Fourth time is a charm

It was 23:30 local time. We’d just adjusted our tools for another try. Lights had switched off as the last few employees had left. We knew it was time to move.

The “finger” pressed the button, the lock released. Now, on to the prize: we entered the room into the camera’s blind spot. We were behind the server farm. The safety lighting gave us a clear view past the racks. Our targets (the file servers, databases and external firewall) were all in this room. We knew that we had to move fast, capture the data, and, if possible, backdoor the firewall so that we could re-enter from the Internet — this was our goal.

We had arranged our priorities. If we could capture next year’s product design, our client would be chagrined. If we could capture the design for two years hence, they would be appalled. If we could backdoor the firewall and demonstrate the ability to pillage at will… It’s an interesting job; we were earning our payday by emulating our client’s worst enemy or most ruthless competitor.

Part 6 of 7, (to be continued)