For the People Chapter 16

Kate is packing up her papers at the end of the court day when a text alert dings on her phone. "See me ASAP Shapiro."

"Close that," Shapiro instructs as Kate strides through his open door. "We got a break on the hacking. Our techs reached out to CISA at DHS and got their cybersecurity people on board. It turns out that the feds were already monitoring the organization that altered Lazeroff's DNA results. They considered it too minor an operation to move in, but they're willing to have one of their people come to us with an unclassified version of what took place. They're sending a cyber investigator by the name of Asher Spiegelman. I knew him very slightly many years ago. He and my son were in aleph together at the same shul."

"Sir?"

"First grade of Hebrew school at the synagogue. He was a total brat, always causing trouble. But I heard he settled down. His record says he went to MIT for undergrad work and then on to Cal Tech for his master's and doctorate. Apparently, he's one of CISA's rising stars."

"I hope that includes his performance as a witness," Kate considers. "When can I put him on the stand?"

"He's already on the road from Virginia. CISA keeps local quarters with shielding and firewalls for their agents. They have to check out a lot of potential hacks to Wall Street. So he should be able to settle in fast and be ready to testify tomorrow if you need him. I've set up a meeting here at eight am so he can brief us before the trial reconvenes."

"Great. I'll add Spiegelman's name to our witness list as soon as Gleason gavels in. That will give Wittenbros notice, but not enough time for a deep dive. I'm planning to put our DNA expert up next. If Wittenbros attacks the test results, it will be on his cross."

Shapiro checks the security of his yarmulke. "Then we've got a plan. Have a good evening, Beckett. Get some rest. I have a feeling you're going to need it."

"You have a good evening too, Sir."


"Babe, what do you know about CISA?" Kate asks as she and Rick dig into leftover pasta.

"Not much. Agent Grey told me that some noses are out of joint at the CIA because CISA is recruiting some of the computer geniuses they want to snag as analysts. They were responsible for the takedowns in Saint Petersburg that we talked about. But that's no secret. It made ZNN and the Ledger. I imagine there's plenty of juicy stuff below the surface. Why?"

"The hacking thing. There's a CISA guy coming in to testify for me. Supposedly he's the one who tracked down the origin."

"It's not surprising that someone from CISA could do that. They'd already have a leg up."

"I'm sure he's great at the keyboard, but I have no idea how he'll do on the witness stand. Sometimes it's hard to get the computer guys to speak in words the ordinary person can understand. If Wittenbros goes after the DNA report, I need my witness to convince the jury that the copy introduced as evidence is correct. But I won't know what I'll be working with until tomorrow morning. That won't give me much prep time."

"We could look into your witness," Rick suggests, "that is if you're allowed to tell me his name."

"Shapiro's already asked me to let you in on the hacking angle, and as of tomorrow, the name will be a matter of public record. All right. It's Asher Spiegelman."

"Not the commonest of names, fortunately, but still, Asher's biblical. A lot of parents like to go in that direction when naming their offspring. Do you know where he's from?"

"I'm assuming, New York, Queens. He attended religious classes with Shapiro's son."

"That should narrow it down a bit." Rick flexes his fingers. "Let the hunt commence! Let's start with the obvious, computer science awards. Hmm, there's a Spiegelman from Queens, but not Asher. Could he have started out with his hat tending more toward a greyish hue?"

"Maybe. Shapiro remembered him as a brat."

"OK. Let's try police blotter stuff that ends up as a one-liner in the Metro section. Here we go, not quite a one-liner. 'B'nai Yitzhak synagogue filed a complaint with the NYPD that its records had been hacked to show all families up to date on their membership dues. Since many families fell behind during the recession, the inability to collect represented a considerable loss of income. Under pressure from his family, Asher Spiegelman confessed to hacking the synagogue's computer and agreed to improve the system's security. He claimed, however, to be unable to entirely restore the records. Apparently, the still missing figures corresponded to the least wealthy members of the congregation. The synagogue didn't press charges.' Sounds like a hacker with a heart of gold."

Kate groans. "Anything else?"

"Ah, here's a note. He was a National Merit Scholar. Smart guy, Kate."

"None of which tells me how he'd do on the witness stand," Kate notes.

"Ooh, there's an old video of an Asher Spiegelman explaining how to tell if your broker is ripping you off. I don't know if the link will still be live. Yes, it is. I'll put it on the big screen."

As the video begins to roll, Kate regards the man facing the camera. He still has the lankiness of youth but earnest blue eyes framed by blond curls. As he speaks she can't detect a single word of jargon, just a straightforward explanation of what to look for and where to find it. He does throw in some disparaging language, but nothing a network would bleep. "So, what do you think?" Rick queries.

"If he hasn't changed too much since he made this, I think we have a winner."


Asher turns down the offer of coffee, preferring strong tea. "Since I heard Captain Picard utter the fateful words, 'Earl Grey, hot,' I've been hooked," he confides.

Kate can't quite suppress a smile. It sounds like something Rick would say if he weren't so fond of his dark aromatic brews. But right now she has more important things to discuss than a Trekkie's choice of beverage. "Mr. Spiegelman…."

"Asher, please. The half a second it takes to say Spiegelman is an epoch in computer time."

"Asher. And I'm Kate. Tell me exactly what you found out about how the records were hacked and who did it. Did they steal a password?"

"They didn't have to. They went straight into the operating system and dummied up a fictional user with permissions to access everything. Their user had its own password. Actually, almost anyone can do a reset via an operating system, but usually, it wipes the files. The hacker had the skill to leave everything in place so the intrusion would be almost undetectable. If you hadn't printed out that copy of the report, you wouldn't have known about it until the scuzzy lawyer sprang the phony results on you in court."

"So can you explain to the jury, step by step how that was done?" Kate asks.

"I could, but I don't think I should. If everything I say goes on the transcript then you'll have hackers all over the place trying to duplicate the process," Asher explains. "They could really make a mess, and in very bad cases a fatal one. I think it would be better if I concentrate on the what and keep the how to a bare minimum."

"You have a point," Kate considers. "But we have to be able to convince the jury that the second set of results is a fake, with no room for doubt."

Asher grins. "Oh, we will. I'm used to spotting keystroke errors, the bane of a coder's existence. I took a good look at the altered report. The hacker who inserted a non-matching stretch of DNA hit one wrong letter, but it was epic, a U instead of a T. That would have made it RNA instead of DNA. Flashing red lights! Sirens! Danger Will Robinson!"

"Please don't put it that way on the stand," Kate urges.

"I won't, Kate, " Asher promises. "When something vital to truth and justice is on the line, I behave."