The Inside Passage (Ted Higuera Series Book 1)
Page 33
I gotta get outta here. He broke free. “Thank you, everybody. I gotta go. I’m late for work.”
Breaking away from the crowd, his steps echoed across the cobbled square as he passed under the iron pergola. He picked up his pace. His admirers fell behind.
Crossing Yesler Street, he made his way to the restored nineteenth century brick building that housed YTS Digital Security, his new employer.
What the hell, I’m about to join the workforce. Isn’t this what the last four years had been all about? Graduate, get a job, get ahead. It was the American dream.
What every kid from the barrio wanted, right? So why did he feel so damned disjointed?
****
Showtime!
Justin and his two helpers pushed wooden carts stacked with cubicle components through the service entrance. They took the service elevator to the thirty-second floor. Bear’s fingers drummed on the cart handle.
“Schtop it!” Irena spoke for the first time. Her voice was just below a shriek.
The elevator doors opened unto an immense sea of cubicles. Justin knew that surveillance cameras in the ceiling watched his every move. He timed their visit for mid-morning. The day had begun. An army of drones moved about busily, with purpose, a hive of orchestrated activity.
Justin could feel his pulse in his ears. After a brief surveillance, he found what he was looking for. He pushed his cart towards an empty office along the wall. He looked around again. No one seemed to notice them. Bear sullenly pushed his cart behind Justin, trailed by Irena.
Irena entered the office first. Justin held his breath. She looked around then gave a slight nod. He entered, followed by Bear.
Irena and Bear pushed their carts in front of the office windows and began piling boxes on top of the carts, screening off the view from the outside. Justin sat down behind the empty desk. He looked around nervously even though no one outside the office could see him.
It took only a moment for Justin to orient himself to the strange desk. He cracked his knuckles, reached down and turned on the computer. While it booted up, he found the number for Millennium System’s help desk taped to the computer monitor. It really didn’t matter. Justin already had it memorized.
Last week, when his team cased the building, they learned all they needed to know. Bear discovered the company’s login ID convention was first initial, middle initial and the first four characters of the last name. Irena found out the department’s manager, John Potter, would be on vacation in Hawaii this week.
That tidbit of information led Justin to do a Google search on John Potter, middle name Allan.
On the screen, Justin typed in “JAPOTT” and hit the “enter” key. As expected, an “incorrect password” message appeared. He tried the login twice more. The screen said:
Access denied. Your account has been locked.
Please contact the system administrator.
Justin took a deep breath, forced a smile onto his face, picked up the phone and called the help desk number.
“You have reached the Millennium Systems Help Desk,” the recorded voice said in perfect English. “We have added several new menu options to improve our service. Please listen to this entire message before making your selection. For password re-sets, press one. . .” Justin pushed “one.”
“Millennium Systems Help Desk, this is Hamsa, how may I help you?” Her accent was thick, but understandable.
This is it. The most critical part of the job. He had to sound casual, at ease.
“Good morning Hamsa, this is John Potter in Seattle.” Justin knew that a help desk agent in Bangalore had never heard of John Potter. “I just got back from vacation and I don’t remember what I set my password to before I left. Can you help me?”
“Of course, John. I need first to ask you a security question through.”
Justin forced a smile. He had learned long ago that his voice was more likeable when he smiled. “Sure, go ahead.”
Irena had attended the International Help Desk Institute’s seminar in Seattle last month. In a long blonde wig, short skirt and tight sweater it was child’s play for her to learn about Millennium Systems’ security questions from their Help Desk manager.
“I guess a week on the Big Island is worth a little hassle, huh?” Acting friendly with the help desk agent was a big part of social engineering. Justin had to put her at ease so she was less likely to question his identity.
“John, what is the name of your wife?” the voice on the phone asked in its heavy Indian accent.
“It’s Sandra.”
In his Google search Justin found all sorts of interesting information about John Potter. He thought back to a picture of Mr. Potter and his wife at a fund raiser with the caption “John and Sandra Potter dance the night away at the Black and White Ball.”
“OK, John. I’m resetting your password to ‘Wednesday’ with a capital ‘W.’ You will need to re-set it as soon as you log on.”
“Thanks, Hamsa.”
That was it. He was in. He had the keys to the kingdom.
From John Potter’s account, it was child’s play for Justin to shell into the operating system. He had spent a lifetime stalking Windows vulnerabilities. In five minutes he set up a system administrator account for himself. Now, as far as Millennium Systems was concerned, he was God.
To learn about more of my books and keep up with the publication date for Hacker for Hire go to www.pennwallace.com.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Post Script
Coming Soon . . .