Chapter 6 Robert T. Ironside, Hacker
Ironside's Office 6:30 pm
Rick Trombley looked up from Eve's computer. "Sorry I couldn't get here earlier, but I think I got it all Chief. This was one nasty set of bugs. Whoever did it wasn't concerned about wrecking the system, he was just plain angry about something."
"Why do you think that Rick?" The Chief asked
The computer tech got up, stretched and went over to the coffee pot. "Mark make this?"
"No, Eve did."
"Good. It's drinkable then." Mark Sanger's inability to make a pot of coffee was well known in the building.
Ironside scowled as Trombley leisurely fixed his mug then took a long drink.
"Because he or she, Chief, is what we call in the trade, a 'Script Kiddie'."
"A what?"
"Script Kiddie. All the signs point to it Chief; the time of the hack, the quality of it. A Script Kiddie is someone, usually a teenager, basically bored or angry, who's got a heck of a nice set up. He probably has all the latest stuff, including a 3-D printer and maybe uses nanotechnology too. Our kid is smart enough to wreak havoc but knew when to pull back before doing any real damage to our system. Everything is still here, as far as I know, undamaged or compromised. It seems that all our hacker did was to shroud our databases on the networked computers. The kid's good, really good. He's someone I'd like to get to know. Heck, he could teach me a thing or two."
"So tell me about hackers Rick". The Chief asked. "I need to know what and who we're dealing with before anyone gets in more trouble than they need."
"Ok Chief. But before we get going with the beginners guide to the art of hacking, I smell chili and I'm starving. It's been a long day and a bowl of red would be great."
Ironside wheeled himself to the stove and ladled out two bowls. "Beer's in the fridge."
Trombley took out two and twisted off the caps. Bringing them over to the table, he gave one to the chief. He spooned chili into him as if he hadn't seen food all day. Bowl empty, he grabbed a legal pad and pencil from the desk behind him. "Ok Chief, Lesson one: BIOS."
"BIOS?"
"Basic Input Output System"
Ironside looked at the tech. "Want another bowl of chili?"