One major flaw of disk encryption software is that the encryption keys must be stored in RAM while the computer is running. If the computer is shut down suddenly, an attacker can potentially read these keys and the drive contents read.
Another approach is a Self Encrypting Drive or SED. SEDs perform the encryption and decryption in hardware directly on the hard drive itself, so keys are never stored in computer RAM. These drives are widely available, but provide no plausible deniability.
Of course, neither of these approaches protect your data as you are working on it. As a file is opened, part or all of it are stored unencrypted in RAM, regardless of any disk encryption software or hardware.
But, these approaches are better than nothing, and I religiously use them!
Chapter 14.
“Hello, Mick,” Gunter replied, as he rubbed his elbow and his neck after their collision. A small crowd of people had formed around them. “Let’s get out of here.”
They boarded the next train and rode in silence a few stops to the Republic Square station.
“WTF, Gunter!” Mick finally got out. Silently, he had gone through a range of emotions from surprise to happiness, to anger. He had lost so much in the past half year, suffered so much.
“I know, I know. I am so sorry old friend,” Gunter began. “By the way, I am also very happy to see you. I knew you were alive but seeing you in person is great! Tell me, how did you find No-viz?”
“Not so fast. You were dead! I saw you get shot!”
“Yes, and no. As you know, the truth is always more complicated than any story. I was shot, and the Russians left me for dead. I was working for Cloud 8 plus plus, but it was not what you think. I was working for your CIA to infiltrate the group. Please, wait!” Gunter pleaded as Mick began to shake his head. “Hear me out. I was contacted by Cloud 8 plus plus to do the crypto for the botnet. Of course, they didn’t call it a botnet, they called it a peer-to-peer communications infrastructure, but I quickly realized what it was, and who they were. And when I heard about the exploit, I knew I had to do something. I see you have met Jasinski?”
“She found me.”
“Interesting. We had a few meetings together to link the crypto with P2PMSG. That must have been when she stole my testing root Certificate Authority. I knew it was a stupid thing to do, but I had to leave a back door for myself just in case this thing got loose.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to, but we got interrupted, remember? I was so pissed off that you had found your way to Kiev. I tried really, really hard to keep you out of this… and Kat.”
When will hearing her name not feel like a knife in my gut?
“What do you know about Kat?”
“You’ve probably figured it out by now that she was working with the Russians. I just don’t know why. Do you? I really liked her.” Gunter looked down at the table.
I still like her.
“I still don’t believe it fully, although I’ve seen some evidence. I want to talk to her,” Mick replied. Gunter shook his head.
“Don’t. Too risky. Unless you want to end up back with the Spetsnaz. And now, now, you’ve screwed it up again! I was so close to No-viz, and then you and Jasinski waltz in, bringing the police, and now he’s gone again.”
“Didn’t you bring the police?”
“No, absolutely not. They must have been following you or Jaz.”
“Doubt it, but it is possible. Maybe the General figured out where No-viz was and put them on our trail. Or he followed us here.”
“Ah yes, the General. He and I had several long conversations in Kiev.”
“Are you in the witness protection program, or something?” Mick asked
“Nothing so formal. I made a deal with the General. He would do the paperwork to ensure I stayed dead, and I would keep going after the botnet. I’ve been living in Paris. It is a strange feeling to be so isolated from one’s old life… as I guess you know well.” Mick nodded his assent. “I initially tried to track you down but then gave up and went after No-viz—he was much easier to find. Have you had contact with the General?”
“Jaz and I visited him in Montana, which led us here.”
They stood in silence, both processing all new information.
“Do you know where No-viz lives?” Mick asked.
“Yes, but I doubt he’d be stupid enough to go back there.”
“I don’t think my hotel room is safe right now.”
“Agreed. Let’s go to my place.”
Gunter took Mick to his rented room in Praha, on the eastern side of the city. The room was on the twenty seventh floor of a depressing Soviet-era concrete apartment block.
“It is cheap,” apologized Gunter.
“I’ve lived in worse,” replied Mick.
“I still can’t believe you are here, old friend.” Gunter sat down, instinctively rubbing his shoulder.
“Injury?” Mick asked.
“The bullet grazed the bone, and sometimes it aches. What the hell are we going to do? What are we doing? Is this damn botnet worth it? If the governments of the world don’t care about it, why should we?”
“You know why.” Mick replied in a low voice.
“I know. It is just so hard being away from all my friends and family… as I’m sure you know. Paris is great, but I really miss everyone. Sometimes I feel like I am still slowly bleeding out—drop by drop until I am dry, and dead.”
“I know. Sam must be five centimeters taller than when I last saw her. I have no idea what books she is reading, what she and her friends are talking about. I miss having her ask about FUD and other silliness. I was so involved in her life, and now… nothing.”
“Listen to us—we’re pathetic. Let’s get back to work and track down this mother so we can both go home!”
“Amen, brother!” Mick replied. He selected a WiFi network at random and started hacking into it. After launching a script to generate random browsing traffic, he connected to his servers via a couple of VPN relays and checked his mail.
Next, he went to a worldwide online classifieds site and selected the location where he and Jasinski had last met, Praha, and selected the personals. He flipped through the postings, most not in English, looking for one that had a two digit prime number in the title. He found it quickly:
37 Catz Pics 4 U
He copied the text of the message, a somewhat rambling and awkwardly worded description of the pictures, available for immediate download. He saved the text in a file and fired up the script he had written that morning. It took the first letter of each word in the message, and decrypted it using the passphrase ‘Catz’ from the subject. As expected, it produced a short message from Jasinski:
With N still in P. He doesn’t know who chased. No longer trusts you, but I think I can stay with him. We are heading to East Berlin. Stay in touch. J
Mick felt very relieved to hear that Jasinski was fine. Heading to East Berlin? He was less pleased to hear she was with NØviz.
He doesn’t trust me? I don’t trust him!
Mick felt very protective of Jasinski, even though he knew she could take care of herself. So what next? He just had to wait.
He composed his own short message, encrypted it, and posted it on the classifieds list.
Mick continued his probing of the botnet. He analyzed communication patterns, looking for IP addresses in CZ, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Now that NØviz had full control of the botnet, he seemed to be biding his time. Mick wondered what NØviz would decide, and what the botnet would end up being used for. For the thousandth time, he cursed himself for his lack of progress. He controlled the botnet for nearly five months, and what did he have to show for it? He thought he had all the time in the world, but he didn’t.
To Mick’s surprise, another mail from Kat popped up:
Finbar,
Time for yet another unanswered mail to be sent into the ether. You have no idea how hard this is, and I’m not rea
lly sure if it is healthy for me to continue doing this. In case there is a long break before my next mail, it doesn’t mean that something has happened, but perhaps I have decided to move on.
I hung out with Lars last week in Vegas. We had a few laughs—he did his usual act—you know, pretending to be in a rock group. I played my part as a groupie, but I don’t think I was very convincing. He mentioned your name a few times. I think he really misses your company.
The conference itself was pretty dull. Mostly it was just about publicity with all the recent noises from the government about cyber-security and cyber-terrorism. But I’m sure that this will just turn into yet another way for beltway contractors to spend tax dollars. Some days I find myself thinking like you, and it makes me laugh.
I wonder if you are making progress with your network. So far, all is quiet - I guess that is a good sign. Do you think you will ever be able to resume your old life? Do you even want to?
OK, enough of my musings. Take care of yourself, Finbar, and keep not writing back!
;-)
Regards,
Kat
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Mick put away his mobile and closed his eyes, thinking about his old friend Lars from Helsinki. He used to meet hangout with his goofball friend in a different part of the world every few weeks. Now, he hadn’t seen or been in contact with him in months.
He thought about Kateryna. How did he really feel about her? Did he believe she had delivered him into the hands of the Russians in Kiev last year?
He also thought about Gunter—did he still trust him fully? Was there more to know about what his long-time friend had been up to?
The next morning, another encrypted message from Jasinski was waiting for him:
Meet you at ‘least favorite’ coffee shop under the Berlin TV Tower at 14ØØ on the 18th. No further mail unless urgent. Will explain more there. J
His reply was short:
Ack
The next day, they arrived in Berlin after a short train ride. When Mick had explained to Gunter that they needed to travel to Berlin to follow Jasinski and NØviz, Gunter let loose with a string of expletives, but agreed. They set up in a tiny bed-and-breakfast not far off the Alexanderplatz. Mick’s first stop was to get espresso.
He found what appeared to be an authentic Italian espresso shop. He lined up behind the locals, who shuffled forward in a long line. He ordered an espresso—in Italiano, just for the fun of it, as he had heard a few others do—and continued along in the line. The double espresso came out a few moments later, and he collected it and found a place at a high bar.
This is the life!
He listened in to the various conversations around him in the café. He understood a little of what was being said. It was mostly Deutsch but also some Italiano.
His mind kept returning to the question of what to do about NØviz. NØviz had control of the botnet and could do anything he wanted with it, including sell it to the highest bidder. In fact, he had had control for two weeks, but had done nothing so far. Why? In their conversation in Praha, it almost seemed as if NØviz hadn’t given it any real thought. Could it just be a matter of personal pride? Mick understood that well enough. Sometimes, in his worst hours, he accused himself of acting out of vanity; that everything he had done was because of pride, not for the good of the Internet or the people of the world. It was a crushing thought: that he had put himself, friends and family through so much, just for pride.
His feelings for his niece and sister were starting to well up in his mind, and he didn’t want that. Mick pushed these thoughts out of his head. He mentally shook himself, physically stretched his legs, and emotionally tried to reset.
They were all set for the meeting tomorrow afternoon. At the appointed time, they stopped pretending to be tourists and made for the Berlin TV Tower. Described in travel books as ‘iconic 196Ø’s architecture’ which Mick decided was code for ‘ugly’, the tower rose over the square, dominating the skyline.
After waiting in the coffee shop for what seemed like hours, Gunter, getting antsy, got up saying “I’m going to have another look around the block in case there is another one of these coffee shops nearby.”
“Sure,” Mick replied.
Gunter returned about fifteen minutes later, and shook his head as he sat down in front of his now cold cappuccino.
“Maybe their plans changed. Maybe they got delayed.” Gunter suggested.
“Maybe, but let’s wait. I have some code I’m going to work on. And you?”
“I’ll finish reading Der Spiegel,” Gunter replied. They both settled down to their work.
Chapter 15.
From the Privacy and Other Mirages Blog:
How can I determine if there are any ‘bugs’ in my apartment?
Hire an exterminator? ;-) Sorry. This is not an easy thing to do. I once had a very scary experience exactly 13.5 years ago. Your best bet is to maintain your physical security so no one is able to plant a bug in the first place.
The good news is that you do have two good options for this.
There is some good open-source hardware and software for sweeping your place for bugs. You’ll need to disable all legitimate transmitters, such as your WiFi, phones, and don’t forget wireless smart meters for utilities. Anything else you discover still transmitting might be malicious.
Another approach is to just use a jammer when you have important things going on. The usual shower sounds work pretty well, as does a broad spectrum white noise generator.
If only someone could invent a short range EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) generator that could be used to disable all electronics in a room or over a short range.
Chapter 16.
Ja2 I’m just not used to traveling with someone, not really WITH but with, if you know what I mean. #amistupid #morequestionsthananswers
Mick was so engrossed flushing out bugs that he didn’t even notice the couple standing in front of him, about two hours after the appointed time.
“WTF!” NØviz said quietly, looking from Jasinski to Mick and back again.
“Hey Mick! Que pasa?” Jasinski started, winking at him.
Mick pointed to the empty chairs opposite him. After starting dumfounded for a few seconds, NØviz sat down followed by Jasinski.
“I presume this is not a coincidence. What do you want O’Malley?” NØviz asked Mick, sounding angry. “And do I know you?” he said turning to Gunter. Gunter rose from his chair.
“Apologies, my friend is completely rude for not introducing me. I am Gunter—” he began. Jasinski rose from her chair and punched Mick in the arm.
“—No way! You… Gunter. Oh, this is great!” she almost shouted. Mick smiled back at her, rubbing his arm.
“This is great, why?” NØviz asked.
“Oh, just like Mick, this Gunter is supposed to be dead. I know, there’s some kind of epidemic of this going around, right? Unlike Mick, I did actually think him dead. Hmm. More re-search was needed, I guess. What happened? Where have you been?” she asked. Gunter waved away her questions.
“Ah, there’s plenty of time for that. For now, I am very glad to meet NØviz. Pleased to meet you, sir. I admire your exploit very much, indeed!” It was NØviz’s turn to bow slightly. “I hear from Mick that you have regained control over our botnet. I say ‘our’ of course, since every one of us, except Mick, had a hand in creating it.”
This made NØviz look harder at Gunter.
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t recall hearing about the contractor Kaufman? No, yes? Ah, now I see you do. He is I. Or he was I, should say.” NØviz shook his head slowly.
“Was everyone involved with Cloud 8 plus plus working fo
r someone else?”
“Pretty much, yes,” Gunter replied.
“Wait. Gunter is Kaufman? And how did you meet up with Mick? Just by chance?” Jasinski asked.
“Well, yes and no. I had tracked you down to Praha and had been keeping tabs on you. I was watching when the police raided your little meeting. Mick and I met up soon after.”
“You… you were the one following me! How did you find me?” NØviz asked.
“Well, I had access to some of the Cloud 8 plus plus records, but it still took quite a while to find you in Moskva, and then to track you to Praha. I would have made contact soon if not for the trouble that seems to follow Mick around. And you, Jasinski, or should I say Gertrude, I have wanted to meet you for a while.” Jasinski reacted as if she had been struck. She almost tipped over on her chair.
“Why do you call me that?” she replied, annoyed. “Jasinski is my name, Herr Schafer!”
“Sure, sure. Whatever you say Jasinski,” Gunter began. “But to the matter at hand, what are we going to do?” he asked, looking from face to face.
“I’m ordering more espresso. Anyone else want some?” Mick asked.
They talked and drank more coffee but Mick didn’t feel he was getting anywhere.
Returning to Zero (Mick O'Malley Series Book 2) Page 8
