[Fanfic] Ex-Uplink Agent - Part 2 (Updated 2/11/08)

[Ryudo Lee]

EDITS:
* Changed the dates.  6/15/10 is actually a tuesday.  Part 1 is supposed to happen on a monday, so changed Part 1's date to 6/14/10, which will be a monday in the real-world calendar.
* Added Part 2



A little bit of background on this...

When I first started registered with GameTap I found that they had an odd looking little game called Uplink: Hacker Elite.  It was described as a simulation of high-tech crime set in the future.  This was a completely unknown game to me.  So I tried it.

I fell in love with it.

Unfortunately, GameTap's version of the game is an early one which is so full of bugs it isn't funny.  It crashed more often than a demolition derby.  To get anywhere in the game, I had to get a copy of the game for myself.  So I did, and then I found updates to the game which made it playable.  It's such a great game.  Unfortunately, it's old, so the communities for the game have long since broken up, but most of the sites that held the updates and various mods for it are still somewhat active.  So I would ask you, if you enjoy what I've written here, if it's something that you would enjoy doing yourself, go and find this game.  It's worth it.

On another note, I haven't written anything in the longest time.  I really should write more.  I'm told that I'm pretty good at it.  But anyway, comments and constructive criticism are welcome.  But keep in mind that this is supposed to read like a tell-all article in a news feed.



Ex-Uplink Agent
A work based on the PC video game "Uplink" by Introversion Software
By: Ryudo Lee

6.14.2010 - DISAVOWED UPLINK AGENT TELLS ALL - PART 1

   "COMPUTER HACKER RINGLEADER FINALLY CAUGHT!"  That was the headline on the news server that was getting all the attention.  It had gotten so much attention that the news server actually crashed from all the connection requests.  At the time of the posting, I had already become prisoner number 243681, residing in a federal prison somewhere in the northeast United States.  I'm in here for a whole list of charges ranging from simple illegal systems access to the full and wanton destruction of mainframe systems to unlawful access and use of government systems to defraud innocent individuals.  And every last one of those charges is true.  This is not a set-up.  There is no protesting my innocence.  I committed those crimes knowingly and without remorse.  I have cost whole corporations billions of credits, I have had people falsely accused of, and often arrested for, crimes they did not commit, and I have turned the worlds of good, honest people upside-down.  But why did I do it?  I did it because I was a hacker.  But I wasn't just any hacker.  I was an Uplink Agent.  I was the best there ever was.  Before I was caught, I was rank 1, which bore the title "TERMINAL", and my Neuromancer rating, which was an unofficial rating based on my actions, was "Morally Bankrupt".  Uplink has since disavowed all knowledge of me, as is their practice.  But, I'm going to talk about my experience with Uplink, so let me start from the beginning.

   Who am I?  I am not ZeroCool.  I am not JollyRoger.  Those are names which were synonymous with great hackers, admittedly from back in the day, during the more, and I use the term loosely, glorious days of computer hacking.  My name was not so famous, and now it will never be.  Who I really am cannot be announced in public, for my own safety.  But I hid behind the screenname "DivideByZero".  I though it was cool when I first started out.

   It was all so easy in the beginning.  A friend of a friend of a friend, whose name I never learned, told me about the Uplink Corporation.  They would give me complete anonymity.  I could hack to my hearts content with full impunity and never have to worry about getting caught.  I would even get paid exorbitant amounts of money by other corporations to do their dirty work for them.  If I slipped up, Uplink would simply disavow any knowledge of me, destroy all my data, I would be safe, free to choose a new screenname, and try again.  It was like a game.  Admittedly, I've been through a lot of screennames.  I was sloppy in the beginning.  I quickly learned that, through certain channels, I could expunge my old records, they call it "retiring an agent", and keep choosing the same screenname.  So I chose "DivideByZero".

   I was provided with an internet link to the Uplink Public Access Server.  Upon connecting to it, I was given an option to register as an agent.  All that was required was a screenname, a password, and three hundred credits a month.  Uplink then provided me with a gateway computer through which I could connect to the rest of the internet, and a bank account which had three thousand credits in it, which was a loan from the Uplink International Bank.  I had access to Uplink's Internal Services Machine which would provide me with software I could use in my jobs, as well as the means to upgrade my gateway, and a job posting board which I could use to accept missions from other corporations.  I had everything that I would ever need to further my career as a hacker.

   It started out simple.  I could connect to any machine I had an internet link for.  I could use those internet links to create long distance connections by jumping my connections from one to another, creating a web of connections and therefore making it harder to trace me.  At first all my missions were similar.  Hack into this machine, steal this file, and send it back to us.  Hack into this machine, delete this file, and report back to us.  It was all very simple.  I quickly mastered the use of the Trace Tracker and Password Breaker.  I got overconfident.  My Uplink rank rose.  I received access to higher paying missions.  I got sloppy.  The first time I got caught was while hacking the International Social Security database.  I quickly realized that the government's security controls were much tighter than those of private corporations.  I would have to do more to escape their prying eyes.

   I re-registered, and started anew.  This time, I was more careful.  I began to look at the other tools available to me.  I began to really look at what was going on behind the scenes.  I found that with the right software, I could delete the logs that I was leaving behind.  I invested in the Log Deleter.  It soon became my best friend.  I soon found that the Password Breaker was not enough to get into some systems.  Some systems used an Eliptic Curve Cypher as a security measure.  But for every security system, there is a way to crack it.  The Decypher became another new friend.  I found another friend in a government-run system: Internic, the repository of internet links.  Styled as a system that was free and open to all, I found I was able to get into its administration menu and delete my logs without any fear of tracing.  And the administrator's password never changed.  I put two and two together and realized that Internic would easily act as my wall against anyone trying to trace my connection.  It became my first jump, directly from my gateway.  As I completed a mission, I would first delete the logs on my target machine, then disconnect.  Then I would immediately connect to Internic and delete my logs there.  I would stay connected there for as long as it would take for a trace to get to that point.  Afterwards, I would disconnect.  My connection was then untraceable.

   It took months of taking smaller jobs, and also getting caught and then subsequently re-registering, until I could afford to upgrade my software.  It took even longer for me to afford to upgrade my gateway.  This stuff is not cheap.  I was so incredibly proud of myself when I finally got the Connection Analyzer.  This too became my best friend, second only to my Log Deleter.  With this I could see what I could not before.  I could see the security systems in place on any given machine I was connected to.  I now had to shift my software investments into the various Bypassers.  With these Bypassers I could easily get around monitors, proxies, and firewalls.  The monitor bypass was the most important.  This delayed the start of tracers until after I'd cracked the admin password.  It gave me precious seconds to complete my missions.  The proxy and firewall bypassers were also important.  They prevented those systems from blocking my ability to change records.  This came in handy later in my career.

   Even further into my career I began getting missions to copy or destroy data that was being held on a fileserver accessible only through a LAN.  Having never dealt with LANs before, I quickly felt in over my head the first time I attempted to crack one.  I got caught.  It took me months to get back to where I was.

   Needless to say, I was more cautious this time around once I got to the point where I had to hack an entire LAN to reach my target.  This time, I took the time to read the documentation that other Uplink Agents had created on the subject of hacking LANs.  I found that in my first foray into the world of LAN hacking I was ill-prepared.  I lacked the proper tools.  I had first attempted a brute force entry into the fileserver.  That is what got me caught.  This time however, I took the indirect route.  This time I prepared myself with the LAN Viewer software, the LAN Scan, Probe, and Spoof tools, and also another tool I didn't know I needed, the Voice Analyzer.  The Voice Analyzer became a necessity.  To get into these higher priority machines, I needed the voice of the system administrator to speak a simple phrase: "Hello.  I am the system administrator.  My voice is my passport.  Verify me."  I couldn't very well ask the system administrator to do that for me.  But the Voice Analyzer could do the job.  All I needed to do was call the administrator and record his voice on the analyzer and then it would modulate his voice to speak that phrase.  It was a prank call with malicious intent, as the authorities called it.  And getting his phone number was as simple as looking it up on the target machine's company's Public Access Server, where they post such information for all to see.  It seemed almost too easy.  In retrospect, it was.  Once I got to the fileserver, the administrator would start hunting me in the LAN.  I had to quickly get through security, get to my target, delete the logs, and get out.  This entire process was not as easy at it had first seemed, especially with smaller LANs.  But I soon got the hang of it.  I learned how to navigate the LAN.  I learned how to get through system locks, isolation bridges, wireless access points, remote modems, and subnets.  I even learned how to do it without having to use brute force methods.  I was getting good at this.

   I learned from my mistakes.  I got better.  I was becoming a skilled hacker.  I was getting noticed by the corporations, and not in a bad way.  They began sending me higher profile missions.  Once I completed the missions, they wouldn't pay me until the news server showed an article about the damage I had caused.  I began getting requests to ruin lives.  They didn't care how I did it, just so long as the person's life was ruined.  That was a relatively simple task.  Well, it was simple for me at least.  All that I needed to do was get into the Global Criminal Database.  At this point in my career, getting into government systems wasn't as hard as it used to be.  I had a lot of jump points, and I also had my method of removing logs from Internic.  I could do this.  And I did it.  All I needed to do was search for the person they wanted to ruin in the database, add a couple of high level convictions, and then add a conviction for parole violations, and then I could authorize an arrest.  After deleting the logs there and then on Internic, I would wait until the news server reported the arrest, and then I would get paid.  Many people, even other Uplink agents went to prison because of me.

   Soon, I began getting requests to take down entire systems, either through system resets or virus attacks, but they stipulated that all files had to be destroyed.  For me, this wasn't difficult.  I was mostly asked to take down mainframes.  These were the systems that would be the most costly when taken out.  I had to prepare carefully for these jobs.  My method was sound.  First, I needed to get the system administrator's voice, as again there were those voice activated security systems.  That would be the simplest task, considering all I needed was the Voice Analyzer.  I then needed to prepare my connection.  This was more difficult as mainframes wouldn't allow connections from outside networks.  They required a connection from one of their trusted internal machines.  Often, this was a simple task of ending my jumps with the company's Internal Services Machine and then the mainframe itself.  Sometimes I wouldn't have a link to the Internal Services Machine.  Sometimes I would have to search Internic for it, and often the link was in there.  Once I had the administrator's voice and my connection prepared, I would connect to the mainframe.  After bypassing security, the first thing I do is go to the logs and then wipe them out.  Most don't understand why I do this.  The answer is that the logs could be undeleted, so I would need to delete them manually before I begin the process of shutting down the machine.  Afterwards, shutting down the machine was a simple process.  Each of these machines contains a link to the command line console.  Once there it was a simple matter of typing in the commands to delete all the user files, delete all the logs, delete all the system files, and then shutdown.  With the system files deleted, the shutdown and reboot process would fail, and the entire computer would shut down.  After clearing my logs at Internic, I would wait until the news server reported the computer failure, and then I would get paid.  When they couldn't even trace my actions, they would start looking for the corporation that had ordered the shut down.  It was fun to watch on the news server.

   As I furthered my career, I began acquiring better software until there was nothing better, or the rest was still in the research phase.  I began acquiring hardware until I had the very best of everything.  My rank was rising.  I was in the list of top ten agents.  That was when I started getting missions from a company called Andromeda Research Corporation.  At first, their requests were like everything I'd already done.  Destroy these files, copy those files, take down this machine, or put this person in prison.  I was getting many requests from them, specifically.  I began to get suspicious of them when they began hinting at some grand scheme.  They offered me a chance to do something great.  I didn't know what it was all about, but these guys didn't sit right with me.  I opted out.  It was probably the first smart move I'd made since I registered with Uplink.  They told me they were disappointed and that they would go to agents with a higher rank than me for their future missions.  It didn't bother me, at least not until the then top ranking agent, who was openly working for Andromeda, was found dead in his home.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Oooo.

Interesting. Can't wait for the sequel, as it were.

[Drake Manaweilder]

Don't really know too much about computers, but this is really interesting. I like it!

[Ryudo Lee]

Ex-Uplink Agent
A work based on the PC video game "Uplink" by Introversion Software
By: Ryudo Lee

6.15.2010 - DISAVOWED UPLINK AGENT TELLS ALL - PART 2

   The death of the then top Uplink agent didn't bother me at first.  I had only skimmed the news server's headlines.  But curiosity got the best of me and I read that particular article in full.  That's when it really hit me.  I knew that man, personally.  He was one of my best friends.  The article said that the authorities were suspecting suicide.  But he was not that kind of person, at least not to my knowledge.  To me, he wasn't the kind of person that would contemplate suicide.  Something about this stank, royally.

   Before all of this happened there had been rumors flying around the news server about Andromeda, specifically that they were building some kind of doomsday weapon that was being called "Revelation".  And my friend was working for them, openly.  He had even made a statement saying that Andromeda's work was not what everyone feared.  At the time, I hadn't paid it much mind.  Now, though, it was all becoming suspicious, too suspicious for my tastes.  I had to know what was really going on.  And the best place to find that information would be on Andromeda Research Corporation's own servers.  My first target was the ARC Internal Services Machine.

   I didn't really know what I was looking for, but I poked around the system anyway, looking for anything that might have been useful.  That's when I ran across the list of company links.  It listed all of ARC's internal machines, and also several machines belonging to Darwin Associates.  Perhaps they were partners?  I wasn't sure.  But what interested me was the link to the ARC Central Mainframe.  I grabbed the link, cleared my logs, and got out of there.  I waited a few hours at Internic.  Once their trace failed, I then began my plan of action.  Whatever it was that my friend was working on had to be in the mainframe.  It was my only logical choice, at the time.

   Using my usual method of getting the system administrator's voice, and then setting my jumps to go through the ARC Internal Services Machine, I bypassed the security on the ARC Central Mainframe, verified the administrator's voice, ran my decypher, and cracked the Admin password.  I was in.  Again, I had no idea what I was looking for.  The file server section had nothing of interest, just the usual list of programs and data files, nothing out of the ordinary.  What caught my eye was a discrepancy in the logs.  It seemed that at a particular time, prior to my friend's death, there was a login, followed by a deletion of a file called "Revelation Core v0.7", and then a disconnection.  That could not be a coincidence.  I wrote down the IP address of that connection, deleted my logs, and got out of there.

   What could I do with an IP address?  I had no idea.  It seemed important though.  I went back to Uplink's Internal Services and checked the help documents.  As it turned out, there was a piece of software that could lookup an IP address for me and then it would make an internet link to its destination.  I went and downloaded the IP Lookup software.  It was cheap, but effective.  I punched in the IP addresses and got the link to the Internal Services Machine of another corporation.  I logged into that system, bypassed security, and checked out the logs.  At that same time that the Revelation Core was deleted, there was a routed connection to ARC's Central Mainframe.  I wrote down the IP address that was routed to ARC.  I cleared my logs and disconnected.  I ran my IP Look Up on this new IP address and I got yet another Internal Services Machine.  I got into that one and checked the logs.  Again, at that same time, another routed connection.  I again recorded the routed IP address, cleared my tracks, and disconnected.  This new IP address led to yet another Internal Services Machine.  This time when I got into it and checked the logs, the log for that time was different.  It simply wasn't right.  It showed a connection from my gateway was accessing a file.  That was wrong.  I hadn't ever connected to this particular Internal Services Machine before, and especially not directly.  Even a complete novice is more careful than that.  I cleared my tracks, but I left that particular log in place.  Something was odd about it.  I disconnected and sat back to ponder my next move.

   That log was bugging me for hours.  It wasn't right.  I had never been there before, but why did it show a direct connection from my gateway?  I consulted the help documents on Uplink's Internal Services Machine.  After a short while of reading up on logs, there was an obscure article about log modification.  With the right software, a log could be modified to make it appear that a connection was made from elsewhere, to throw off a trace, but it was hardly reliable since the change could be reversed with a piece of software called the Log Undeleter.  It was my only lead.  I purchased the Log Undeleter and went back to that log.  I ran the Log Undeleter on it and the log changed to a routed connection.

   Whoever was using these jumps didn't want to be found.  Could this have been another Uplink agent?  I got my answer when I plugged in the IP address into my IP Look Up software, and got a direct link to my friend's personal computer.  I had traced his connection to ARC.  At first, I didn't want to poke around on his computer, perhaps out of respect for the dead.  But then I thought about the situation.  It wasn't a coincidence that the Revelation Core got deleted and then he wound up dead.  I started poking around in his PC.  What I found astounded me.  In his files section I found the missing Revelation Core v0.7 file.  I downloaded it.  Who knows, it might even come in handy some day, I thought.  As an afterthought, I figured I should check his e-mail for him, just in case someone was looking for him and didn't know he was dead or something.

   In his e-mails I found a delayed message that was to be sent to all the Uplink agents.  He had set it up so that he would have to manually delay the message, and if something were to happen to him, then the e-mail would go out automatically.  The e-mail was written the day the Revelation Core was deleted on ARC's mainframe, and the delay was set for two weeks.  In the e-mail he stated that ARC really was developing something dangerous.  Revelation, he said, was that weapon.  It was supposed to be a powerful virus.  And then he asked that other Agents put a stop to ARC.  To me, this seemed like the boy who cried wolf.  There was no need to get all the other Uplink agents in on this.  It would only induce panic, I thought.  I deleted that e-mail.

   I laid low for a while, only taking smaller jobs that wouldn't garner too much attention.  It had been about two weeks since my friend's death.  The funeral was a nice service.  Since the funeral, I put ARC and Revelation at the back of my mind, not wanting to think about it.  I had some proof that ARC was responsible for my friend's death, but I couldn't yet pin down the very reason for it.  Was Revelation supposed to be as powerful as everyone feared?  I didn't believe it.  And so I let the Revelation Core take up space in my gateway's memory banks, all but forgotten.

   And then, out of the blue, I got an e-mail from ARC.  They said that when they pulled their backup logs, they noticed that I was poking around in their mainframe.  And then they traced my actions and found that I had taken the Revelation Core and deleted that e-mail my friend had set up.  They were impressed.  They congratulated me on such an impressive hack.  They offered me a job.  All I needed to do was respond to the e-mail favorably, and they would donate to me a sizeable sum of money, and the chance to do something great.  That's what they said before.  This time though, I had a reason to go along with them.  I had to find out why my friend had to die.  I responded to the e-mail.  I got an almost immediate response: a mission description and an e-mail with a compiled and working copy of Revelation v1.0 attached to it.