Gregor brought up Pretzelverse’s intrusion protection dashboard. The numbers seemed off, a larger than normal amount of inbound email was present, and there was an increase in outbound network packets.
“Damn! The stupid users are at it again,” Gregor said.
From the patterns Gregor observed, it appeared an attack was imminent. Some stupid user probably clicked on a phishing link and got malware. Gregor sent a Cyber Advisory warning of the threat to IT and Network Operations. Better to let the grunts handle the details of chasing the malware. Gregor had more pressing issues, like collecting on a payday.
He retrieved a tablet from his backpack and looked at his own dashboard. His own phishing campaigns had been successful. Usually one user out of thousands clicked on any link. Last week, Gregor netted over one hundred out of ten thousand.
Gregor’s red phone rang, his burner phone reserved for Collective business.
“Code word?”
“Sleeper.”
“Connecting to Jaded Communicator,” dispatch confirmed.
“We need to meet about our next move,” Sasha said.
“Are you in Chechnya this week?”
“I’m at the cottage,” Gregor said.
“Meet on level five in fifteen minutes.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Gregor was in the quiet study of the cottage. He approached the statue of Plato in the corner. He pulled the index finger on the left hand. The wall opened behind the statue. Gregor carefully stepped through the opening, which revealed a narrow passage.
Gregor pulled out a small flashlight to help navigate the small passageways located behind each room in the cottage. Gregor wasn’t a very large man, so he could easily navigate the passage. He snickered at the thought of giant Viktor trying to navigate these tunnels. He would probably get stuck. About ten minutes later, he entered a large room on level five. Someone was waiting for him at the opposite end of the room.
“Sasha, that you?”
“Aye, come closer. It is difficult to see with just one lamp.”
As Gregor came closer, Sasha appeared to have a large shadow behind him which reminded Gregor of a large, demon-like thing with talons.
“Have a seat. We need to talk about the vote,” Sasha said.
“What about it?”
“I’m crafting a series of texts and will need your help with execution. I’m not a technical man, as you are. I’ve harvested a list of cell phone numbers that I got from your voter registration worm. It took some doing, but I finally got it to work. You need to provide better instructions,” Sasha said.
“I will include a guide for dimwits next time. You have the numbers; what else do you need?”
“An automated way to send a message to all these numbers at the same time, and a way to not include a return number.”
“Easy enough. What is your execution plan?”
“Send texts to young voters reminding them to use the eVote app during election day. Most young people in the United States don’t want to be bothered with going down to vote, so I will leverage the eVote app. Users will download the app from the link that is sent from the text. They will see a voting form similar to the actual ballot in their state, but we will get so much more,” Sasha explained. “The app contains the ability to track, record, and collect any information that we want. We can even limit the uploads for when Wi-Fi is active so their mobile data plans are not exceeded.”
“That’s brilliant!”
“I just need some help in execution. That’s where you come in.”