The hackers' destiny - Attack to the system E-Book

Alessio Pennasilico

• Herausgeber: Blonk
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

“DESTINI HACKER (The Hackers’ Destiny)– Attack to the System” was published in eBooks by Blonk a few days before the explosion of the PRISM scandal in the US, which is causing more than a headache to the Obama administration. The opening episode of “Destini Hacker”, which uses its plot to highlight problems on computer security both in the public and private sectors wants to lead the reader into the world of hacking. Its nucleus is a system which, exactly like the US National Security Agency’s PRISM, is capable of spying the web, telephones and processing potentially infinite bulks of data exchanged on-line. Systems similar to the one of the National Security Agency are described in the first episode of “Destini Hacker- Attack to the System”: government agencies on one side and more-or- less good-natured hackers on the other side fight each other to get hold of sensitive date, confidential information and access keys. Hackers Mayhem and Gizmo, a couple of the main characters, are actually the designers of a system which is constantly capable of tracing everything that happens on the Web during their monitoring forays.

Leseprobe

Alessio Pennasilico

Lele Rozza

The hackers' destiny

Attack to the system

Translated by Giulia Torresi

www.blonk.it

copertina di Gianguido Saveri

(c) Blonk Editore

ISBN: 9788897604228

Publisher’s foreword

This text is the result of the effort of a weird twosome. Since time immemorial Alessio and Lele have been good friends and they share the vision and the ability of divulge in different domains.

For many years Alessio has been dealing with risk analysis, fighting against computer security attacks, conceiving infrastructures which are resilient to different types of attack; moreover he carries out research and development in the field of computer security. He is member of various cultural non-profit organisations, first of all the CLUSIT (Associazione italiana per la Sicurezza Informatica – Italian Association for Information Security).

He aims at raising awareness of the risks linked to information technology. Technology is something positive and innovation may help us to live and to work better. If its risks are not neglected.

Lele has worked as a lobbyist, supporting the free software within the public administration and he has contributed to the drafting of regional bill of laws in Friuli –Venezia Giulia and Lombardy. Then he has started his career in the academic world teaching and he is currently the head of the MA in International Communication at the Italian seat of the University of Strasbourg. He deals with communication and divulgation. He published the following essays “Le radici della 'ndrangheta” with the public prosecutor Mario Andrigo and “Beppe Grillo: lo spettacolo, la massa e il carnevale. Analisi di un successo elettorale”.

They have been very much engaged on different fronts and they both believe that information security is a cultural problem rather than a technological one. Ignorance (in its etymological meaning), superficiality and wrong expectations have often altered the analysis done by those who were supposed to protect essential information for themselves or for their company.

This consideration led Alessio and Lele to conceive this project: through fiction (as a matter of fact they have written imaginary tales) they aim to tell about plausible plots, technically correct attacks and risks which we have to face on a daily basis.

We hope to give our twenty-one readers (to exploit a quotation dear to the hearts of many web users) a couple of hours of entertainment, which may also spread a correct content and arise some questions or, even, let people identify themselves in some difficult situations one might have had to tackle during business life.

If, expecially through the next tales, we manage to draw young people’s attention on specific dangers and the instruments to face them with no superficiality and demonization towards technology, well, the numerous hours dedicated to this project are well invested.

We, at Blonk, believe in them and support them: there you go, their tales.

Paolo Verri – President of Blonk publishing company

0x00 - Porta Romana bella

Milk is not good; the human species is the only one that drinks it. Still in adulthood.

Piotr, the young Russian student, entertained the group of old people in the dairy shop in Porta Romana, in Milan. Then the dairy shop was full: it was rainy, cold and the crisis was there. No building site to speculate on. Everything stood still. It was a harsh and bitter cold winter, and then came the snow and the rain, and the rain again, it seemed it would never stop.

Piotr loved to spend some time in the dairy shop, it was friendly and cosy. Even though he was foreigner, looking like a nice chap and being a student at the Bocconi University enabled him to overcome the initial mistrust. Moreover, even the retired and loyal supporters of the Northern League Party living in Porta Romana began to take a liking to him, to the point that when Piotr was talking they did not dare stopping him. Piotr told about Belarus, his home country, he talked about economy and finance, namely, what he studied at university. And even Chen, who had taken Maria’s place at the dairy shop once she retired, had grown fond of him. Chen often offered Piotr breakfast, as a sort acknowledgement for the social merit of his accounts. Piotr always returned to the dairy shop and everybody was satisfied.

Piotr left the café and headed towards University, via Sfraffa, Institute for Strategic Studies. He crossed Parco Ravizza to get there. Broad spaces, laic atmosphere: moms with their children and foreigners resting on benches, retired people, managers doing jogging and dog’s masters letting their dogs run in the reserved space. All in all, it is pretty neat and the atmosphere is peaceful.

Piotr adores the melting pot, he grew up in an orphanage in Belarus, he knows very well diversity, and he knows what it means finding one’s own place trampling on the weakest people. Here he can relax, everything is much easier.

He observes the building of the Institute, the staircase, the big library. White tables, much light, students all over, all services needed are there: everything is clean, tidy and functional.

For the first time in several years he can get time for himself, for his projects, he can study and perhaps find a girlfriend. The blond girl down there might be the right one, blue eyes, a bit plump, light make-up and a cute smile. Almost an alien in that environment. Perhaps that is why she caught his attention.

However, before dreaming he shall study. Piotr sits down, he opens his laptop, gets his manual and he gets started. Exams must be prepared, he shall slog and this exam, Strategy, is going to be a real hassle.

0x01 – Crociata anarchica

Eugenij couldn’t stand daylight.

Usually the closed blue curtains let him sleep in until late in the afternoon, however that morning they were not shut. Light was hurting the eyes of the Russian bear.

Eugenij was a giant; he was 2 m tall per 120 kilos of muscles. His statuesque body was full of tattoos. That morning he was nervous.

Not even Irina, who had slept with him that night, managed to calm him down. Eugenij was about to raise hell and when it happened, it was very unpleasant.

He had spent a nice evening, he went to a party, made a tour around Corso Como to check out whether everything was straight and then went back at home, to his loft, with the boys of the group, some girls, music, alcohol and cocaine; then came the phone call.

The mole from the CERT called…. A big mess! Someone moved up and the plan was fucked up. The boys had been keeping an eye on that net for quite a while, they were ready for the attack, and then someone came to steal their plan… The situation appeared to be absolutely compromised.

It was just unbelievable: not many people knew about the system for the management of electoral campaigns, who had thwarted months of efforts? Who had taken advantage of the control over those servers? For the time being no answers to those questions.

Eugenij lost his power of reasoning. After breaking the crystal table where he was sharing cocaine, he sends his friends away, swallows a couple of drug pills and he passes out, way too angry to please the gorgeous Irina, who had been trying to comfort him.

His awakening had not been much better. He had to understand how it happened, who did it, but first he had to get back.

Eugenij gets out of bed, dragging along the bedsheets; he sits down at his desk where his constantly-switched-on laptop is waiting for him.

He inserts the first password, he launches the program to connect to the darknet of the organization, enters the coded chat with his nickname and password of the day in order to be recognized by the other members. He confidently waits for an answer.

In the meantime, Irina lays naked on the bed, she rubs her eyes, feeling cold. There is nothing she can do, her handsome boyfriend is too angry. She gets up and disappears in the bathroom.

Finally, Mihai shows up and he greets his boss from the other side of the screen.

- Have you understood what happened? How come they moved up?

- Boss, we’re checking it out.

- What the hell does it mean we’re checking it out? I want an answer right now, at the CERT they already know of the intrusion, we are about to mess up months of work because four idiots. Our project is based on that infrastructure, if they close the gap of vulnerability we’re fucked up. You have to hurry up, get them out and fix the all thing.

It’s too late, everybody knows about the hole, we won’t manage to get back, we’re working to understand what the hell these colleagues are figuring out. Perhaps something positive for the Crociata will pop up.

- Fuck you!

Eugenij violently shut down the laptop, jumped to his feet and threw the heavy whiskey glass against the window. Irina locked the door of the bathroom; she did not want to end up in Eugenij’s hands. She would have hurt herself.

Eugenij was the boss of the Crociata Anarchica , a group active on the web. It was a website, at the same time an imperialist manifesto against the multinational companies. Internet is the place to free the masses oppressed by the capital, said one of their slogans. It was just one of the many names, a cover. Money, much money, big cars, sex and cocaine were the targets of the group, which took advantage of their long dated experience to obtain all this. Among their members, there were different types of people, but they did not care too much. They had all been hit by the post-communist time, being it by the war, by the prison. They were thick skinned, they had little fear and they desperately wanted to redeem themselves through money, drug and nice girls.

It was an international group based in Italy, a country where with little money, one can open many doors, where the public opinion is easy to involve and determines the agenda. And where computer crimes were relatively little known and worrying.

The fall of the Soviet Union unveiled much energy and opportunities. One could make money, much money and quickly, as long as you are in the right place, at the right time. Eugenij, son of a civil engineer, had always used computers; hence, it was now easy to take advantage of that knowledge.

His father, before ending up in a prison camp in Siberia thought him some tricks.

Computer crime opened endless opportunities and Eugenij and his gang were very much determined to exploit them.

There could have been many domains where he could have gained a lot of money, drug, prostitution, weapons. Nevertheless Eugenij loved computers and clean jobs, with no big risks. Well, yes, he had drug and some girls around him, but they were used as a cover and not a real source of revenue. Computer crime was excellent to make money easily and rapidly.

0x02 - Hello, CERT?

4.46 am. The phone rang insistently. Andrea was still peacefully sleeping next to Mara, his wife.

Waking up with a jump is always the worst thing on earth.

He gets up, muffles his mobile and move to the other room, hoping that Mara has not been disturbed; he tries not to wake up the boys.

- Marco, what the hell is it happening, it’s 4 am?

- Andrea, I’ve been working for two hours and I didn’t want to wake you up, however we have to take a decision. The Minister’s system, you know what I mean, is under attack. We have detected the vulnerability, but we can’t get back to the hackers. But the worst thing is that we cannot understand what they’re doing. Clearly, they have redirected part of our traffic to one of their servers, but it’s not clear why. Perhaps, first, they’re trying to take their bearings in our system. If we shut down the services, we get them out, but we won’t fetch them. If we let them work, they might pierce other systems making the whole system visible to those who should not see it. Andrea, what shall we do?

- Shit! I got to talk to the boss; I need an authorization to proceed.

We cannot let them work, if they cause damages and it turns out that we have not intervened, you know, they’ll get mad. I won’t take this risk. But in order to retrieve them once they are down, we need mayhem and for this I need an authorization. Keep on monitoring, I call you back in a while.

- Ok. Hurry up, they are quick and sly.

Andrea had to act rapidly, the little game of the Minister for Domestic Affairs was under attack. To make up his honorary he placed his members of his family and prominent acquaintances within a prosperous market that the Internet (and his post) enabled him to assemble. A borderline activity, but, well, in Italy you never know, limits are flexible by definition. If the purpose of the system that had been pierced had ever come out, if the piece of news had hit the headlines, the disaster would have been outr [...]