex has a bunch of really good people with big hearts and brains who are dedicated to making the world a better place. It’s not hard to step aside and put that above my ego.”

His confession impressed me yet again. “Well, you’re not going to get aMen in Blackscenario from us, Tim. We need your help. This is your system, your baby. So far, you’ve done what I would have done, given the circumstances. Your setup looks solid. Obviously we’ll want to take a closer look, but my question still stands. What are your thoughts on a forward plan of action?”

“Well, I think the most important first step is verifying the research and vaccine formula haven’t been compromised. Second, we need to strengthen the hell out of the firewall to keep them out for good.”

“Excellent first steps,” I agreed. “But we can’t ignore the intruders in the email, either. We need to know who they are and exactly what they want, all of which will help us as we strengthen our defense. We need to set a trap so we can backtrack them.”

Interest sparked in Tim’s eyes. “What kind of trap did you have in mind?”

“The kind that makes themthinkthey’ve successfully broken through the firewall. It could hold a repository of research files that look like the real thing, but are riddled with errors and loaded with a special malware of our own.”

“A honeypot?” he asked.

“A honeypot,” I confirmed. “Once they download the files, I’ll be able to create a backdoor into their system and it will be our turn to take a look around in their system.”

“If they download,” Tim cautioned. “That’s a big if.”

“They will,” I said, completely confident. “At some point those files will go all the way to the top of whoever is orchestrating these attacks. And when they do...we’ll have them.”

Chapter Twelve

Lexi

Slash and I spent a couple of hours getting familiar with the system, asking Tim a lot of questions and getting a feel for the rhythm and flow of the operation. The three of us took a quick break for lunch at a local deli and then returned for the more interesting part of the day—taking a look at the hacker’s penetration and learning what we could from it.

It didn’t take Slash or me long to determine the hackers were very skilled. Vaccitex was lucky the firewall held up as long as it did.

“Have you considered disconnecting the research database entirely from the Internet?” I said, tearing my eyes away from the code scrolling across the screen. “If it’s that critical, does it have to be online?”

“I wish it were that simple,” Tim replied. “But things are changed and tweaked in the formula on a daily basis. The company has researchers and scientists all over the world. Unfortunately, being disconnected isn’t an option at this point.”

“Who are your competitors for the vaccine?” Slash asked. He was methodically taking notes on a small notepad as the data moved rapidly across the monitor.

“We have plenty,” Tim said. “But for that, you’d have to talk to Lilith or Hayden. They’d know better than me.”

“Think we could talk to one of them?” I asked.

Tim stood, stretched his arms over his head. “Sure. Let me see who’s here and available.”

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