Cold Case Page 5

  Funny how things turned out. She suffered a serious injury at the FBI which ended her job there. It was devastating to leave the work she loved and excelled at, especially when she didn’t know what else she would do with her life. But being forced to leave the high-pressure Bureau job and take a less all-encompassing job with Gage worked out to be unexpectedly freeing, as well as rewarding. Gage gave her flexibility in her schedule, and whenever possible, she worked nights so she could be with Bekah during the day.

  What would life be like with Trey? Filled with kids if he had his way. She was surprised to find that the thought didn’t horrify her. Thinking about it did, however.

  She sighed and clicked the log from LEN’s server. When actors wanted to hack into a computer network, they usually started with a scan to gather intel on the network in much the same way her team would do reconnaissance on a target. If the actor was an amateur, he or she might not do a stealth scan, and the network’s intrusion detection system would pick up the scan, log it, and notify the network administrator. If the actor who threatened her was experienced or talented, he would’ve used a stealth scan that wouldn’t be picked up at the network level, and she wouldn’t expect to find any obvious evidence of the intrusion.

  She worked through the log for the past month, line by line, and found nothing readily apparent. The actor could have been planning the hack for a longer timeframe and might’ve made the initial scan sooner, so she worked her way back through earlier logs.

  Nothing again.

  So fine. It wasn’t going to be easy. It usually wasn’t.

  The image had only been uploaded yesterday, but the actor could have found a way into the network sooner and was lying in wait, ready to act. In fact, that was the biggest problem facing companies today. Actors penetrate a network not to mess with the company files or create havoc, but to hang around and quietly steal proprietary data. Many network administrators were too busy watching only for intrusions not packets of data leaving the network.

  She didn’t locate any modified files, and she couldn’t account for that. It was going to take further study. She set her mind to digging deeper. When she found that the network had a gaping security hole, she knew how the actor got into the file.

  “Time for dinner,” her mother announced as she stepped over to Eryn.

  Eryn looked at the clock on her computer, surprised to see hours had passed.

  “And swimming.” Bekah patted her swimming tote hanging over her shoulder.

  Eryn stretched. “We can come back for your bag, sweetie.”

  “Nuh-uh. I want to bring it so I’m ready.”

  “Okay,” Eryn said, knowing this wasn’t a battle worth fighting. “But I’ll have to come back for my things.”

  “K.” Bekah jutted out her hip and held tight to her bag.

  Perhaps this was what Eryn looked like to Trey when she was being stubborn about her independence.

  She got up and saw their suitcases sitting at the door. “And we still have to move into the new suite.”

  “About that,” Trey said from the chair in the corner where she totally forgot he had moved to after the movie had ended. “I asked Gage if the guys could swap things while we’re at dinner. I figured if your friend was keeping tabs on you he would know you went to dinner and not be looking at the room.”

  “What friend, Mommy?” Bekah flashed her gaze to Eryn. “Is he coming swimming with us, too?”

  Eryn shook her head and was so thankful Trey had referred to the actor as a friend.

  “So where to for dinner?” Trey asked.

  “Mommy said we can have pizza.” Bekah gazed at Trey, her eyes alight with excitement. “Do you like pizza?”

  “Do I ever.” He stood, his shoulders back, looking like the fierce warrior he was.

  “Then let’s get going.” Eryn’s mother started for the door.

  Was this what life would’ve been like if Rich had lived? Their small family headed out for a meal together. A deep aching sadness Eryn hadn’t experienced in a long time threatened to bring tears to the surface. She looked away and blinked hard to stem them.

  Trey rushed past her to the door. “Give me a minute to check things out.”

  Right. This wasn’t a little family outing. Far from it. Trey was with them for one reason and one reason only. To make sure none of them came to any harm.

  4

  Trey waited in the suite’s living area with several of the Blackwell Tactical team members while Eryn tucked Bekah in bed. The atmosphere was relaxed and the guys treated Trey like he was one of the incredible fearless warriors on the team. Of course, he’d known Gage for years, but had connected with the others this past year and they made him feel like part of their group.

  Team sniper, Riley Glenn, sat across from Trey on the couch. Riley had served as a sniper for the Portland Police Bureau, and law enforcement experience gave them something in common. Riley was also the peacemaker or mediator of the group, a role Trey often held in his big boisterous family so he totally related to that, too.

  Sitting next to Riley was Alex Hamilton who had served as a recon marine. Trey had the military in common with him, but Alex was harder to get to know. He liked to joke around a lot, on the surface looking like an easygoing guy, but Trey caught an undercurrent that Alex was covering up.

  Trey’s thigh started aching, and he moved in his chair to get more comfortable. He wanted to massage the muscle, but he wouldn’t do so in front the team. Would only draw attention to his weaknesses, and he never wanted to do that. Ever. With anyone.

  Eryn stepped into the room, and all eyes followed her. He once wondered if she was involved with any of the guys on the team, but as he got to know them, he realized she was like a kid sister who they all looked out for and teased.

  She sat between Riley and Alex on the sofa, the ebony color of her hair so different from Riley’s blond coloring. It was closer to Alex’s deep brown, but her hair was much more intensely saturated.

  “Sorry that took longer than expected.” She smiled. “Bekah’s prayers are taking longer with you big lugs to pray for.”

  “And we need all the prayers we can get.” Alex chuckled.

  “You said it.” Eryn grinned. “I have a long night ahead of me so we should get started.”

  “We thought about starting without you,” Alex said. “But then none of us understand any of the hacking stuff so we had to wait.”

  “Hey, speak for yourself,” Riley said with a hint of humor. “Seems to me since this involves computer hacking, we must be looking for someone with top-notch computer skills.”

  Eryn tipped her head, and Trey saw where Bekah got her cute curious little tilt of the head when she didn’t understand something.

  “You’d think so,” Eryn said. “But not necessarily. I got far enough to see that LEN’s hack wasn’t all that difficult. They had a glaring security hole that most people with strong programming knowledge could have walked through.”

  “But what about the ransomware?” Gage sat forward and rested his arms on his knees. “That must take some skill.”

  “Again, you’d think so, but there isn’t actually much skill involved in deploying ransomware. The software isn't very sophisticated. It can be quickly created and successfully deployed without much effort. And these days, actors don't even have to create their own ransomware. Vendors on the darknet offer do-it-yourself hacking kits. These often include pre-developed malware and a set of instructions for using it.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Trey asked.

  She shook her head. “It’s similar to buying any other software, like Windows. Many of the vendors offer customer service. Some products even come with money-back guarantees.”

  Trey couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “That’s just crazy.”

  She nodded. “Even more surprising is that a lot of the ransomware vendors also offer call-in or email services for the victims. They tell them how to make payment and decrypt the ransomware, so
the actor doesn't have to deal with it. I know of one product that offers customer service via live chat.”

  “Seriously.” Gage shook his head. “How do you know all of this anyway?”

  “Back in my days at the Bureau, I infiltrated a malware organization and worked as one of their employees.”

  Trey knew she must have some very interesting stories to tell. He could imagine sitting in front of a roaring fire with her as they grew old together, listening to her recount those stories. A pipe dream at this point. “How do you even get into a group like that?”

  “It’s actually not that hard, believe it or not.” She sat back, looking completely comfortable in her element. “The money these organizations are making is so good they are looking to expand. They want a bigger payout and need more people. So they form groups and sell their products together. And that means they need to hire additional workers.”

  “How do they go about that?” Alex asked with a smirk. “Hold a job fair?”

  “Not quite, but they’re like regular companies in that you apply with a resume and go through an online interview process. And as soon as they’ve vetted and trust you, they’ll share all the new tools they are coming out with and who they’re going after.” She took a long breath. “I played a big part in bringing down a large group this way and many of the actors went away to serve serious time.”

  “Could this ransomware attack be payback for that?” Trey asked.

  She tapped her chin, a long slender finger beating in time with the overhead ceiling fan’s rotations. “I suppose they could be hoping I don’t backup on a regular basis and would lose all of my information.” She scoffed. “Honestly, though, they should know better. And, if they are seeking revenge, there would be so many better ways to do it.”

  “Like what?” Trey asked, now totally interested in her story.

  “Like stealing my money. That would be a lot more devastating than stopping me from teaching a few classes.”

  “About that,” Alex said. “Who would gain from cancelling the classes?”

  “Seems to me like we might first need to ask who knows about me teaching these classes and how they know.”

  “Exactly what are you teaching?” Alex asked. “And can we have it in plain English please, not your famous computerese?”

  She swatted a hand at his knee and that jealousy returned, swirling in Trey’s insides. He got that she wasn’t romantically involved with her teammates, but he was jealous of the ease she had with them while tension permeated the room when the two of them were alone together.

  “I have two classes,” she said. “The first is about recognizing unknown security threats via the Internet of Things.”

  “Internet of Things?” Riley asked.

  She got up and went to a box on the table. She dug out and held up a black plastic traffic light that was about six inches tall. It had a USB hub at the base and a cord attached. She brought it to the table and handed it to Gage. “Go ahead and pass this around. On the first day of class I hand out this stoplight that’s powered by a computer USB port. It’s a USB hub, meaning you can plug in multiple USB devices at one time.”

  “So it lights up like a regular stoplight?” Trey clarified.

  “Exactly. Each color is connected to one of the ports and when you plug in a USB device, a light glows. Something I thought officers could relate to. So when I tell them to plug it into a computer that night and report back on how it works, I have a good chance they’ll do it.”

  “I’d have plugged it in,” Trey said.

  “Not sure I would,” Riley said.

  “But you’re always the teacher’s pet, so you don’t have to do what’s required and that doesn’t count,” Alex grumbled good-naturedly.

  “I know right?” Riley laughed. “Must be because I’m so charming.”

  “And the stoplight is important, why?” Gage said, drawing them back to the topic.

  “This is going to be a little technical, but here goes.” She held up the stoplight. “I modified this light to make it a spy gadget that can intercept electrical signals leaking from adjacent USB ports. This leakage is technically called channel-to-channel crosstalk leakage.”

  “I need more of an explanation than that,” Trey said, not at all embarrassed that he didn’t understand a word.

  “Okay, so think of plumbing. Water flows through pipes and can leak out. Electricity flows the same way and voltage fluctuates. These fluctuations of a USB port’s data results in leakage that can be monitored by the adjacent ports. That means sensitive information like keystrokes showing passwords or other private information can be captured and easily stolen by the spy device.”

  “So you had your students plug in the stoplight, and you recorded their keyboard keystrokes as the participants typed?” Trey asked.

  She nodded. “If this was used in a real application, passwords, bank account information, etc. could be stolen through the USB crosstalk.”

  Alex’s eyes widened. “That’s crazy.”

  “Yes, and it can also gather information from USB credit card and fingerprint readers. I don’t have to tell you the implications here. Now, before you think this is commonplace, don’t. I simply use this to point out to the officers that security threats come in all shapes and sizes. I tell them I recorded their keystrokes from the prior night and can play it back to them. In reality, I don’t even check to see if something recorded, but if they ever called me on it, I could provide the data.”

  Riley’s eyes widened. “Do you think you may have recorded something that someone didn’t expect you to record?”

  “Possible, I suppose,” she said and drummed her fingers on her knee as if thinking. “But in that case, why stop me from teaching additional classes? Why not come after me to get the information?”

  “Let’s table that thought for now,” Gage said. “Tell us about the other class.”

  “Okay,” she replied. “That one is far less complicated. Basically, I show them how pictures taken on a cell phone are traceable back to the cell phone they were taken on.”

  “So if we each used our own phones to take your picture right now, you could tell us which pictures came from which phone?” Gage asked.

  She nodded. “Think of smartphones like fingerprints. No two are the same. No matter the manufacturer or make, each phone can be identified through a pattern of microscopic imaging flaws that are present in every picture. We’re all familiar with how you can match a bullet to a gun, right?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “This is basically the same. Each gun has the slightest of differences created in the manufacturing process and so do phones. The problem centers on an obscure flaw in digital imaging called photo-response non-uniformity or PRNU. So here we’re matching photos to a smartphone camera, not a bullet to a rifle.”

  “That could be huge in solving crimes, right?” Gage asked.

  “Totally,” Trey said, impressed that Eryn was so up to date with technology.

  “Again, this is not used yet, but I want officers to know that it’s coming and to be on the lookout for it as it’s going to be key in investigations and successful prosecutions.” She planted her hands on her knees. “So that’s the basics of both classes.”

  “I’m guessing that your class participants are all geeks,” Alex said.

  “Honestly, no. I talked with a couple of guys yesterday who don’t have any real computer skills or even much interest. They’re both working investigations that this photo technology could help crack, and they wanted to connect with me and put me in touch with their tech people.”

  “Like Eryn mentioned a few minutes ago,” Riley said. “It would help if we could figure out who knows about these classes other than the attendees. People who wouldn’t want this information shared.”

  Eryn turned her focus on Trey. “How did you hear about the class?”

  He couldn’t very well tell her he kept up with the team’s training schedules so he could see her, but his
department had also gotten a flyer, so he would go with that. “My LT got an email from LEN, which I’m assuming was sent to departments across the state.”

  “So officers in these departments would be notified,” Gage said. “Maybe even tech people.”

  “Then there’s word of mouth,” Alex added. “We’re talking about a large group here.”

  “Yeah, and Martha told me that we also got press coverage,” Eryn said. “Not positive press, but EPR was troubled by my training content.”

  “Seriously, not them again,” Alex mumbled.

  Trey didn’t like Alex’s response, but Trey didn’t know who ERP was. “Exactly who is EPR?”

  “Electronic Privacy Rights,” Eryn responded. “They’re a local watchdog group who hunt for any chance to protest the way electronic communication is violating our privacy rights or is too ‘big brother’ for their liking.”

  Alex rolled his eyes. “They think everything is too ‘big brother’.”

  Eryn nodded. “And their protests are always so unique that they often get good media coverage. But in this case, they don’t have a leg to stand on. Officers will follow strict protocols when they use the techniques I teach, and no one’s privacy will be illegally compromised.”

  Gage frowned. “If it hit the news, then the general public would know about the classes.”

  “Could EPR be behind the ransomware?” Trey asked.

  “I wouldn’t put it past them,” Eryn said. “Their leader is skilled in IT, which is why it riled him. Let me do an Internet search tonight to see what I can find on their recent actions.”

  “Speaking of Internet,” Trey said. “I completed the background check on Detective Young. At least as far as I can without access to his financial information, and we need to interview him.”