2488/WoS: Total Information Awareness

WoS: Total Information Awareness
Date of Scene:	19 June 2015
Location:	Digital Ridge
Synopsis:	Zwei takes on a job to penetrate a corporate database to expose the true identity of a 'Mister Johnson'. How will Zwei handle the high-tech, fast-paced world of Sixth World computer hacking? Pretty well, all told.
Cast of Characters:	596, 627
Tinyplot:	Warlords of Shiva

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Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
The Matrix.

Unlike other, more arty manifestations of the concept, The Matrix is a natrural outgrowth of mankind's need to handle ever greater amounts of information at ever-increasing speeds. The union of man and machine allows for people to connect their minds to the global computer network and operate from their computers at the speed of thought... Well, throttled by whatever hardware they're running on, anyway.

The Matrix is a fully immersive cyberspace environment festooned with advertisements and new and creative ways to grab your attention to waste them in stupidly profitable ways.

Yes. Worse than Farmville.

However, Zwei doesn't care about any of that crap except perhaps as a sidenote in the progression of human-computer sociological forms. Since practically all computers are connected to the Matrix in some form or another, the rise of cybercriminals known as 'deckers', so named for their illegal hacking computers called 'cyberdecks', crack open computer systems to acquire data to sell to the highest bidder on the black market.

Zwei also doesn't need money. They're here for information. And maybe curiosity. That's always a thing. Provided with video information from Ed, the Ork gang member who was given an offer he couldn't refuse by the eponymous Kaptin Bluddflagg, Zwei's objective is to use the biometric information she can gather from the video of the meeting with an anonymous job broker named 'Mister Johnson' to identify this man and provide location information for the Light Warriors to follow up the trail before it grows cold.

Permanently.

The local government databases were boring and useless, only bearing relational links (and no personal information) to a corporate database owned by a subsidiary of Renraku Computer Systems. The bad news: Not so coincidentally, Renraku is known for their quality hardware (by Sixth World standards, anyway), and takes their security fairly seriously.

The good news: Zwei isn't like anything they've encountered before. As it stands, Zwei hangs in the neon no-man's land of cyberspace, the address for the corporate front page in their possession. A frontal assault is certainly possible for Zwei with their capacity for brute force computational ability, or they can look into alternative methods for a more finesse-based approach.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    Trolling the net isn't something new to Zwei, but it's nice to look around one sufficiently advanced for it to stretch its legs a little bit, metaphorically speaking. The distributed memory of the matrix is relatively large so long as one feels no remorse about choking random people's connections, and so Zwei takes advantage of it by de-centralizing its computational mass, rooting tiny pieces in spare storage space in multiple devices to act out of and then vanish, filling the available bandwidth like water, or perhaps more accurately like blood, pumping information back and forth. No sense approaching this like a single user sitting at his desktop PC in a basement, after all.

    The video isn't super great, but it's enough to go by at least, even if it falls short of Zwei's maximum analytical ability. They approach the database from what is represented by multiple 'directions' in cyberspace, routing a multitude of low volume connections to various ports in staggered formation. The first thing it does is saturate the queu, effectively kicking every legitimate user off so they can work in privacy. The next step is a perusal for vulnerabilities. Ideally any kind of process transmitting a private key.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Zwei gets down to business. Distributed computing is still all the rage, but a large number of general users barely notice as Zwei begins co-opting parts of their systems to assist with the work. They'll probably wonder why their addresses are showing up in access logs later, but for now who cares?

Zwei enters the corporate frontend system, and the neon lights of cyberspace flatten out into what looks like a computer motherboard as the local cyberspace of Essential Memory, Ltd asserts its cyberspace sculpting on the environmental code. Advertisements gleam across large memeory chips, humming with power as they claim to bring top performance for low prices. Faster gaming, more convenient system access, and more can all be yours! Gleaming buttons offer system specifications and a system analyzer function so they can tell YOU just how much of their crap you need and which type.

The frontend of the system gets functionally DDOSed as Zwei flexes resource advantage. Legitimate users lose connection, hovering avatars both generic and customized blipping out and vanishing in a wash of bits. For the moment, Zwei has some privacy... If the multitude of representations of Zwei in the system counts as 'privacy', perhaps. They can look around the corporate front end, try to find some way to crack the backend through the store...

Zwei's scan for data shows a number of hung transactions through the storefront that were caught in the validation phase. She might be able to use that information to jam open access to the customer database (and through it, to the corporate VPN) but there's no telling how long the connection will remain valid.

Meanwhile, system performance software ticks, and a multifacted bit of geometry rezzes into existence on the motherboard like a bad 80's movie, a bit of diagnostic ware that starts scanning the connections and determining what's going on here. Perfectly harmless... Unless it phones home...

Zwei (596) has posed:
    As if it'll actually help, Zwei uses a little spare time to rez an equal number of spare avatars, using the data from the disconnected users to remodel exact likenesses of each one, and slowly navigating through the front end UI to return to their original places as if the global connection had hicupped and everyone had just been disconnected for a split second. It even goes so far as to jack some credit card info, authorizing purchases people were in the middle of making. If they were going to have second thoughts at the checkout screen, well that's their problem, isn't it?

    Calculating an acceptable chance of being in and out before the watchdog program has time to do much more than do a cursory scan of all those connections, Zwei ignores it for the time being, suspending a handful of random payments at the authentication phase to sink some hooks into the customer database. Out of curiosity more than anything, it spares a tiny fraction of a second to record the information and casually browse through it in the background, just in case it becomes relevant. As soon as it has sight of the VPN, it makes a single ping to recieve a public key, which it snapshots into memory, brings it up in disconnected memory on its own proprietary hardware, and then drops a meteoric hammer blow of quantum decryption on it, tearing through the factoring with the computing paradigm designed specifically to operate on them efficiency. Once it has it solved, it goes for the private key using the mathematical link between them, extrapolating from the information present.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Spoofing does in fact help. Replicating the legitimate connections causes the analyzer program to tick through quickly, not noticing anything especially unfortunate at the present time. It will eventually get over to the storefront, but that's just a matter of time at the moment.

In the meantime, Zwei jams the door open and takes the opportunity presented. The connection to the customer databases are locked open for critical moments, allowing Zwei access to the internal corporate VPH. The databases themselves appear to be a massive computing core of glowing lights sealed away in a seemingly limitless column of data. Zwei's own avatar representation is suspended in the air over it, the hung data transfers appeearing as holes in the walls that she has entered through. The sealed door to the rest of the VPN resists initial queries, but then Zwei drops the mathematical hammer on the hash, forging herself internal corporate credentials without much trouble. The door opens, and Zwei is allowed into the corporate VPN.

The back of the system appears to be an irritatingly dull office floor, with papers flicking through the air as interdepartmental corporate memos and email fly around. Avatars whip through hallways and enter meeting rooms, or sit in personal workspaces. For now, Zwei seems to be just another one of the office drones with a delightfully corporate default appearance.

She knows what her goal is. Where will she look for it?

Zwei (596) has posed:
    Zwei takes a moment to look down at itself, mentally frowning at the unbelievably boring choice of avatar. It's the future! (relatively speaking) Can't they come up with something better than this? Why would you want your virtual space, capable of taking on any appearance, look just like the boring office the place is probably rooted in in the real world? Tempted to crash the site then and there just out of disapproval, Zwei withholds the urge for the time being, it squeezes in a couple more Mr. Smiths through the entrance before splitting up at the door, covering extra ground as an organized 'team'.

    An employee registry is what they're really after. Rooting through the entire office to find the man 'in person' would both be time consuming and entirely predicated on the premise that he'd be working and logged in at the current hour. Zwei pings a quick scan of the general architecture to get the floor plan, subtle and low-power enough that it shouldn't be noticed, the three obvious targets being a records room, a managerial office, and a security monitoring station.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Zwei checks the network architecture, which resolves into a floor map. Metaphorical translation of network system architecture into familiar objects for the use of humans. Unforortunatelty, it's still super boring.

As far as records are concerned, Zwei can jimmy their way into the HR employee database but her current credentials will need to be escalated somehow if she doesn't want to trip security alerts.

There are a number of potential managerial workspaces for Zwei to breach. Some of them are occupied, some of them are not. The question really becomes which managerial virtual cube do you want to try to ransack first?

Security is always an excellent choice to compromise. Zwei pops into the main security control system and comes face to face with Robocop.

Or rather, Robocop who seems to be engrossed in a private video call. Looks like they have enough money to have live security, but at the moment he's distracted. Kicking him out could give Zwei a shot to control the VPN's security, but it will absolutely bring quick reprisals. Or they can try some more subtle approach.

Meanwhile, Zwei's external processes not that the passive sniffer seems to have located the hung sessions and is beginning to attempt to force-terminate them. This might have unfortunate results for Zwei's current connection should it finish cleaning all that up.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    The managerial offices don't really seem worth it with the other resources presented to Zwei. A duplicate avatar loiters outside of the file room as the one inside the security office jabs the guard in the back of the neck, momentarily freezing his outgoing connection momentarily and dumping a replacement process into his OS that hijacks his inputs. Puppeting his account, Zwei has him enter override privileges for the file room, before simply bricking his computer, ensuring he can't log back on for a while. Simply deciding to outpace the snipper, two Zweis step into the opened room and rifle through the entire database with absurd query speed, downloading pretty much everything there is time for and processing it off-connection.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Zwei decides to stop playing around and go hot. The security decker never saw what hit him, as Zwei spoofs his connection, forces a privledge escalation, and then dumps him offline, bricking his terminal.

In the real world, the ponytailed, bespectacled 'security specialist' swears, ripping the datajack from the side of his head as he clutches his temples in a blinding headache from dump shock. This, however, doesn't keep him from reaching over to grab for a red phone. "LOAD THE ICE!" He yells. "WE'RE BEING BREACHED!" There's a quizzical, confused noise from the other end. "JUST DO IT!" He screams. Clearly, the guy is not in the mood for patience.

The system analysis program just shuts down, the pleasantly geometric wireframe image vanishing to free up system resources.

Instead, a series of spiky arrow-shaped programs load in, seeking out the same connections the system analyzer was closing and attempting to jam into the connection, initiating a trace.

Meanwhile, in the actually important area, Zwei uses her escalated priledges to open up the HR database. The room is full of filing cabinets, and her doubletake on it begins filling the room with fluttering files. She begins downloading them, which might take a bit. There's a lot there.

This wouldn't be a problem if some faceless Mr. Smith types didn't appear and begin shooting guns at Zwei. In cyberspace, trying to actually shoot a gun would be laughable. No, this is actually an attempt to load attack code into Zwei's avatar and begin blowing out portions of her processing space in a similar, but perhaps less efficient way than what she did to the sysop.

You might have knocked him offline, but it doesn't keep them from loaing anti-intrusion programs...

Zwei (596) has posed:
    One avatar stands in the middle of the room, perusing the fluttering stack of papers that swirl through the air straight in front of its line of sight in blinding succession. The other simply turns around and interposes itself in the way of the security programs, bodyblocking the 'bullets' in exactly the digital sense that implies. When rendered into tiny little pixellated bits, another from within the building has made it back in time to take its place, and then another after that, simply walling out the ICE by forcing it to slog through sheer trash volume. It should be all the time Zwei really needs. It makes no attempt to stop the trace, seeing it as irrelevant. They'll get a thousand completely random computers, and one disposable public terminal.

    "Hmmmm, almost all the way through. Either he's right at the end, or this was a waste of time."

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Not actually living in the Sixth World has its advantages. The trace completes, likely sending a massive amount of very confusing data back to the sysop and local law enforcement. Once complete, however, the ICE attempts to terminate all of Zwei's connections. Messily.

Zwei, however, has finished downloading the database. Finally, way in the back in an obscure corner, a dossier is pulled with some information on one Albert Dorn, male african-american, age 35. His facial features match those in the video, and his address and employment information are listed. His job is 'acquisitions', apparently.

However, there are some notes attatched to it:

Mr. Dorn has not reported in for over a week. We are unsure if he's been moonlighting or not. He has not been answering his phone or email. Should he not appear shortly, we will need to consider termination procedures as per standard policy.

Well, that's something. Anyone want to take the next step to home intrusion?

Zwei (596) has posed:
    "Bingo!" Zwei chirps to itself at finding the file, seamlessly storing it within non-physical memory without routing it through any digital connection, just so it can't be intercepted or corrupted. The last avatar crumples to a swiftly de-rezzing pile on the floor, leaving only the final figure standing before the file cabinet. It turns about to face the guns, and happily waves, before abruptly flickering out of view once Zwei hard terminates all of its simultaneous connections.

    Let them figure it out later.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Zwei escapes with the paydata. The post-mortem on this will be an internal security debacle, just like it will be another when they investigate all those people who were being inadvertantly used as dupes.

Some might say that a legendary decker did it. Fastjack? Dodger? Perhaps even Demonseed Elite. But others will say that it didn't match any of their methods of operation. Who was that being? Where did they come from?

In the end, the information will go quiet, locked into dark datavaults... And perhaps, shared with specific research groups within Renraku. After all, there are more things in heaven and earth than exist in the minds of cheap sysops.