Nighthawk
11/28/04 3:45am
The Take-Back
"All right, Psykes, let's go over the plan one more time. Okay, once we initialize the connection..."
My name is Nighthawk. No, that's not my real name; it's my code name; a sort of alias. It had been so long since I had used my real name, it almost didn't mean anything anymore.
"We've got our signal bouncing across 10 different countries, through 12 different nodes, off one satellite, through another 5 nodes, and straight from there, to our destination."
I was currently part of a large operation to steal back a large portion of data from one of the largest, most powerful, and secure companies in the world. The Company, although the software they released was full of security problems, their security record for their main headquarters was flawless. In other words, no one had ever successfully hacked into their system and lived to tell the tale. All who tried, usually wishful hackers, trying to impress people without thinking, either "disappeared" or were taken to court and thrown in jail for ridiculous amounts of time, and were never allowed to even look at a computer screen again. Psykes and I weren't about to let that happen to us or to anyone else here. Not if we could help it.
"Hmm... Now that I think about it, let's find a few more friendly nodes before we begin. Let's see if we can get that number up to 30 nodes. Heck, one more satellite wouldn't hurt, either, but don't get disappointed if you can't get one. Remember, the more nodes we have our signal bouncing through, the longer it will take them to find us. You might want to check..."
Besides myself, the head tech and network administrator, and Psykes, the network engineer, there were at least 200 people helping with this. Psykes would be monitoring our connection status in real-time, informing me of anything going on, and making instant tweaks if needed, while I, and the rest of the people, broke through the Company's security defenses and searched for and retrieved the stolen data.
"Ok, I think we're almost ready. Do you still have that "Chaos Protocol" CD I gave you?"
"Yeah."
"Good. I want you to put it in the main server and start uploading it to everyone's machine. After it's done, I want you to remotely activate each copy. There's a script, so you just have to do it once. It should take care of the rest. As for me, I'm going to go give some kind of speech or something."
"Gotcha."
I was never good at giving big speeches or anything, but I felt I should at least tell everyone what I was uploading to their machines, what was going on, and at least get some inspiration going. I knew everyone was nervous. Hell, I was.
"All right, people. We know why we're all here, what our goal is, and what risks we're taking in attempting this. Psykes and the other techs have taken as many liberties as possible to ensure we have as much time as we need for this attack. I, myself, have been secretly working on a new defense that hasn't been seen before. I've dubbed it Chaos, 'cause that's what it is. It makes all our outgoing data look like garbage. You know: test pings, boot sequences, loopback tests, print requests; anything that will undoubtedly get through a network security system. Psykes is currently uploading this to all your computers, along with a large number of tools that will help in keeping us safe. MAC address spoofers, IP address spoofers, data encapsulation encrypters, and a small program that goes through each of your systems, patching any holes that I have found in our operating environment. All the tools will be activated and verified with the main server as soon as they are uploaded, so there is no need to worry about customization."
I thought I was sounding like I was selling something, but some of the people seemed a little relaxed with the new hope of more security, putting more buffer space between them and the Company.
"Just a minor note before I go any further. Do remember that we are here to do one thing. That's to get back that which was stolen from us. I don't care how tempting it may be, do NOT upload anything to the Company's system. That means no trojans, key loggers, tracers, web spies, anything that was not originally on the system. We can't afford to have any leak in security like that."
They had all been told this before, but I figured they needed to hear it again. Being under pressure like this could make some people forget. I personally wouldn't have minded putting a few logging programs on the Company's system, but doing so could spell certain doom for me, and everyone here.
"Hey, Nighthawk."
"Yeah, Psykes?"
Psykes handed me a piece of paper.
"Here are our final statistics. They look promising. We should be ready to go in no more than 10 minutes."
I looked it over. I was pleased.
"All right. I want to let you guys know what we're working with here. First of all, we've got the Chaos Protocol in place on each of your systems, as well as the main server. Next, we've got our main signal to go through 10 nodes in a number of countries, split into three different signals, travel through 15 nodes and one satellite each, go through another satellite, followed by another 5 nodes each, and then go right to the Company's system. That total is 30 nodes, 2 satellites, and 1 3-way connection splitter. Finally, we have taken the liberty of installing a red button on your keyboards. In the event that you are detected and are not able to disconnect software-wise, pushing the red button with send a DNS reroute signal, as well as completely sever the connection between your terminal and the outside world. This method of keeping intruders connected to the security system has been used before. We're just playing it safe."
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted everything to work out okay. Unfortunately, nothing in life goes as planned. If anything did go wrong, we would just have to play it by ear. We had taken every measure we could to prolong being discovered, so there wasn't much else we could do until we got out there and saw what was waiting for us. It was almost time to begin. I finished up my speech.
"It's almost time, people. Think about it. We're attempting something that has never been done on this large of a scale. If we succeed, not only will we retrieve the data that was stolen, but we will go down as computer heroes, as the people who defaced the Company's flawless security record. We will also get to keep our freedom. If we fail... Well, all the advice I can give is this: stay calm, don't panic, don't rush yourselves, and we'll get though this. Everything we do is logged on a separate system, so we can go back and see what went wrong and why, if anything like that occurs. Let's do our best. May the penguins lead us all to victory!"
Surprisingly, I actually received a response. It was nothing spectacular. I never thought one of my speeches could actually motivate people, but I had done my best. I guess being able to take their minds off their worrying for a few minutes was worth a lot at this moment. I sure could have used something like that right now.
"All right. Nighthawk, everyone, places. It's time."
"Thanks, Psykes."
I sat down at my station, right next to Psykes and his setup. I made sure everything was in working order. I had one last look around, at the people who were helping. Triniti, Brother, Syn, Psyko, n00b, Bandit, Thundr, CStar, Unab0mb, Psykes, all the rest... These people didn't belong here. They didn't deserve to be risking their freedom for something like this, and yet, they all volunteered to do it. I could only wonder if they knew what they had volunteered for, as Psykes began running a last-minute check with me. He paused for a minute.
"I know what you're thinking. We all have our own reasons for doing this. We knew what the risks were when we signed up for this operation. We're all in this till the end, whatever that might be for us. We'll do everything we can, Hawk. You just keep your mind on what you need to do. We'll all do our part."
I nodded in acknowledgement.
"Thanks. I needed that."
"Alright then. We're ready to begin."
We nodded to each other, and then Psykes hit the connect button.