The Cabal

Secret organization at work. Don't tell anybody. This is where I was last night, in a hidden underground bunker. It all started three weeks ago...

My first warning that something was going on was when my firewall popped up a warning dialog unprovoked by anything I had done. This never happens when I'm home. My internet provider, in their infinite wisdom, has decreed that their customers should not be operating servers, so they don't allow connections to their customers that weren't initiated by the customer. On the one hand, that means I can't run any servers, but on the other hand it means nobody outside the house can connect to my computer. But somebody had tried. How was that possible?

My guess was that they had hacked my internet provider and bypassed their restrictions. Scary. Fortunately, in addition to the internet provider's protection, my machines are all behind a router and protected by firewalls. They must have hacked my router, too, but they couldn't get past my firewall. Still... that's too close for comfort. Who were these guys?

As you all know, I'm a computer programmer. Been one since 1975, and I've got a surprise or two in my own bag of tricks. I backtraced my way to the source of the hack attempt, broke through their own load balancer and routers and firewalls and connected to their computer. One of them, anyway. It was a honeytrap.

The machine I got into had only weak protection because there was nothing of import on it. All except a file left there for me to read. An invitation...

Congratul8tions. You have responded to our probe as we had hoped, demonstrated the mad skillz we believed you to have. It is time for you to join us.



There were detailed directions on where to go and how to prepare. Yesterday I took off early from work, programmed the GPS, and followed a private road into the badlands of Central Oregon. The gravel road became a dirt road and led to a large volcanic formation.

I parked and found the burnt out tree standing 64 meters from the hidden entrance. Using only my own strength, I swung open a wall of volcanic rock that was somehow perfectly counterbalanced so that it took little effort to swing on its hinge. When closed, it was nearly impossible to tell there was an access there. Behind the volcanic wall was a golden-hued security door. Seemed ostentatious to me, but so what. The keycode they'd given me unlocked it, revealing a path inside the caldera.

A wide catwalk led to a concrete tower with another security door, less ornate this time. Behind it was an elevator. My ears popped as it descended. The door opened to reveal a small foyer with an armed guard.

I was forced to leave my cellphone, PDA, pocket camera, my gun and my knives in a locker in the security foyer. I hate that naked feeling I get when forced to unburden myself of my tools and gadgets. But they missed my keychain camera.

Finally, I was escorted to SitRep Room Bravo (aka "The Smoke Room"), shown below. Who are these guys? Hackers with a goal: the overthrow of the United States government, using Ruby on Rails to control the servers that support our mission and machines that lure our prey. We've already launched several attacks on government computer centers. The good news is, we've penetrated them all. The scary news is, nobody noticed. The bad news is, what's the fun in that?



I feel better already.


Posted by Dave    Blog Tag: shhhh