Harry waved toward his desk, where Ardelean sat down, toggled the mouse on Harry’s computer, then inserted the thumb drive.
Nicholas watched Ardelean work. He was fast, smooth, but why had he lied about the Russian hacker? Another thing, he was too smooth, too deferential to Nicholas’s father. Nicholas’s personal experience with brilliant business moguls was the opposite—he would have trusted Ardelean more if he’d acted like a conceited ass.
Granted, losing the Security Services would be a massive blow to the proprietary software development Radulov was contracted for, because if he lost one government agency, he’d lose them all. And variations of MATRIX and other Radulov software were on practically every government computer in the free world. He couldn’t afford the blow to his company. Given that, maybe Nicholas would be as apologetic as Ardelean. What was going on here? There was something more.
Still, the Radulov reputation was stellar. Ten years of high-end security, tight as a drum, unbreakable. The world had turned to Radulov when Kaspersky and Norton failed them.
Until last month, when so many of the computers using the software were hacked. Strange, the attacks on the politicians had begun so soon after.
Mike had checked out entirely. For some reason, she was staring at her phone as if it held the Rosetta stone. But his father was watching Ardelean closely, too, which made him even more curious.
They met eyes, and Harry shrugged. What had his father seen?
A moment later, Ardelean was rebooting the machine when a knock sounded on the door and Adam came in. Nicholas knew it wouldn’t do to laugh, but he looked like he’d rolled around on the floor and stuck his hand in a socket—his hair was standing on end, his clothes were rumpled, and there was a big coffee stain right in the middle of his Star Wars T-shirt. Nicholas knew by the manic smile Adam had made a breakthrough.
“Can I interrupt? I’ve discovered a back door into the software you need to see.”
Ardelean’s head came up in a snap.
Nicholas said, “Roman Ardelean, meet Adam Pearce. He’s a consultant on our team.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Adam could only stare, starstruck, at one of the best computer minds of the century, but he quickly recovered. “I’m a big admirer of your work, Mr. Ardelean.” He held out his hand. “I’m Adam Pearce.”
“A pleasure to meet you.”
“No offense, but someone’s making a mess of your code right now. Look.”
He set his laptop on Harry’s desk, and Nicholas and Roman leaned in to see.
Harry Drummond watched for a moment, but Nicholas and Adam and Ardelean were off into a parallel universe, one he didn’t understand and couldn’t easily follow. He marveled at his son’s incredible skill, not inherited from either him or his mother. Or his grandfather. And Adam, the young man was a phenom, a word Mitzie liked to use.
Nicholas pointed a finger at the nonsense on the screen and said, “There. There it is,” and Ardelean sucked in his breath in surprise. “Bugger me, you’re right.” He straightened. “I don’t understand how this door was opened. I coded this to allow my people to be able to slip into our systems and push code out. Internally. Only from inside Radulov. No one from the outside could have possibly gotten in. It’s a one-way pipe—”
“No offense, Mr. Ardelean, but it’s a two-way pipe now,” Adam said, “and they did get in, big-time. Look at this. I created an animation of the bug flowing through the systems from the Radulov servers to the infected computers, and this is what I found. It’s a small hole, sir, but it’s a hole. That’s how the software was taken advantage of, and how they can defeat it again.”
Nicholas saw the screen light up with what looked like a moving bar chart, knew it must be the paths the data packets had followed.
Mike set down her phone and said, “Adam, can you explain it in lay terms?”
“Sure. Essentially, with this capability, whoever is behind this can spy on every computer that houses Radulov’s software and MATRIX. They can do keystroke analysis on any computer that runs the software—which is pretty much every computer out there—so they can follow every text, every file, every email.
“Here’s the kicker: not only is it on the computers themselves, it’s also tied into any device that shares the systems’ Wi-Fi network. So, for example, when we come into these offices, we’re given a Wi-Fi password to log into the systems, one that’s secure and encrypted and only given to outsiders, not used in-house. When our phones attach to the network, the bad code downloads onto it through the connection. Then they have keystroke and audio on those phones, too.”
Harry said, “Governments have this capability, too, though, yes?”
“Sure. On our end, the NSA and FBI can do this with ease, though we aren’t supposed to. To use any of it to prosecute criminals, we have to work directly with Apple or Microsoft—or Radulov—to get warrants for the information that’s been traced if they want to use it legally. We have to trust they will not use the information they obtain against us without due process.
“But Radulov’s vulnerability is now available to any hacker who wants it if they’re given the appropriate code through the dark web. Sorry, Mr. Ardelean. I hate to say it, but you’re screwed. You’re going to need a complete overhaul of MATRIX and your other software packages to make them safe again, then you’ll need to convince everyone who owns the software to upgrade to the newest version. Vulnerabilities could float around for years on old computers. This is a mega leak, sir.”
Ardelean was shaking his head. He looked incredulous. “But we found the hacker, and he’s been arrested. We pushed code in to halt the attack. We contained it.”
“You did, absolutely, and your block of the manipulated code was handled perfectly. Exactly what I would have recommended, step by step. The problem is, you were too late. The code is still out there. I saw it—”
Nicholas shook his head, and Adam stopped talking immediately. No need to let Ardelean—or his father, for that matter—know the details of how he and Adam worked on these projects, that Covert Eyes had a hacker in place to do such things. Adam and Nicholas thrived on manipulating the vulnerabilities of software programs. Yes, better to keep those facts off the table.
Nicholas said, “Mr. Ardelean, do you have any disgruntled former employees who might want to take you down, who might want to see your company suffer, or who might be trying to ransom your code?”
Yes, that traitor, Temora. Ardelean rubbed the bridge of his nose, effectively hiding his eyes. He wanted a microdose. No, no, he had to keep it together. He wasn’t about to tell them about Temora. He looked up again, in control. “We have very little turnover. My people are under the strictest confidentiality agreements, of course, and can be prosecuted for any breach of those contracts.
“I will compile a list of our terminated employees for you to start investigating. I assume, Drummond, that you and Agent Caine are starting an investigation into this, which is why you’re here in London?”
Nicholas nodded. “A breach of this magnitude needs several sets of eyes. A list of your former employees would be a great help. I’d say you need to look back at least three years.”
“Of course.” Ardelean was still staring at the code. He couldn’t wait. He pulled a small box from his pocket and slipped a mint into his mouth, but it wasn’t a mint, it was a microdose. Almost immediately he felt it focus him. He nodded to all of them.
“I must go, immediately. I need to deal with this.” He stopped, shook Adam’s hand. “Thank you for finding this.” And to Harry, “Sir, I will do everything in my power to make your servers safe again, as quickly as possible. I have another patch that should hold them off while we work on a permanent solution. I’ll put it into the terminal myself the minute I get back to the office. Give me an hour before you reboot the machines in the office.”