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| This is exactly what hacking looks like. |
Mitch smiled as he checked his computer screen. He was almost in. Hacking had started out as sort of a hobby for him, but he had to keep getting better and better at it. Now he had all sorts of technical gizmos, a couple of computers, and a competitive streak a mile wide for getting in places he shouldn't. Usually, Mitch didn't do anything once he got in. It was harder to press charges that way.
Just then, his computer chirped, and Mitch turned to his latest project. He had gotten into the computer system of the company that had fired his father. For no reason. Mitch still wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but he had to hack into their system. If nothing else, to make himself feel superior to those jerks.
He started checking through files, looking for anything interesting. After a bit of digging, he found himself looking at business strategy. It looked like they were about to make a huge announcement. Briefly, Mitch thought about leaking their announcement. But that would probably come back to him and he didn't want to get arrested.
Mitch thought. If he couldn't hurt the company, maybe he could profit off of it. His mind began spinning with what he could do. Then, Mitch began smiling. There was nothing wrong with buying stocks, after all. He could buy a bunch now and if they happened to be worth a lot more in a few days, then that was hardly something he could influence.
Mitch took another look around their files before he headed to HR. He had to know why they fired his dad. When Mitch had asked, his dad had been vague, and it maddened Mitch.
After a bit of work, Mitch made it into HR's files and opened his father's folder. His eyes went wide. There were so many files in there. "He worked there a long time," Mitch though, scrolling through. Mitch opened a few files and skimmed them. He sighed and leaned back in his chair.
His dad hadn't been fired for no reason. He'd had several warnings and made some change but not enough. Mitch had wanted to hurt that company, but his own sense of fairness had put paid to that plan. His dad was vague about it because it wasn't anything to talk about.
Mitch sighed and signed out of their system. Still, at least Mitch could make some money off of this adventure. He switched to a different computer and began looking up the best way to buy stocks.
-*-
Maddie was the head of IT for her company and she was proud of their security system. She'd overseen getting it installed and they'd been able to fend off several attackers before. Until now.
Maddie had gotten the notification that someone had breached their system, but she wasn't sure when or how. She also didn't know what this attacker was doing in their system.
Maddie sighed and rubbed her eyes. This was going to be a long night. Hopefully there wouldn't be ransomwear at the end of it.
-*-
Mitch quietly bought his stocks and waited. Sure enough, his dad's old company made their announcement and their stock prices soared. Mitch sold off his stocks at what he figured would be the high point and made a nice amount of money.
It was a few weeks later when the news came out that someone had hacked into that company. Mitch couldn't help but smile. He knew he hadn't done anything, but they didn't. It was almost better that way. Leave them chasing smoke when there was no fire.
The calls started coming out for who had hacked them. Mitch smiled from behind his keyboard and said nothing.
-*-
"They're never going to come forward on their own," Maddie explained, "but if we just happen to sponsor a contest to find whitehat hackers..."
Craig leaned back in his chair. "You're taking this hack a little personally, aren't you?"
"My issues aside. If we can find someone who can hack through all of that security, wouldn't you rather have them work for us?"
"If we could trust them in our system," Craig replied.
"Once we know who they are, they'll have a much bigger incentive to keep everything legal."
Craig nodded. "True. Well, it looks good if we sponsor some of those occasionally. If you get the paperwork together, I'll sign off on it."
"Thank you," Maddie replied. "I'll find something in the next couple of days."
-*-
Mitch had never had one of his hacks go so public before. It made him a little worried. So when he saw a white hat hacking competition, he paused. If he won, he wouldn't want to get the recognition from it. If he lost....well, he didn't like to lose.
Mitch did a little research to find out who was sponsoring the competition. It was his dad's old company. He stared at his computer screen for awhile. Was this really a trap, or was he being paranoid? There was no way they set this up just to trap him. Companies sponsored these kinds of competitions every so often. It probably had nothing to do with him. Still.
Mitch closed the tab on his browser and turned to something else. It was probably better to be safe than sorry.
-*-
Maddie had been combing through the top people in the competition. She'd several promising job candidates, but no one seemed to have been the one who hacked them earlier. "It may have been too obvious," Maddie thought, leaning back on her chair. At least the competition had some benefits. Even if she didn't catch their hacker.
-*-
"Mitch," Mitch's dad fidgeted, "I have something to ask you."
"What is it?" Mitch and his dad's once a month lunch was normally pretty calm. It wasn't like his dad to run into trouble.
"I know you're good with computers and I thought... Well. Remember the company I used to work for?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I left some files on my computer."
"Files?"
Mitch's dad looked away. "I wanted to write a book, but I didn't want to tell anyone. I thought if I kept it at work, no one would find out unless I wanted someone else to read it. And when I got fired, I didn't have time to send it to myself. I've been trying to rewrite it, but it's not as good. Is there any way you could get it back for me?"
Mitch swallowed. He didn't want to go back to the same place twice, but this was his dad asking. That company couldn't possibly still be remembering when Mitch hacked them. It had been months.
"Do you think it would still be there?" Mitch asked, stalling for time. "Or do you think they wiped your computer after you left?"
Mitch's dad grimaced. "I don't think they would have wiped it. I had too many other things on there they would have wanted. I know it's a long shot, but do you think you could try?"
Mitch couldn't refuse his dad. "I'll try. What's it called?"
His dad reddened. "I just called it Larry's novel. Didn't want to get it confused for something else."
Mitch nodded. "I'll see what I can do, Dad."
"Thanks."
-*-
Maddie was engrossed in a book when a particular notification went off on her phone. Someone was hacking their system again.
Immediately, she put a bookmark in her book and got on her computer. She was going to catch them this time. If whoever it was had gotten far enough to set off her alert, they were good enough to have been the same hacker as last time. It was pretty dumb for them to try it again, but some people didn't learn.
Maddie was determined to catch whoever it was this time. So, she got to work.
-*-
Mitch sat back in his chair. He had done it. He'd hacked back into the same company and gotten his dad's novel out. The novel was sitting on Mitch's desktop.
Mitch opened his email and sent it to his dad. Then he stared at the icon and debated about reading it. His dad hadn't exactly told him not to...
Mitch found himself opening it and started reading. It wasn't the best thing he'd ever read, but it was more creative than he'd thought his dad could be. Mitch found himself chuckling a few times. "My dad's pretty good," Mitch thought to himself. Either way, it had been worth it to get his novel back for him. Mitch just hoped he covered his tracks well enough.
-*-
Maddie grinned. Got him! She'd been able to track down their hacker. And it looked like it was the same guy as last time.
If she'd found him during that competition, she might have offered him a job, but now? Well, life wasn't a fairy tale. Maddie picked up the phone and called the police. They'd take care of Mitch Cotton, whoever he was. And Maddie would make their security system even better so this never happened again.
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