Operation Desolation Read Online Free Page B

mugging and asked for the police. The clerks were distressed and solicitous, insisting he take a seat while one brought him a cold towel. They offered to call a doctor but Jeff declined.
    A few minutes later two uniformed officers arrived. The pair took his report, asking the expected questions. One was a woman. “A Guy Fawkes mask, you say? You mean with a grinning face?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œDoes that mean anything to you?” Jeff told her about CyberCon, the panel discussion, and the RegSec project he was working on. “You think some hacker did this?” she asked incredulously.
    â€œI’m just telling you what happened.”
    They completed their report, then the other officer handed him a card with their contact information and police report number. “If you learn anything more give us a call. We’ve not heard of similar assaults in this area. I’d stay out of that alley if I were you.”
    After they left, Jeff let himself into his room, feeling wobbly and weak. From his kit he took three pain pills and swallowed them. He leaned close to the mirror and parted his hair to examine the injury more closely. Still no blood but the knots were large and a nasty red.
    He closed his eyes but experienced no swimming sensation, no nausea. In the end he decided he didn’t have a concussion and would simply get a good night’s sleep rather than go to the ER.
    Still, he had work to do. He confirmed that his log file system was in place and his data mining tool was ready to process whatever it saw. With that assurance he crawled between the sheets and was immediately asleep.
    Five hours later he was awakened by his ringing cell phone. “Look at our Web site,” the RegSec IT director said unpleasantly. “I can’t believe it. We’ll be taking it offline in a few minutes. This is a disaster, one we hired you to prevent.” He paused for effect, then said, “We’re already working on a replacement server. I’d like you to spend your time now determining how they got in. Finding that will be greatly appreciated though a bit late.”
    With a sinking heart and single-minded determination to figure out how the attack had been carried out and who was behind it, Jeff hung up, then signed in and brought up the corporate Web site. What he saw was nearly as painful as the throb in his head. The site had been defaced.
    Staring back at him was a large circle of olive branches backed by an image of the globe with a face on it. The face was familiar: a Guy Fawkes mask. Below was a message.
    This domain has been seized by Anonymous under section #14 of the Internet.
    Greetings Reginald Hinton.
    Your recent attempts at using Anonymous as a means to garner press attention for yourself amuse us. How’s this for attention?
    You brought this upon yourself. You’ve tried to bite at the Anonymous hand, and now the Anonymous hand is bitch-slapping you in the face. Now you’ve received the full fury of Anonymous. We award you no points.
    Sophomoric, even infantile. But RegSec was a Fortune 500 company and Anonymous had done it again. And the fact that the company was so universally unpopular meant the hackers could expect sympathy for, what was at heart, a criminal act.
    Jeff checked several of his favorite tech sites and found stories already posted on the defacement. He went to the bathroom and showered, gingerly feeling the side of his head again. It was tender but nothing that troubled him. His vision was clear. After brushing his teeth he took two more pain pills, then ordered a light breakfast with a large pot of coffee.
    Who had attacked him in the alley? he wondered. He found it very hard to believe that a loose cyber community like Anonymous had agents on the ground willing to attack and to threaten someone like himself. Yet it seemed that was what had happened.
    There was a CyberCon presentation he wanted to see that morning but the RegSec