The Sentinel (Jack Reacher #25) - Lee Child Page 0,17
much worse. It is kind of connected to money, though. We’ve been hit by a ransomware attack.’
‘I have no idea what that is.’
‘Ransomware? It’s a malicious program that locks up a computer network. The computers themselves and the data they use. All the records and information from all the different departments. And all the phones and laptops and tablets, if they’re connected.’
‘OK. So how do you get it all unlocked and working again?’
‘You have to buy a key.’
‘From where?’
‘From whoever attacked you.’
‘For real?’
‘Oh, yes. More and more towns are getting hit. Sometimes several at once if they share services.’
‘What does this town share?’
‘Nothing. We do everything for ourselves.’
‘So you were targeted specifically? Why?’
‘No special reason. We just made it too easy. Our infrastructure is a hacker’s wet dream. A hotchpotch of old, out-of-date systems. Vulnerabilities all over the place. No viable defence. And you have to understand, this is a growing phenomenon. Cities are getting hit. Hospitals. Police departments. Corporations, too. But they usually try to hide it and pay up quietly.’
‘Corporations pay?’
‘Sometimes. Most times? I don’t really know.’
‘Doesn’t paying up encourage more attacks?’
‘Probably.’ Rutherford shrugged. ‘But what choice do they have?’
‘The town’s not going to pay, is it?’
Rutherford didn’t answer.
‘Seems to me that this kind of thing needs to be stamped out,’ Reacher said. ‘Not encouraged. It’s one thing to make them think you’re going to pay. Set up an exchange: the cash for the key. But the assholes who attacked you shouldn’t walk away with a cent. They shouldn’t walk away at all. You should check that the key works. Then find their base and burn it down. Identify everyone involved and burn down their houses. Send them a message not to try it again.’
‘I kind of wish we could,’ Rutherford said. ‘But that’s not how it works.’
‘Why not?’
‘We’re not talking about cases stuffed full of banknotes. No physical cash is involved. It’s always virtual currency that these people want. Bitcoin, usually. There’s not a physical key, either. Just more computer code. It’s delivered remotely via the internet from an address that’s so scrambled it’s impossible to find out who sent it. Sometimes it’s from somewhere in the US. Usually it’s Russia or Iran or someplace like that.’
‘Could you break the code?’
‘In theory. There are specialist companies you can hire. I have a friend who founded one, actually. She was an FBI agent. A cyber crimes expert. But all those companies are expensive. And there’s no guarantee they’ll succeed. Even if they do there’s the issue of time. How long can you afford to be without your critical infrastructure? And some ransomware has a built-in time limit. If you don’t pay up within x days or weeks or whatever, your data gets permanently wiped.’
A waitress appeared with a coffee pot and topped up Reacher’s mug. She was a different woman. Younger, a little taller, and much friendlier. She smiled at Rutherford rather than scowling at him then turned to Reacher and tipped her head to the side.
‘Do I know you from somewhere?’
‘Unlikely. I just arrived in town today.’
‘Of course. I knew I recognized you. That’s why. I saw you getting out of a car, just across the street. An Impala, right? Silver? Smart-looking man driving it. A banker, maybe?’
‘Insurance.’
‘See? I wasn’t far off. Is that interesting work, insurance?’
‘Why are you asking me?’
‘Isn’t that man your boss?’
‘I don’t have a boss.’
‘So you’re independent?’
‘That’s the general idea.’
‘That must be nice. Anyway, your burgers will be out soon. Holler if you need anything in the meantime.’
Rutherford waited until the waitress was back in the kitchen. ‘But anyway. Ransomware. If you don’t pay to get the key, you have two choices. Start again from scratch, which is slow and super expensive.’ Rutherford hesitated. ‘Or wipe everything off all your computers and load a clean copy from your backup.’
‘Option B sounds good. Why doesn’t the town do that?’
‘They’d need two things. A backup with a clean copy of all the data. And an IT manager to re-install it.’
‘The town doesn’t have an IT manager?’
‘Not any more. I was it. They fired me.’
‘Because you didn’t make a clean backup?’
‘Kind of. Only it’s a bit more complicated than that. I told my bosses time after time that we needed a system to protect us against an attack, and a backup, just in case. The town was such a soft target. But fixing it was expensive. They wouldn’t do it. I should have walked. Many times over. But I like the town. I liked it, anyway.’