JAM: Hey man are you there? Need some help?
Quip: Hey JAM sure missed seeing you at DEFCON after day 1. Work called you back huh?
JAM: That is a story requiring beer and time man. Have another issue though that I could use some advice. Got time?
Quip: Sure, what’s up?
JAM: Working for a customer and think I have rootkit at work. Some of the code I follow, but it vanishes.
Quip: Yeah, those things can be a bear. But that is not me man, Petra maybe. Reach out to her.
JAM: Yeah well, don’t know how and she left me fairly peeved in Las Vegas.
Quip: Really, last I saw you were in a cozy discussion by yourselves. I figured you had hooked up.
JAM: Nope, not so much. How can I find her?
Quip: Don’t have a number, but you might reach her at this chat room with a different persona securecyrptographerroom.net Just supply some fresh blood problem and the sharks will whirl into a frenzy, then she’ll show. Use my alter ego, Brutus if you want. She has responded to me sometimes.
Once home he quickly connected one of his machines to the Internet. He recognized that this was really not the usual type of program within his sphere of expertise. Perhaps Quip could assist, at least with a good approach to take. Checking, he located Quip online.
Jacob went to the chat room. He used the non-standard persona Brutus. He began to supply a crazy problem that was not related to his issue. A few of the visitors exchanged with him, and he kept growing the fictional problem. Quip was on target with the frenzied sharks. After an hour plus of rapid fire comments exchanged, and about when he thought Petra must be sleeping, his cell phone rang. As he connected the call, he heard clicking which he recognized as a layer of encryption on the call.
“Hello?” he questioned, with all senses on alert.
“Hello, Jacob,” she quietly said. “You seem to have one very wild problem that everyone is now focused on. Would you prefer to speak about it live or do it in the chat room?”
Jacob was speechless for a few seconds, trying to figure out how she had his number, and had known it was him on line, even when he was using Quip’s Brutus persona. He noticed that the inbound number identification was blocked.
“Yeah, I was hoping that you might help me with an issue that is nothing like what is in your chat room at present. I know you are probably still angry, but this is important and a bit out of my expertise, but totally aligned with yours. Can you help me out? I did after all go home as you had instructed.”
He practically held his breath, waiting for what he hoped would be a positive response. She held too much interest for him, with her voice making his blood race through his veins.
Petra chuckled a bit. “Yes, you did, but the way I hear the tale, it took a whole different twist. Thought that was just rumor. Glad you made it home, and I hope you took additional precautions. You are actually well-known for many things by many people. So what is the issue you are having?”
Jacob explained the code and his concern about the rootkit. He also explained its magical disappearing act that he’d witnessed. He ran through all the activities detailed in his log book. She asked a few questions regarding the order of his steps. He left out the part about his code via Buzz. She pointed him to a few areas but soon overran his knowledge.
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