From: rneces@mastnet.net (Lynnaea AelCaymarth) Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 23:34:07 -0600 (CST) Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Security Drill #2
Subject: Sec Drill #2, or, "If at first you don't succeed, take another
hack at it."
SD 90309.0210
MD 03.0100
Scene: CSO's Office
____________________
Ensign Aelyria Keyrin never left her office after the debriefings;
she had too much to do to get ready for the next drill.
She smiled as her fingers flew over the keyboard. It had been
entirely *too* long since she had done any... creative.. programming. It
felt nice to get back into the groove of communicating with her computer...
It wasn't long before the program was finished. *This should give
John an appropriately large heart attack. Wonder how long it's been since
he tried to counter a virus like this one?*
"Computer. Partition Security functions and save all current
information and settings to file Backup-Sec-Alpha, authorization code
98065-tango."
<>
Always good to have a safety net in place. She couldn't conceive of
the virus truly destroying the information -- she'd checked her coding at
least five times -- but she didn't want the entire ship's compliment of
officers thinking she was a fracking eejit if she blew it, either. She was
probably due to get called on the carpet any day now, anyways.
She reviewed her documentation once more to make sure the virus
would do as she intended. First, it would set off every computer alarm from
here to kingdom come. Secondly, it would run a program to systematically
crack every vital system password, and when it gained access, it would
encrypt all information, and to compound matters, rename the file it was
stored in. Once finished, it would power down the computer system -- game over.
Aelyria hoped, for CPO Mayberry's sake, that he stopped it before it
cracked the final password.
Now, back to her quarters. She wanted to look like she'd been
*somewhat* asleep when the alarms went off -- and they were due in fifteen
minutes.
When she reached her room, she changed into casual, off-duty clothes
-- a long, baggy t-shirt and her old Terran favorite, a holdover from her
party days at SFA -- blue jeans. She smiled as she pulled them on... *God,
these are comfy. I may make a petition to Starfleet Fashion Design or
whatever you call it...*
She took down her hair and ruffled it with her hands, making it look
appropriately sleep-tousled.
She turned to look at the chronograph... 1:14. She gazed at it
expectantly...
1:15.
And all hell promptly proceeded to break loose.
Alarms and klaxons went off blaringly and Keyrin listened to them
for a good thirty seconds, taking proper satisfaction in yet another bit of
mayhem she'd wreaked, before silencing them with her override code. She
could faintly hear them sounding still outside through the soundshielded
walls of her quarters.
She curled up in a chair to wait. It wasn't two minutes before her
combadge trilled. <>
She tapped it in response. "Would be rather difficult to sleep
through that set of alarms, Mayberry. What's the problem?"
His voice was both tired and wary. <>
"Tut, tut, John. Poor form. At least *pretend* for me."
<>
"And your first action was?"
<>
"The results?"
<>
"Indeed. I'll be right down. Have you called the other staff?"
<>
"Good. So'm I. Keyrin out."
[Five minutes later, in the Security offices.]
The SEC/TAC team looked entirely bedraggled; no one but Dana and
Torr, who had been on duty, was in uniform.
K'tar D'varen was taking preliminary damage-reduction measures,
making sure information was backed up to virus-free isolinear chips. The
entire rest of the department was helping him, as they were involved in a
race against time: a huge amount of information to protect and a small
amount of time in which to shield it.
"Okay, John, straight out assessment."
John frantically tapped at a console. "Sir, it's trying to crack
passwords... correction. It's cracking them. Quickly."
<<10% of the passwords have been cracked.>>
"Then stop it."
"Aye, sir."
A few more minutes passed as Aelyria observed her team in silence.
A fine sheen of sweat now coated John Mayberry's brow, and he said, "Sir,
nothing appears to be working."
<<45% of the passwords have been cracked.>>
"Stall for time, John."
"Cassandra! Dana!" he snapped. "Cassandra -- start reissuing new
passwords. Dana, record them."
The two instantly set to work, Cassandra feverishly designating
fresh passwords and Dana recording. There was no way they could keep up
with the virus -- but they were slowing it.
John had given up trying to negate the virus' effects and instead
was now attempting to strike at the root of the problem -- which Keyrin knew
he would have to do all along.
<<75% of the passwords have been cracked. Five minutes to system
corruption and shutdown.>>
He repeatedly ran diagnostics, trying to find the virus file, but
without a known signature, he was lost. Finally, he ran an activity
diagnostic, and traced the activity back to a relatively tiny file in the
largest directory in the computer system.
<<90% of the passwords have been cracked. Two minutes to system
corruption and shutdown.>>
K'tar cursed. Dana and Cassandra gave up; the computer was
cracking the new passwords as soon as they could enter them.
<<95% of the passwords have been cracked. One minute to system
corruption and shutdown.>>
John swiftly worked to isolate the file as the seconds ticked by...
<<10 seconds to system corruption and shutdown, mark.>>
<<9>>
<<8>>
<<7>>
"Hurry, John," Aelyria said softly.
<<6>>
<<5>>
<<4>>
<<3>>
<<2>>
John frantically hit the delete button.
<<1>>
"DELETE, DAMMIT!" he shouted.
<>
There was silence in the room as everyone looked at one another.
"Did we do it?" asked Dana meekly.
Aelyria Keyrin arched an eyebrow. "Assessment, John?"
"Virus gone. ... All systems are still functional, and... " he
gave a nervous laugh. "Three passwords still intact."
A small, tired cheer went up through the room. "God, I want my
coffee," said Torr disgustedly.
Aelyria stood and stretched. "Computer, ensure deletion of file
ak.vir.1.2 and reinstatement of original passwords as according to file
Backup-Sec-alpha."
<>
"Computer, was there any corruption of data?"
<>
The CSO grinned at John and gave him a hearty slap on the back.
"Good job."
"I'll debrief you guys tomorrow at 0800 in 3A. Go get some sleep."
With that, she turned and left the room, and the tired Security department
wearily dragged themselves back to bed.
__________________
NRPG:
Next up: final preparations on the ship (no more rabid drills, promise!)
and Keyrin's visit to the CNS Tats-Marush.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynnaea AelCaymarth, aka
Ensign Aelyria Keyrin - CSO, USS CHESAPEAKE
http://www.oocities.org/SoHo/2878/
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