Easton shook his head as well. The CEO looked at Piper and Sharon. Both his current administrative assistant and his former one shook their heads, denying any information passing over their desks.
Pedro’s expression became guarded. “Look at this piece of code I found. It was recently added to a program inside the cafeteria. It wasn’t coded here at the tech hub or at the security desks. Someone added the code from a computer inside the cafeteria.”
“The only computers in the cafeteria are the cash registers and the manager’s laptop. We might have skilled coders working those positions, but I doubt it,” Knox shared.
“As part of the on-boarding process for new hires, employees take a skills inventory survey. They solve problems and answer a ton of questions. That gives the human relations department insight into different positions they might have the skills to complete and enjoy,” Sharon explained. As the corporate headhunter, she’d worked closely with HR.
“I didn’t take that test,” Pedro commented.
“We already knew you had skills,” Belinda commented.
When the sexual undertone of her words registered and she realized how the others could misinterpret that line, Belinda added, “Finding that code that quickly is obvious proof that you’ve got programming mastered.”
“That makes sense. So HR could provide us with the names of anyone with technical skills,” he asked, thankfully not responding to her first statement.
“They could give us a list of people who might have the skills to do this,” Sharon corrected. “I’ll get on that immediately.” She stepped away to make a phone call.
“I don’t suppose it’s as easy as taking out that one bit of code?” Easton’s second-in-command, Elaine, asked, leaning forward to peer at the programing in front of her.
* * *
“No.I have a feeling that doing that will trigger something else. This appears to be part of a larger attack,” Pedro replied, shaking his head in disbelief. “Whoever uploaded this coding didn’t stop there. See the numbers at the end?”
“One of five,” Elaine read. She looked up at Pedro. “You think five different attacks are going to happen?”
“The last is probably a ransom threat. That will demand Edgewater Industries pay an exorbitant amount of money to regain control,” Pedro warned.
After letting those words sink in, Pedro added, “We can restore the system to the last backup before the assailant entered the attack into the computer. That will cause all business completed between that time and now to cease to exist and all records to be erased. All business transactions or interactions with the computer system will cease to exist. Edgewater Industries will lose everything that hasn’t been backed up.”
“Every morning at two-thirteen, the entire Edgewater Industries system automatically updates and creates a copy,” Belinda informed them
“Losing over seven hours of business is going to make an impact. That’s a drastic step,” Easton concluded.
“If we do that, would we ever know who is responsible for this?” Sharon asked.
“No. We would also not know where the vulnerability is located that allowed them to launch an attack or if it’s simply one employee trying to damage Edgewater Industries,” Pedro sighed. “This isn’t an act immediately or never do scenario. We could allow our people time to find and eliminate the threat. Then, we’ll lose nothing and we’ll have the evidence to convict the person who caused this.”
“The sandbox!” Belinda chimed in.
When Pedro and Knox nodded, but everyone else looked at her blankly, she explained. “There is a testing area that programmers have nicknamed the sandbox. There they can design and change programming and monitor the effects to avoid causing system-wide problems during updates.”
“If we have to restore the backup, we can copy all the evidence we have discovered and load it into the sandbox. It will remain there safely protected but not able to access Edgewater’s systems and cause any harm.”
“So, we have some time. We just need to stop it before we get to the fifth step. I’m presuming that would be the most catastrophic?” Easton questioned, his quick mind already putting the pieces together.
“There’s a risk there. I would assume the worst of this attack would come at the end, but it could happen at any time,” Pedro said.
“I’m glad you’re here, Pedro. I didn’t build Edgewater Industries without taking some risks and creating a dedicated team of employees. I want to know who did this. Otherwise, we risk another attack.”
With that decision made, the charismatic CEO looked around at the people he’d chosen as his inner circle. His eyes settled on Pedro. “What do you need?” Easton asked.
“A bank of laptops that we know are clean and the best coders you have available who you trust implicitly,” Pedro answered, watching Belinda’s expression as she immediately focused on the staffing component.
“How many computers do you want, Belinda?” Piper asked, pulling a number up on her phone.
“Get me ten. We’ll start there,” Belinda answered as she scrolled through her contacts. “Set them up in the open training area on the main floor by HR. I don’t want any doors to trigger and make us lose access to them.”
Pedro nodded his approval. There was no one else he’d want responsible for choosing people they could rely on.