Chapter Three: Breach
July 25th 2031
Edmond trudged around the display of camcorders that he had put up for his store's weekly sale. It was already turning out to be a long day. He looked down at his watch, two minutes past nine in the morning. Only seven hours and fifty-eight minutes to go.
The weekend had been uneventful. SAO had gone down for maintenance just hours after release, and hadn't yet been patched. He, instead, spent his time on the forums page, trying to get a glimpse of what was going wrong. After scanning the threads, it was obvious that it wasn't just confined to the North American servers. Every single server that ran off of "the seed" was disconnected. This spelled out major losses for the company who maintained it. Each server was owned and operated by independent gaming outfits, but they all paid royalties to the company who owned the rights. Previously owned by a man by the name of Akihiko Kayaba, SAO was owned by a private company who remained mostly anonymous, they simply referred to their company as "Sword Art Online Incorporated." Long term server failure would spell disaster, and perhaps even total collapse of the entire company, effectively vanquishing a gaming community of almost four million players.
Edmond quickly shook his head and wrote off that possibility as bogus. All games had bugs and glitches upon release, and even sometimes after large updates, which is essentially what the inclusion of American, U.K., and Australian servers was. He was thinking negatively about the situation. Any update could only mean that the game would be even better than he had originally anticipated. This gave him some hope to get through the work day.
Most of the rest of Edmond's day went along like every other day: slowly. At around three in the afternoon, his manager assigned him to calibrate some of the new touch televisions that had recently been hung in the entertainment section. An easy, but tedious task.
When Edmond had arrived in the entertainment area, he noticed that a national news outlet was being played on one of the screens. He ignored it at first, and began the setup process on his first T.V. But then, something strange happened. As the news played in the background, Edmond heard the newscaster on screen, an attractive, yet serious brunette woman, begin to speak of something that He actually cared about.
"In other news, hacking, and lots of it. This time attacking the online gaming community, a group not new to the practice, but still heavily affected by it. And joining us now on our Information Technology panel: Elliott Brinwalt, a contributor to this organization with over thirty years in the cyber security field. Elliott, what can you tell us about this breach, and why is it so important that we pay attention to the gaming community?"
Edmond squinted and tilted his head to the side in fascination. They couldn't possibly be talking about SAO…could they? It must have been a coincidence. SAO had a staff of hundreds, if not thousands of brilliant minds working around the clock to keep their security beefed up. Regardless, Edmond continued to watch as a tall, lanky man with glasses and short, jet black hair, began his explanation.
"Well, first of all, thank you for having me. To answer your question in regards to the importance of monitoring the gaming community, it's simple: The gaming community is the most active hive of online activity and virtual transaction in the world. Some systems are as advanced and sophisticated as those used in some of the most technologically advanced countries around the globe. So it's good to use examples like these to learn to combat hackers from taking extremely critical information regarding national security, or other sensitive information from confidential organizations."
"So, Elliott, you're telling us that the gaming community is actually a guinea pig for large scale problems?"
"Precisely. When there is a breach in the gaming world, it's good to study to procedures leading up to the actual compromise."
Edmond rolled his eyes. All these years of gaming and still the media treated it like a sub culture of basement dwellers and lifeless drones. As the commentator continued his point a news flash began to scroll across the bottom of the screen. Edmond was instantly glued to the screen, once again. It read: "Gaming giant Sword Art Online Incorporated reports a massive data breach. More than ten thousand critical files and credit card numbers seized." Edmond was floored. He'd used his own credit card to purchase the game online.
"Elliott, what kind of information does this attack give us?"
"Unfortunately, even given the magnitude of the situation, not much. That's the issue with hackers. They are so anonymous and good what they do, generally there aren't any leads to follow until they're long gone. But rest assured, there is always a trail to be followed, and these examples are vital to being able to eliminate cybercrime once and for all."
"Elliott, as usual, thank you for being with us."
When the news station had switched to a different story, Edmond immediately pulled out his cell phone. He quickly opened the application that his personal bank provided to check his accounts on the go. When the page finally loaded, he frantically entered his information. Edmond was lucky. His bank account was still intact. He wasn't chancing it, though. He quickly called his bank to cancel his current credit card. He must not have been alone, because as soon as the phone began to ring, he was greeted with a message.
"Thank you for your cooperation. Due to a large amount of traffic, we ask for your patience as we work to sort out everybody's financial situations. We will be with you as soon as we can. Please remain on the line."
After about five minutes Edmond was able to get through. He quickly canceled his card and scheduled a delivery of a new one. Relief swept over him, but was quickly replaced by the yearning for information about the crisis at hand. Was this hacking the work of a genius? Or did somebody just drop the ball at SAO Corp.? Regardless of the answer, there was bound to be countless responses on the official forums.
The final two hours of Edmond's shift drudged by as slowly as they possibly could. As soon he was off of the clock, he rushed to his car and sped off to his apartment. Upon arrival he tossed his car keys down on his bed and quickly booted up his PC. When the desktop appeared he decided to see if anything have been posted on the login screen of the SAO client. There had been. An obvious attempt to play damage control from the media blowout.
SAO Corp. is aware of the media stories circulating around the current breach in data. We are currently devoted one hundred percent of our resources to finding the individual(s) responsible and holding them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
Rest assured that we do not take this incident lightly, and will be tripling our efforts to keeping you, your character, and your financial information safe. We are also pleased to announce that all servers should be functional, once again, within the hour. There will be no differences in gameplay.
We thank you all in the community, across the various servers and gaming experiences for your continued support and understanding.
SAO Staff.
That was it? Edmond was astonished at how little the SAO team had put into assuring their player base to remain calm. Although, he thought it may have been a good thing. Perhaps the media was blowing this entire issue out of proportion on a slow news day. He was sure that after everyone got back into the world of Aincrad, they would soon forget about this little bump in the road, and continue slashing their way through the legions of monsters and collecting loot.
Edmond looked at the time of the posted update. It had been posted at five thirty. It was now five thirty-seven, so he had a few minutes to kill before the servers were due to fire up again. He decided to check the forums to see how the rest of the community was reacting. The results were explosive.
Thousands of posts had been added to the "complaints" section of the forums. Titles of threads ranged from "OMG WTF MY CREDIT CARD WAS STOLEN!" to "SAO IS LYING TO US! THIS IS MUCH BIGGER THAN THEY SAY IT IS!" Edmond's heart sank. This was the absolute last thing that Sword Art Online needed. After the tabloids had plagued its initial release, the SAO team had to spend millions creating software and producing videos to prove the safety and structural integrity of the entire operation. The whole thing disturbed Edmond deeply.
He scrolled through the endless pages of rants and complaints. They were a dime a dozen, and most of them were just players repeating and reposting what other players had already said. Edmond had counted at least a hundred posts from players threatening to quit. The outlook seemed dismal. Just as he was about to close the web browser all together, a particular post caught his eye. It read "Japanese SAO survivor speaks out!" Survivor? One of the crazy people from the tabloids? Edmond had to check it out.
The page opened up to a video link to a popular broadcasting site. The video, posted just hours prior, was trending and had accumulated over fifty thousand views already. When he clicked on the video he was instantly skeptical. The video was shot in a dark room, and the person speaking was wearing a mask, hiding their face. The audio was in Japanese, but was subtitled in English. The voice sounded like that of a young woman, but the voice was distorted so it was impossible to be sure.
"Greetings. Thank you for watching this video. I hope you listen to what I say and take it to heart. Allow me first to address some rumors. Yes, I was present in the infamous SAO "logging errors" of the 2022 release. Yes, the stories are true, and being covered up by the government. Finally, Yes, I do think it will happen again.
People, please heed my warnings. Stop playing, don't log in again. This gaming community has grown in massive proportions. Ten thousand people entered Aincrad during Akihiko Kayaba's time as president of the company. Three thousand, eight hundred and fifty-three people were killed over the two year period. That's almost forty percent of the games population. Do the math, if this were to happen again under the same circumstances we would be looking at mass genocide on an astronomical scale. There are almost four million current registered players, ranging across countless servers controlled by "the seed." That's an estimated 1.6 million deaths.
You have heard that we are crazy, that our brains have been damaged by the nerve gear. But we're telling the truth. There is a group trying to destroy the lives of human beings. Don't log in."
That's where the video cut off. A cold chill ran down Edmond's spine. Three days ago his biggest in game threat was a group of jerks trying to give him an experience cut. Now, his very brain function was being, seemingly, threatened.
Edmond shook off most of what he'd read on the forums. People were unreliable, to say the least. Strange situations are breeding grounds for false information, and he knew it. His focus shifted back to waiting for the "PLAY" screen to become functional again. He couldn't be bothered with silly conspiracy theories.
Although, even though he'd just met them, Edmond couldn't help but wonder what Kitami and Thatch were thinking of the situation. Especially Thatch, he seemed extremely invested in the game. Role playing or not, he spoke authoritatively to his men, and treated Friday night's escape like an actual rescue mission. Edmond didn't know what Thatch's real life situations were, but it was obvious that he spend a large portion of time online. Kitami, however, didn't really seem like a hardcore gamer. She seemed like the kind of person who might have tried the game a couple times, but never really delved any deeper than the first couple levels.
Kitami…What an interesting girl. Some part of Edmond was hoping that she'd log in again. At least long enough to apologize for how odd the other night had progressed. He didn't want to become a funny story among her friends. Edmond cringed at the thought of how to dialogue would play out.
"Oh yeah! Get this, guys! I was playing some game a couple years ago, and this guy was completely clueless! He managed to take off all of his clothes, and didn't even notice!"
Oh well. She lived half the world away on an island in Europe. At least he'd never have to show her his face in real life. But, even still, she was cute. Assuming her avatar was an accurate depiction of her body. The blue hair was most likely an added cosmetic, but it didn't make a difference. She would have looked nice with brown, black, red, or any of the other typical colors in her hair.
Edmond halted his thoughts. What was he thinking? He didn't want to be one of those people with an online relationship (not that he was even capable). Especially one within a game. He'd obviously been alone for far too long. At least he could now say that he'd slept with a girl within the last year…slept. Literally…Sort of.
Edmond checked the game client again. Still nothing. It was okay though, as he sat back in his chair he heard the all too familiar rumble of his stomach. With all of the excitement since he watched the news, he'd completely neglected to eat lunch. He decided he'd better rectify the situation, preferably before the client became active again. He hadn't had a good cheeseburger in a while. He got up from his desk and retrieved his keys from his bed. As he was doing so, something caught his eye.
Of the three lights that were on the side of his nerve gear, the third was red. This same thing had occurred during the initial download of the game. This indicated that there was an update being applied to the hardware. Good, he thought as he turned to leave. Maybe they were loading some antivirus to the system. Edmond was pleased with visible progress, and left his apartment.
When he reached the lobby of his apartment he noticed the television in the reception area was on. It was the news again, only this time it was a different outlet, and they too were talking about the security breach. Edmond came in while one of the guests was already talking, he looked to be about middle aged, and was more than a slight bit overweight, and he was livid. He was being broadcast via a web chatting software.
"Look, we as a community can't just over look this situation. People, innocent people, DIED because of faulty nerve gear. No, I don't believe the crazy "Kirito" story these people told when they woke up. But I do believe that we as a gaming community deserve a little more protection than we're getting from the government! Millions upon millions of dollars are paid in taxes each year because of in game, and online purchases."
The man continued to scream his point but was quickly disconnected from the conversation. Was this really the biggest news story of the day? Maybe some of the posts on the SAO forums were right. Maybe this was much bigger than Edmond was being led to believe. The story only got more shocking as a familiar video was placed on screen. It was the video of the "survivor" from earlier.
As the video played, a breaking news bulletin scrolled across the bottom of the screen: "Video sparks curiosity over the truth of gaming giant Sword Art Online Incorporated." The broadcast then went to a panel of four people who began to speak of the falsity of the video. Edmond had seen enough. Couldn't they give it a break already? Did they really not have anything better to talk about? He was beginning to miss when gaming was looked over and ignored.
The particular restaurant Edmond wanted to visit was only a few blocks away, so he decided to just walk instead of waste the gas it would take to drive. He continued to reassure himself that SAO would be fine. Soon something would happen to catch the interest of the media, and the current breach would never be heard of again. As he continued to walk he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He quickly retrieved it, hoping it wasn't work calling him in to cover a shift. He was lucky this time, it wasn't. The actual message was much more desirable. His SAO app had just sent him a notification:
All servers now functional, thank you for your patience. See you in game!
-SAO Staff
Again, short, but definitely much more sweet than the last update. He quickened his pace, he wanted to get his food and log in as soon as he possibly could. When he arrived at the restaurant he was relieved the see than the order window was empty. He promptly ordered his food and waited as it was prepared.
"…No, I'm serious! Yes, the interface files were stolen."
"You're serious?"
Behind him, Edmond heard a young teenager talking to his friend about something that sounded familiar. He wasn't particularly a fan of eavesdropping, but this intrigued him.
"This could be big, dude. Honestly, I don't think that game's going to be able to keep its servers online."
"And they don't know who's doing it?"
"Not a clue, but one thing's for sure, it's certainly got the survivors going nuts!"
Edmond knew there was only one thing the boys could be talking about. He had to get more information. He waited for his order to be completed and took his tray over to the table where the teens were continuing their conversation.
"Are you guys talking about SAO?"
Their faces lit up as Edmond sat down. They gave him a skeptical look and then looked at each other. They each gave a nod and deemed Edmond as a "non-threat."
"Yeah, you play?"
"Sure do, just started Friday night, right at release. Haven't had much luck since then, though." Edmond's joke either fell flat, or was ignored.
"Have you heard about what happened?"
"Yeah, I think so. There was a data breach and some hackers made off with some credit card information and data files. Hell, it's been all over the news today."
The teens scoffed at Edmond's statement. They obviously knew something that he didn't.
"That's not even the half of it! Credit cards? Sure, whatever. But that's not what's really important."
Edmond was shocked. How could credit cards NOT be the most critical issue of the hack? This was peoples' money that they were talking about here.
"What did they get?"
The boy who was doing all of the talking looked around, as if to make sure he wasn't being listened to. It seemed a bit extreme. This was only a game they were talking about.
"They got a huge deal of information dealing with the function of the nerve gear. They also got key files on how the interface was designed, and how it's controlled."
Edmond wasn't quite sure what this all meant.
"I'm not following you, why is this important?"
"The interface controls the log out button…and if the logout button can be disabled, it can't be routed to the nerve gear, and the players can't leave."
Edmond breathed out, in his mind he wanted to laugh. He felt like he was reading the tabloids again. Plus, demonstrations had been posted of the nerve gear's "fail safe." A function designed to log the player out immediately if there was a problem with the system. This function worked, Edmond had experienced it when he was forced out of the game two nights ago.
"What about the fail safe? I mean, it's obvious it works, right? That's how we all got out of the game a couple nights ago."
Edmond took a bite of his burger, he was sure he had their argument beat now.
"For now! Think about it, dude! These guys focused their data sweep on two areas: interface, and Hardware. If you control those two components…you control the entire SAO universe!"
Edmond stopped chewing. It was a good argument, and one that he couldn't combat at this moment. But even so, it was just some theory. After all, the whole charade seemed like it was done by some bored college kid wanting to scare everyone into a frenzy. If that was his goal, he'd succeeded.
"Well, the servers are back up. The staff seems to think they've got the situation under control. Are you saying you aren't going to play anymore?"
Edmond asked this question for one reason. These two were the prime candidates for playing this game. Young, bored, no job (seemingly), and nothing to do. If these guys weren't going to play, the future could look very bleak.
"…I never said that. All I'm saying is, it's a little strange, given the game's past."
"That reminds me, you were saying something about "survivors" when I walked in…What did you mean by that?"
The boy perked up again.
"Oh yeah! A lot of them are coming together to try and get the game shut down, completely. At least until the hacker, or hackers are taken into custody, and all of the breaches are cleared."
Edmond was floored. Survivors? Really? Plus, the boy had said "them," meaning that the video he'd seen earlier probably wasn't the only one.
"How do we know this isn't some hoax?"
"We don't, that's the thing. But we also aren't sure if it isn't a threat yet, either. That's how hacking works. It's like a slow poison that's undetectable until it's too late.
Edmond stood up. He was becoming more and more disturbed as each of his arguments were backed into a corner.
"Well, the servers are back online now, so I guess I'll see you…or maybe I won't see you, in game."
He didn't wait for a response. He quickly discarded his trash and left. He walked faster than usual back to his apartment. Hoax or not, he'd have to be at work again tomorrow, and he was determined to get at least some gaming in before he had to return to the grind. He managed to convince himself that the whole situation was severely blown out of proportion. Maybe he was being naïve, or maybe he was the only sensible person in the whole damn gaming community. He didn't care.
When he reached the lobby of his apartment he was pleased to see that the channel on the reception television had been changed. The television was now playing a child's cartoon. He breathed a sigh of relief and headed towards the elevator. When he reached his room he immediately removed his shoes and laid back on his bed. He had no interest in checking the forums.
He picked up his nerve gear and examined it. All of the lights were now off. Good enough for him. He placed the helmet on his head and then glimpsed at his monitors. The "PLAY" button was a bright blue, just begging to be utilized.
"PC, Play Sword Art Online."
The familiar loading sequences commenced. Edmond's body went limp as the explosions of bright colors went flying around him. Codes began to be displayed as they had the first time he'd logged in. However, this time something seemed a bit different. The coding sequence lasted longer than it had the first time, and Edmond kept seeing the word "error" flash at the end of each code.
Within seconds everything went to a bright white. As the light faded out, Edmond began to see the tops of buildings stretching out before him. The cobblestone road that he'd walked on the previous session was also laid out before him. When the rendering had completed, Edmond found himself standing in the middle of a coliseum style building. Perfect! He'd logged in, and this time he was in the proper beginner area. It was time to slay some monsters.
Edmond swiped his hand. The interface seemed normal. He had his stats screen, his inventory screen, and his party menu. But what about the crucial button everyone was so afraid to lose? He quickly swiped to the options menu. He took in a deep breath as he looked. The log out button was there. He was right, it was all just an over sensationalized news day.
His excitement was about to boil over. He was back in! This time he'd been given a fair chance. He drew his dagger and pumped it into the air. He brought it back down and admired the glowing, blue, aura around it.
All of a sudden an envelope popped up in front of his face. It startled him. He opened exampled the message looked for who had sent it to him. It was from Thatch.
"Edmond. Meet me at the inn. We've got a lot to talk about."
-Thatch (Smoking Gunners Guild)
Apparently the meeting was still on. Edmond didn't really have an interest in meeting back up with Thatch. He wasn't really into role playing that much, and he'd already pegged Thatch as one of those guys who liked gaming waaaay too much. But, as thanks for the favor of the previous adventure, he decided to go. Besides, it would only take a minute or two. Hell, he might even get some useful information on how to stay alive in this game.
Edmond checked his map. He was only a few blocks away from the inn where he'd shared an incredibly strange night with Kitami. Kitami…Edmond wondered if she'd be there too. Some part of him really wanted to see her. He couldn't lie, she was extremely attractive. But he quickly reminded himself that he was in an online setting and that attachment would only mean trouble. He closed the map and began to run towards his objective.
As he ran, all fears of conspiracy and danger trickled away from his mind. People were logging in, laughing, and carrying on as if nothing had ever happened. This was exactly what Edmond had hoped for. He even waved at several people as he went along.
As the inn came into view he saw Thatch and his men standing in a group near the entrance. He slowed down to a walk and approached Thatch, who was speaking to one of the gunners in private. Thatch saluted the gunner he was conversing with, and in turn received the same salute. The gunner then put on his gas mask and headed towards the city gate. Edmond assumed he was in charge of the current patrol. It must have been, because Edmond only counted six of the original twelve gunners, present.
Thatch turned around and approached Edmond. He wasn't wearing his gas mask, revealing his weakened complexion. Edmond tried not to notice it.
"Glad you could make it, and thank you for coming. I assume you got a load of the insanity going on in the community?"
Edmond knew instantly what Thatch was referring to.
"Yeah…Not just on the forums either. People around where I live are going crazy too. It's like an epidemic. It's like people actually believe that crap about the logging errors a few years ago."
Edmond was expecting a laugh. Instead, Thatch just shrugged…he looked kind of offended.
"You never know, and you definitely can't be too sure in this day in age."
Thatch looked around, he obviously didn't want to continue talking about it. Edmond instantly felt like he'd struck a raw nerve.
"Anyway…Thank you, again, for the other night."
Thatch, again, waved the thanks away.
"We're still waiting on your friend to get here, then I'll explain everything."
Edmond's heart leapt slightly. Kitami was coming.
"Kitami's coming too? Good. I'm glad she was able to log in successfully. It's good to see that the negativity didn't scare her off."
Thatch nodded in agreement and then pointed to the road that Edmond had arrived on. Kitami was running, fully clothed in her leather combat gear. When she arrived the gunners who was chatting near the inn's entrance walked over and huddled around Thatch.
"Sorry it took me a minute. I wanted to make sure all of my menu's still worked properly."
Edmond knew Kitami was referring to the log out button. He was pretty confident that everyone had immediately made sure it was there before continuing their gaming.
"Excellent. Before we get started on today's briefing, does anybody need to log out for any reason, family or otherwise?"
Thatch sounded serious, but also sympathetic. His tone obviously indicated that he had deep respect for family, and Edmond was impressed by this. From his experience with gamers, most of them were demanding. Too much time with your family meant not enough dedication to your guild, and usually resulted in a ban. It was refreshing to see a serious gamer with a sensible side.
"Thatch."
One of the gunners raised his hand.
"Klein, what is it?"
"My wife is in the hospital. She's due to give birth to my first son any hour now. I request an exemption from tonight's patrol."
The remaining gunners all cheered and gave the gunner, who identified himself as Klein, collective pats on the back. Thatch smiled and places his forehead in his hand.
"Klein, get out of here and be with your wife. You probably want to be there when your family begins. Why are you even here? A private message would have sufficed in this situation."
Klein chuckled and scratched his head.
"Yeeeah well…It's funny, actually. Pregnancy hormones are apparently insane. Plus, I like to joke a lot…and my wife wasn't having any of it earlier. I told her I was going to take a walk to give her some space, but honestly I just wanted to get the HELL out of there for a little while. Crazy, pregnant wife, and a mother in law combo? No thanks! I'd rather take on the assassins naked!"
Everyone laughed began cracking jokes on Klein who tried as hard as he could not to crack a smile.
"Klein, dismissed, and don't log back in until your wife is heavily sedated and the baby has been taken by his grandparents for hours of pictures."
Thatch saluted Klein, who returned the sentiment.
"Yes sir."
Klein walked off to the side of the inn and accessed his menu. He stared for a moment and then scratched his head. He closed his menu and then swiped his hand again to reopen it. Again, he stood for a moment and then placed his hands up in confusion. Once more he closed the menu, reopening it immediately. Still, he remained unmoved. After a few seconds he turned around and returned to the group, who were all dumbfounded.
"Klein, what are you doing…what's wrong?"
Klein raised his head. Tears were streaming down his face. The entirety of the group surrounded him.
"Klein, speak to me, what happened."
Thatch now sounded very supportive, with a hint of fear lingering in his voice.
Klein opened his menu and selected the options. Showing it to the group
"Thatch…there's no log out button."