White-Hot Hack (Kate and Ian #2)(28)

He removed an Ethernet cable from his laptop bag and plugged it into a jack on the wall. Then he connected it to his laptop. “This is a live network jack. Employees can access the corporate network when they’re in here for company meetings. Once a hacker’s behind the firewall, it’s like giving him the keys to the candy store. I can go anywhere I want.” He reached into his laptop bag again and withdrew a small square item. “This is a wireless access device.” He bent down and plugged it into the jack. “If someone suspects us and we have to leave the premises temporarily, I can still access the network from my car in the parking lot. Before we leave here, I’ll have enough information to access the network from wherever I happen to be.”

“What are you going to do if someone’s reserved this conference room for a meeting?”

“My first order of business was to move everyone into new rooms. Unfortunately, they’ll all think they’re losing their minds, but it had to be done.”

“What’s next?”

“I’m going to run a scan to check the network for computers that aren’t protected by a password, and then I’ll launch a packet sniffer to capture the traffic moving over the network.”

Kate looked shocked. “It’s really called a panty sniffer?”

He grinned. “Packet.”

“Oh. That makes much more sense.”

“Once I’ve cracked all the machines that are protected, I’ll give myself administrator rights to the entire network. Should only take about half an hour.”

“Wow,” Kate said. “All of that before nine a.m.”

After Kate finished her donut, Ian sent her out on a recon mission. “Familiarize yourself with the layout of the building. Do a sweep of the break rooms. Be friendly, but not too friendly. If anyone asks you who you are, stick to your story.”

“I’m a temp working with Legal on a short-term project to make sure all job descriptions are in compliance. Got it.”

Ian had explained to Kate that the trick was not to identify too closely with any particular department because it would raise too many questions and it wouldn’t take long for the manager or leader of the department to become suspicious. She would actually be spending most of her time floating around, looking for obvious security infractions like passwords written on sticky notes and left in plain view, and sensitive information that was being disposed of incorrectly. But if anyone doubted her story and started asking legal-type questions, she would be more than qualified to answer them. Meanwhile, Ian would concentrate on the internal network pentesting.

She kissed him good-bye and headed for the door.

Before she left, he said, “Sweetness, find out where the computer server room is located, will you?”

“Anything for you, lover. I’ll be back in a little while.”



Kate roamed around the building, moving freely from floor to floor. There were no other entry points that required badge access, so after exploring the areas with cubicles, she checked out the break rooms. All had a similar setup: table for six, coffeepot, sink, microwave, vending machine, and fridge. A middle-aged man was sitting at the table reading the newspaper when Kate walked in.

“Good morning,” she said.

He looked up and smiled. “Good morning.”

Kate was pouring herself a cup of coffee when two women walked in.

They gave her a few sidelong glances, and then one of them said, “Are you new?”

“I’m a temp. Special project for the legal department. I’ll be here for a few days. Do you know where I can find the server room that houses the computer systems?”

People were always so eager to share what they knew, and one of the women answered automatically. “It’s on the second floor. My boyfriend works in IT.”

“Thanks.” Kate smiled and swept from the room with a breezy “Good-bye!” before the women could think too much about why a temporary employee working with Legal wanted to know where the computer systems were located.



The server room sat near the back of a large, open-floor-plan space filled with rows of cubicles. Kate walked past the enclosed, freestanding structure slowly, observing the same kind of sensor on the exterior door that she and Ian had successfully bypassed on their way into the building. Unfortunately, she didn’t see a single person going in or out of the server room, and the lack of traffic would make it extremely difficult to tailgate in without raising all kinds of red flags. She lingered awhile, pretending she was reading something on her phone. An L-shaped desk with a low partition sat approximately twenty feet from the server-room door, and a young man in his early twenties stared blankly at his computer monitor.

“Can I help you?” he called over after noticing her standing there.

She approached his desk. “Hi. I’m a temp. I’m supposed to join in on a marketing meeting. Do you know if that’s going on somewhere down here?”

“No, the marketing department is on the fourth floor. This is IT.”

“Thanks.

She returned to the conference room where Ian was still hard at work.

“How’d it go?” he asked. “See anything interesting?”

She pulled out a chair and sat down. “Nothing out of the ordinary. I found the server room. It’s on the second floor.”