Page 57 of The Island in Bramble Bay
‘It looks like a DDoS attack on a massive scale,’ explained Ed.
‘Really? That’s actually quite impressive.’ Charlie began, then once he saw Ed’s face, changed tack. ‘It’s devastating, but to pull off a denial of service attack on a company like this with so many hosting locations, I mean, it’s seriously complex.’
‘It is and that’s the problem. We can’t stop it at the moment, we don’t have a plan and we’ve been down for almost 18 hours now.’ Ed shook his head. ‘It’s unprecedented.’
‘I need to take a look at it. I’m no expert on this kind of thing but man, the more of us looking at it the better, right?’ It was a terrible situation but Charlie used to thrive on having to fix problems, maybe not as big as this one, and it gave him a huge adrenaline rush which he was struggling to control in front of Ed. The stakes were so high and even though the outcome didn’t directly affect him anymore, High 5 would always feel like it was his.
Jared had stepped away from High 5 completely since the take-over but Charlie knew that he would want to help. Plus, when they were in college he did his fair share of hacking, just amateur stuff but he could be a valuable resource. He got the okay from Ed and made the call.
‘Hey, Jared. I’ve got an offer you can’t refuse.’
‘Are you here, Charlie? Have you seen what’s going on with High 5?’
‘I’m at the office now. You need to get over here. We need all the help we can get.’
‘Have you heard from Jessica? She’s pissed, man.’
Charlie sighed. Why did Jessica have to be everywhere? He’d assumed she’d still be in the Sandbanks Hotel.
‘No. Jared, I haven’t heard from her and I don’t want to talk to her. She crossed a line by following me to the UK. I’m done with her.’ He felt a lightness sweep over him as if saying it out loud had made him realise it was true; he was done with her, for good this time.
‘Okay, I’m on my way.’
At Ed’s request, Charlie met with the incident response team. They were confident they’d find a way to stop the attack but in the meantime, it was costing the company a fortune and the race was on to resolve it over the weekend before the markets opened on Monday. It was terrifying to think about the impact it would have on their share price if they couldn’t show that it had been nipped in the bud.
While Charlie was making a coffee, Ed came into the kitchen.
‘They have a lead, an IP address which they’ve traced to the dark web,’ said Ed, looking more relieved than the lead warranted, Charlie thought.
‘That’s great. They must have forgotten to cover their tracks with that one. It could be a breakthrough.’
‘Let’s hope so. I’m going to take a break. I’ve got a room at the hotel across the street. If you want to do the same, put it on the company account.’
‘Thanks, Ed. I think I’ll stick around until the jet lag kicks in. Can I have a quick word about the project while you’re here?’ Charlie suddenly wanted to get everything Jessica related off his mind. ‘I can’t work with Jessica on the rest of the project. I know that makes things a little tricky and I am sorry but there’s no way around it.’
‘The history caught up with you, huh?’ Ed smiled knowingly.
‘Something like that. I want to do a great job for you, Ed, but I can’t do it with her.’
‘It’s no problem, Charlie. Kyle can deal with Jessica from now on. Go through him if you need something from her. I’ll talk to Jessica, let her know the new structure.’
‘Thanks, that’d be great.’
Ed gave Charlie a friendly punch on the arm. ‘Call me if there’s any development.’
Jared arrived and set himself up next to Charlie on one of the hot desks in the main office.
‘Charlie, you need to call Jessica. She’s going fricking crazy. Have you blocked her or something?’
‘Yes. I have nothing to say to her and I don’t want to hear anything she wants to say to me.’
‘Something’s going on with her. I know her, and this is serious. Charlie, I think she might be behind this attack.’
Charlie leant back in his chair and laughed. ‘C’mon, Jared! Jessica’s not a hacker, she’s not capable of pulling off something like this.’
‘She’s seriously rich, she doesn’t have to have done it herself,’ Jared insisted. ‘That guy, Drew, who works for her? I bet he’s no stranger to the dark web.’
She had been pretty pissed at him and had threatened to finish him. But this was more than that, it wasn’t just an attack on him. This attack was hurting countless other people, from the shareholders to the investors, even the users. Whatever he thought about Jessica, it seemed to Charlie that this was beyond what she was capable of. Perhaps Jared was onto something by suspecting Drew.
