The sudden movement in his pocket startled the man. Not his pager--his pager was in his right-hand pocket. The noiseless vibration had come from his left pocket. Already sweating, he quickly pulled the device out. It looked like a pager--in fact he had used the parts from one in making it--but its purpose was far different. It's sole purpose was to detect a signal on a certain frequency, and to send a signal on another. His thumb was already halfway to the cover over the single button before he recalled the reason for the signal. Heaving a sigh of relief, the man relaxed his death grip on the homemade transceiver.
He had built the device to accept a signal from the motion sensor in his Gateway's room. He'd made a special trip overseas to it's location just to install the device himself. When someone entered the room, the "pager" would vibrate. The other part, the transmitter, would send a signal to the other security device installed with his Gateway.
The self-destruct.
Just a flip of the cover and a press of the big red button (which he'd whimsically painted a nuclear symbol on, though the explosives were hardly nuclear) and his Gateway would disappear, along with all the incriminating data on it. But this time, just like every other time, he had remembered the hardware he'd requested to be installed.
He looked around the coffee shop and saw no one looking suspiciously at him. Nobody who knew that he worked for the infamous Uplink Corporation.
Let's start from the beginning. Uplink Corporation was founded in 2005, as a response to the growing market for industrial espionage. The name was based on a game by Introversion Software, which first hit the market in 2001. The concept was the same as that in the game: Provide a number of skilled computer workers with the means and motives to perform a company's dirty work, and connect them with willing companies. Uplink Corporation had a completely legitimate business of renting out high-end computer systems to any who so wished. However, what they could do with it was limited only by how much they knew.
No Uplink Agent could accept a job from any company without first proving themselves worthy, by breaking into the Uplink Test Server. The man in the coffee shop chuckled as he remembered the days of the Uplink game. Here, out in the real world, it was a lot more difficult. There was no easy log deletion. No easy routers. It was you against the world. And the world had a lot to back it up.
Standard fare for each Gateway was a remote-access OS that could remotely access files without going through the FTP protocol. Also included in the package was a standard-level password hacker, based on a huge lexicon of words. It could crack some, but not all passwords. It could be slow at times, but it was fast enough. He'd long since upgraded to a better cracker, that used heuristics and syllable algorithms, as well as intelligent language substitutions, to break passwords quickly. It could crack all passwords, but in the degenerate case where the password was completely random, it took a DAMN long time. However, given just a few hints about the user; the name of the company, the name of the administrator--things quickly discerned from a quick trip into the company's public access server, usually--it "got smart" and broke the password a lot quicker.
Uplink Corporation claimed that Gateways kept no logs, that they would disavow any Agent who got caught. But this Agent knew better. He paid for his meal and left the shop. As he walked back to his apartment, the events of the past few days rolled through his mind.
He'd just installed a second hardware firewall on his home system. Knowing that nothing was completely safe in the Internet of 2010, he decided to have a go at hacking his own system with his Gateway. Bouncing a connection through his usual route, he was quickly disgusted at how easy it was to bypass both firewalls. Pieces of junk! Hmm... There was a whole bunch of hard drive space--about 24 GigaQuads--that he wasn't doing anything with. Why not...
He quickly used the Gateway's file transfering capabilities to drop his hacking tools on his home computer. Password Breaker v3.0, Connection Analysis, the Bypassers, the Trace Tracker v4.0...all the juicy goodies. He logged out and made a note on the pad of Post-Its he kept close at hand: "Get better firewalls. Curse loudly at man who sold me 'em." and slapped it on the side of his monitor. He glanced at the other yellow scraps of paper hanging there, and pulled off a few outdated notes, crumpling them into the garbage.
After leaning back in his creaky chair which he'd been too cheap to replace, he started up the cracking tools. As expected, they had a simple "switch-executable" which contained code for running on multiple systems, provided you changed the right byte somewhere in the header. It'd access the portion of the file containing compiled code for the correct system. Such programs were great for debugging and porting--all one had to do was make one piece of source code, compile it for a bunch of systems, and add a common header telling each system what to access. Then lock out all but one. A nice, neat little package. Uplink's software tools apparently had just two copies of executable code within each: one for a Gateway's OS, the other for Linux.
He restarted, booting his Linux partition this time. Fortunately, the files were on a multi-system format partition, accessible from each OS. Change this bit here, and...bingo! The program started running, with a simple command-line interface. GUI's were nice and fast with Gateways, but on his home computer he needed this command line; he didn't have so much processor muscle to spare.
He blasted through his memorized list of "easy" IP's to bounce in about 15 minutes. Working with command line crackers was a new challenge, as taunting Andromeda Research Corporation had become boring for him. When at last he got in to his Gateway (where there was no Active trace, as theoretically anyone should be able to connect, given the username and password), he launched the Password Breaker at it. And stared in utter shock.
There was, indeed, an administrative account on his Gateway, other than his own. He'd known that much, given that Uplink Corporation could install programs and hardware drivers at will. What made him nearly wet his pants in horror was the fact that, contrary to Uplink's claims of total anonymity, there in clear white on black text were logs of every connection he'd ever made to his Gateway. He'd been careful at first, renewing his IP address every few times he logged in, but now there were at least two dozen connection logs that led straight back to his home computer. He'd quit the IP switching because it pissed off his ISP, but now... Shaking with fear, he quickly eliminated the logs with his Log Deleter. They'd probably already traced him, though...
One of Uplink Corporation's main draws was the fact that it never asked for any information about your real identity or location. Gateways weren't supposed to keep connection logs, thus ensuring total anonymity. But what if? What if somebody higher up in Uplink had browsed through the connection logs--the damning evidence left on his own Gateway, sitting there all this time--and found out who had that IP address? If he'd ever gotten caught...they might have disavowed him, but more likely they'd have cooperated with federal and international authorities and given everything they had on him.
Once in the admin account, he was able to find and disable the logging function on his Gateway. Now no one could trace him again...but what if they already had information? The question would eat at him for the next few days...
Now, as he turned the key in the lock of his apartment, he grimly resolved to get to the bottom of what Uplink was up to. Forget ARC--he'd been in their servers; he knew about their "secret project." He also knew that Arunmor was hiring Uplink Agents to fight them. He'd done a few missions for each before figuring that it would all sort itself out. If Arunmor's Agents won, all would be well. If ARC's Agents won...well, there wouldn't be any need to worry after that. If ARC won, everything would be gone. Except for personal computers not connected at the time...and he didn't plan to be. For the really important stuff, there would usually be unconnected backups. Everything else...well, if ARC won, there would be a year, maybe two, of turmoil as things sorted themselves out.
But ultimately everything would recover. That's the way it always was. The Internet, civilization at large, humanity as a whole, and even the entire planet with all its life--all were self-correcting systems. Move one large thing out of alignment, and there would be momentary disorder until a new state of stability was reached. The only system he knew of where this couldn't happen was an economy. And THAT was only because of outside forces acting CONSTANTLY--to wit, governments. In the absence of government, sure, civilization would collapse into crime and anarchy, but any economy, large or small, would actually be MORE stable for it. His position was, with the exception of taxes purely for funding purposes, the government should leave the economy the hell alone.
Back to Uplink...the Agent sat at his computer. Mmmph...chair still creaked. Log on to Gateway...check that my quiet little anti-logger program is still running. Check.
Before embarking on what he thought would be his most ambitious break-in ever, he took a whimsical look around the Test Machine. The Uplink Test Machine was an AM-COR brand File Server in one of the Uplink buildings. The security on it was a joke. Every hack script-kitty and wanna-be Uplink Agent had hacked it time and time again. The system was littered with bypassing software and homebrew connection bouncers. To bounce connections, one usually had to bust in to a low-security system, install the software, hide it so it wouldn't be found by nosy sysadmins (even so, his occasionally had been), and get the heck out of there before they traced you. Everyone and his kid brother had a bouncer on the Test Machine, though.
The directory structure was loaded with garbage in the form of pseudorandomly generated files of enormous size, and self-serving statements in "haxor" talk copy&paste'd thousands of times to fill huge files. But one important thing he'd left on there, that was too hot to leave on his own Gateway, but would be safe here among the trash. If some punk hacker wanna-be deleted it to make room for his latest vanity virus, oh well. Better that it were gone than discovered in his possession.
The file contained the administrative passwords to Uplink Internal Services. The security there went FAR beyond anything he'd ever seen. In the game--it seemed only yesterday he'd been playing it; now he was working it for real--Uplink Internal Services had been easy to hack compared to banks. Not so in the real world. He opened up the file, wrote down the sequence of characters on a Post-It, and deleted the file. Before getting out, he paused to bugger up the logs, launching a little program someone had been nice enough to write and then post to the Test Machine. Pity it only worked on the Test Machine. What it did was corrupt the logfiles by writing random characters to them. It continued to work for a few seconds after disconnection; hence it would nicely cover up the disconnection log as well.
Now he took about half an hour to break several systems, installing bouncers on each. He then smacked up a connection through all of them. Last hit: Uplink Internal Services.
He'd paid a foolish tech guy a fortune for the sysadmin's name for Uplink's IS machine. Foolish, because he'd later hacked into the bank account the man had given him and transferred all the funds therein to his Uplink account. No logs. No traces. No evidence. And Uplink, unlike many other banks, did not ask questions about where money came from. As long as you covered your tracks, they turned a blind eye to what their Agents did. Now he used the voice sample he'd spent hours of talking on the 'phone to get. Gods, it had been so tough maintaining that squeaky falsetto...but he had to disguise his voice, they might have gotten him otherwise. It had paid off--his Voice Analyser had enough syllables to reproduce the verifiable voice.
His Elliptic-Curve Encryption DeCypherer (affectionately called ED for short) worked nicely but slowly. With the Monitor bypassed (with a Level 6 he'd risked everything for in a sweat-dripping hack a few weeks back), though, he could afford the time. The snap of his soda pop-tab was a comforting sound. Caffeine, in greater quantities than should be legal. Once through all the front-door security, the Trace Tracker started beeping. No getting around that...except with a back door, which he quickly installed. Damn! Uplink traced him faster than anything he'd ever seen before. He barely had time to put in his back door before getting out.
Almost automatic were the hand movements associated with wiping his logs at several machines he knew as "easy" hacks. Then back to Test Machine, use that wonderful program to bugger up the logs there, make sure his personal bouncer was still functioning properly. So. Now the real fun begins.
Snatching up the same connection, but in a different order, using all his usual bouncers plus the new ones, the Agent connected once more to Uplink IS. In the back door. Logs--cleaned. Now for the fileserver. Ooh, what was this? Uplink Agent List? He transferred the enormous chunk of file to his Gateway. He had the room--he'd maxed out on hard drives ages ago. Wipe the logs again, sever the connection, clean logs on the route. There.
Now to decrypt the files. Of course they would be a higher level of encryption than Uplink sold Decrypters for--what would you expect? But like the 6th level Monitor, there was always a way around it at the right price. And an earlier stealth mission for Arunmor had garnered him the coveted Decrypter v9.0 that would get him in to these files that had been so well-guarded.
The hair on the back of his neck raised as he saw what Uplink claimed could never happen--a complete list of every single Uplink Agent active in the world, with their real names beside them. A few of them were listed as Unknown; doubtless Agents that hadn't been traced back to their IP's yet. But there, near the top.
Oh my God. Oh my God.
There was the listing for Agent Alfador, and right next to it...Oh SHIT!!!
Moments later Agent Alfador's personal computer was unplugged and completely disconnected from wall outlets of any kind.
Two weeks later...
The American walked into the Tokyo offices of Uplink Corporation. He smiled at the lady behind the reception desk, and assured her in flawless Japanese that he was a new technician heading up to check on a Gateway. She smiled and nodded, never noticing the long device hidden up his right pant leg.
The man walked up to the sealed elevators, speaking a code phrase into the microphone. Of course it would let him through--he'd made sure of that the day before. He pressed the button for the seventeenth floor. The doors closed on his smiling visage.
Minutes passed, then the same man emerged from the elevator. The receptionist was a bit suspicious--she had never seen him before, nor had she heard of any new technician hires. After he left, she picked up her phone to report a possible security breach. The line was busy, so she shrugged and made a note to try again later. She idly wondered why the man didn't check to see who was paging his left pocket.
One hour later, in the parking lot of Tokyo International Airport, the same man who had made the mysterious entry into Uplink's Tokyo office building brought out a small device from his left pocket. Since he had not reset the motion sensor to allow for the static change due to the device he had placed on top of his Gateway's self destruct explosives, it was still vibrating. He sighed as he flipped the plastic cover up. End of an era, I suppose... he thought to himself.
He pushed the button with the radiation symbol on it and felt a slight tremor in the floor. The device stopped vibrating. He dropped it to the concrete floor and crushed it with his heel. Discarding the remains of its circuitry in a nearby trash bin, he checked his boarding pass and headed up the elevator, to go through security. Security...how different that word sounded now, than just a few years ago...
As he waited at the terminal for his flight to arrive, he stared amusedly at the smoldering remains of the seventeenth and top floor of the Uplink Corporation Tokyo Office Building. His little smuggled high explosive needed no complex electronic detonator. The heat of a C4 blast, created by his Gateway Self Destruct device, was sufficient to set it off--along with the reinforced walls of his Gateway room and the self destructs of several nearby Gateways. The chain reaction had decimated the top floor of the building, and scarred the sixteenth. No one had been in the Gateway rooms--why would there be? There could have been techs, upgrading someone's system...the Agent didn't know, but he would have slept better had he known that, indeed, there were not. In fact, Uplink had trusted their security so much that the only person in the building, the only witness, was the lady at the front desk.
She had evacuated the building, but was surprised to find out that she was, indeed, the only one. Rather than get curious about Uplink Corporation as the American had, she got frightened, and simply got a job at another, less shadowy, company.
As the man boarded the plane, he reflected how he could never go back to the life he'd known before he became Agent Alfador. But he could do other things. Forget noble "spreading the word" about how Uplink Corporation had betrayed its Agents' trust. Forget losing what was left of his anonymity--he'd quietly erased that portion of the original copy of the Uplink Agent List the day before, but one could never tell where backups might be hidden. Forget life ever being the same. He'd never hurt for money; he'd transferred every cent from his various bank accounts in his Agent name to an anonymous Swiss bank account. Whenever he needed money, he'd transfer from there to a local account--the old-fashioned way, with "secure" web connections. He'd always carry the knowledge of how to hack, but from here on he'd probably only use the Internet for recreational and research purposes, and his knowledge of hacking just to protect his own data.
But, he thought as the plane taxied down the runway, it was better to be a God among mortals, than a fox at a hunter's convention. Without even knowing that each silver bullet could have YOUR name on it. This, he thought smiling as the plane lifted off, was one fox that would never be caught.