Operation n

I began packing away my laptop. John, the security manager popped his head round the door. “You off Michael?” “Yes sir, I will be back tomorrow to continue.” “One of the network engineers just informed me that there is a new administrator account on the network.” “Ye, looks like one of your boys secured the primary domain controller with a Microsoft SQL sa password of ‘Startrek’.” John sighed. “Do people ever follow policy? Sarah wants to know if you’re still coming around for dinner tomorrow night?.” “Absolutely!”

It was good seeing John again. He was like the father I never had. John and his darling wife Sarah had taken me in. I don’t remember much about my past. All I remember is that John had caught me after attempting a skimming attack at an ATM machine not far from his house. I was only 17 years old. My heart sank as I thought back to the event.

Skimming back then wasn’t as fancy as it was today. I would approach an ATM machine and carefully place matchsticks into the card readers. An unsuspecting victim would slip their card into the machine and enter their PIN number, only their card would become jammed. I would agree to wait as they called for help. John was a little too streetwise to fall for that one. How things had changed I thought to myself. These days we have organised criminal syndicates setting up fake card readers and micro cameras. Interesting times…

I finally got to Victoria station. I hopped on the train and turned on my XDA. I looked over the Bluetooth message I had received earlier. I felt odd as I looked over the message. “Those characters! I know them”. I began searching my mind deeply in an attempt to recollect the void which was before me. I started to feel dizzy.. I continued pushing for the answer.. flashes… memories… my vision became blurred.

“Michael… Michael Daw… welcome home lad.”

References:

• http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/atm/20021004a.asp?prodtype=bank