Zero Day_ A Novel - Mark Russinovich [49]
Harold watched them both with keen interest. He’d been responsible for seeing to the creation of the backups, so had decided to stick around to watch what happened. He’d called home to tell his mother that he’d be late and was standing just behind Sue as she said, “Jeff? It’s ready.” When Jeff didn’t respond, she nudged his shoulder. “We’re ready. Unless you’d rather get your beauty sleep.”
Jeff blinked, then rubbed his eyes. “What time is it?”
“Almost midnight. It’s Thursday, in case you’ve lost track.”
“Right. Give me a minute and I’ll be right with you.” In the restroom, Jeff scrubbed his face hard with a dampened paper towel. He looked up at the mirror and for an instant was startled by what he saw. Strain and exhaustion were written all over him. He laughed to himself as he realized he felt just as bad as he looked.
When he returned, Sue pointed to the coffeepot. “It’s fresh. Harold went out for sandwiches earlier, if you’re hungry.” She watched as Jeff poured himself a cup of coffee. “We’re set to go.”
Jeff picked up half of a chicken sandwich, then walked to her screen. He was impressed with all the work she’d put into this and with her effort to get the law firm up and running. He wondered if Greene appreciated her dedication. “Cross your fingers. I’ve been searching for elusive code almost from the start, and the bastard’s used at least one rootkit that I know of.”
“What else can I do? At worse we risk the new server and some of my not so valuable time. It’s not connected to anything. No harm, no foul.”
Harold stood beside Jeff, looking on with concern, and Jeff gave his fleshy shoulder a light squeeze. Sue glanced up and gave them a wan smile. “Here goes.” She clicked the mouse to boot the restored system and held her breath. When it came up, she logged in. Nothing happened for a moment. The screen seemed to hiccup, turned blue, and read:
Rebooting …
After a few seconds, the screen flickered and read:
NO OPERATING SYSTEM FOUND.
Then the screen turned black.
“Shit!” she said. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” She stood up and glanced around the room as if looking for something to throw. Finally, she slumped back in the chair.
It was as bad as Jeff and Daryl had feared. This virus was one of the toughest he’d come across. His standard approach wasn’t going to work. He and Sue might get lucky—it was still possible—but with a sinking heart he realized this was all a small part of something much bigger. They were far more likely to sink into an electronic abyss than find their way to success.
“I guess…,” Sue said finally, “I guess we could try a copy of the monthly backup next.”
“Like that’ll do any good,” Harold said, before he slunk out of the room.
WEEK TWO
“WE ARE LOSING THE MALWARE WAR”
David Lynch
Cyber Security News Alert
August 17
Security software companies are not keeping up with the release of computer viruses, according to a report released this week by the Cyber Security Consortium.
“Make no mistake, we are at war and we are losing,” said Edith Hedberth, director of the CSC in Washington, D.C. “Malware is being released at a rate faster than our ability to counter it.”
According to the report, the Internet is the new home of organized crime and is a hotbed for financial fraud. In the midst of what Hedberth described as a “virulent attack,” no security software can offer complete protection. None, in fact, can guarantee so much as 90%. “They are all reactive and malware is increasingly sophisticated,” she added.
Financially motivated cybercrimes are increasing at a dramatic rate, costing Americans tens of millions of dollars each year. “We hope this is a wake-up call, but are not optimistic,” Hedberth concluded.
Cyber Security News Alert, Inc. All rights reserved.
22
MOSCOW, RUSSIAN FEDERATION
DMITROSVSKY ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICT
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18
2:07 A.M.
Vladimir Koskov was twenty-one, and deeply in love, when he and nineteen-year-old