Unfortunately, Trident had other ideas. Samuel was quite used to the intranet the company operated from and the number of password restricted pages each department had. Marketing was exactly the same; many of the firewalls he had insisted on himself, demanding their plans be kept completely top secret until they were revealed to the public.
That was after the one year when someone had leaked their new advertising campaign to one of their main competitors, leading to a huge flop in new customers and a record-high year for people switching their accounts elsewhere. Cyber security was almost more important than physical security these days, something that had been perfectly explained by the issues of that very day.
Dragging the cursor across the screen, Samuel opened up folders and scanned through spreadsheets looking for some explanation, only to fall short each time. Shaking his head, he tried to figure out what to do. The hack had only just happened. Logically that meant that he wouldn’t be able to find any answers on work that was already printed or shared elsewhere. He needed to stop looking for the paper trail and try to get a clearer view of the problem itself. The only problem was when it came to the digital breadcrumbs that would be left behind; Samuel didn’t have the first idea what he was searching for.
As he clicked around on Hauser’s computer, Samuel’s attention was eventually drawn to the NBC New York page, where a live stream was being conducted from outside the Trident building. With no answers coming to light inside, he figured it was worth a shot listening to what was happening in the street below. And watching it on a screen was much more preferable than forcing himself over to the window. As he clicked play on the video coverage though, Samuel realized all too late that Hauser’s death was going to be front and center.
“…number of casualties is yet to be reported, but we are hearing that this is the third documented suicide from across the city within the last hour. The currently unidentified man is believed to have been an employee of the Trident Banking Corporation and jumped from the sixteenth-floor window no more than twenty minutes ago.
“Trident is yet to release an official statement on the cause of this collapse, though those close to the source are beginning to put their faith in the idea of a ransomware attack. For those of us who are confused by this statement, a ransomware attack is one carried out by a malicious computer virus, designed to block access to a system until a sum of money – the ransom – is paid.
“Now the natural question on all of our lips if this is indeed the case, who is blackmailing the Trident Corporation, for how much and when will the ransom be paid? The one positive of this theory however is that the lack of money we are all seeing in our accounts is simply an element of this attack and not a reality. Though many are wondering if this is the case, will the attackers simply keep our money in lieu of the ransom.
“One thing we know for sure is that we are all anxiously awaiting the official statement from Trident which will inform… oh? What?” The female reporter on screen paused mid-sentence, touching her earpiece and turning her attention from the camera itself to someone clearly standing beside it. “Have they really?” The woman then asked, glancing between the camera and the person she was receiving this new information from.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” she continued, looking back into the camera. “I have just received news that an official statement from Trident has been released in the form of a document posted online. If you’ll just stay with us, we will bring you an update on what that contains.”
Now it was Samuel’s turn to pause and look around in confusion, as the woman on screen anxiously waited for another member of her news crew to bring up the official statement for her to read. With the volume still playing on the broadcast, Samuel opened another tab and was automatically taken to Trident’s home intranet page. Posted there for all to see – and likely in a number of other places on the web – was the official statement the woman had spoken of: TRIDENT COLLAPSE: HACKING ALLEGATIONS CONFIRMED
Returning to the first tab and muting the broadcast as the woman started to speak again, clearly having found the same statement as Samuel had, he shut out all other distractions and started to read.
Trident Banking Corporation is currently working through a complicated period following ransomware software infiltrating our systems. The current appearance of accounts is a result of this infiltration, which we are working hard to negate and reverse the effects of to maintain order and stability in our financial markets. Rest assured everything in our power will be done to return the missing funds to each individual account and these effects will not be permanent.
Leaning back in his chair, Samuel let out a large breath of air and puffed out his cheeks. Ransomware. It was just like the reporter had said. He still didn’t understand it entirely, but it at least gave him some sort of answer as to where the money had vanished. It was being held ransom. Whether it was actually gone or not was another matter, because Samuel believed – just as the reporter had suggested – that if the money had all been taken, it would make sense for the hackers just to keep that rather than the ransom they were waiting for.
It didn’t make much sense, but there was very little else
