Cyberstrike by James Barrington (best memoirs of all time TXT) 📕

almost seamlessly into the adjoining built-up areas around Gaithersburg, Bowie, Annapolis, Washington D.C., Arlington and Alexandria.

Unlike that sprawling complex, Bel Air feels more like a country town, mainly bordered by farms and open fields. It began its life as a new build back in 1780 when it was constructed by a Baltimore resident named Aquilla Scott on land known as ‘Scott’s Old Fields’. That wasn’t much of a name for a new town and in 1784 it was rebranded as Belle Aire. Over the years, new buildings were constructed and letters were dropped and by 1798 it had acquired its current name and pretty much its present shape.

To the north-west of Bel Air is a much smaller and almost circular settlement called Jarrettsville, and between the two lies a scattering of houses, mainly built on large lots carved from the surrounding farmland, typically on dead-end roads in areas bearing names like Fairview and Forest Hill. Many of these properties are both large – some of them are very large – and expensive, but a few are surprisingly small in relation to the size of the land they occupy.

When Mahdi Sadir had first arrived in America as the various disparate elements of his plan were beginning to come together, he had known more or less where he needed to find a property for the most important part of the final phase of the attack he would be launching against the American capital city. He wanted a detached house – the size and design didn’t really matter as long as it had at least two bedrooms – that was not overlooked by any neighbouring properties and was secluded but not completely surrounded by tall trees. That was vital. He had also wanted it to be some distance from the target city, but not so deep in the surrounding countryside that the property wouldn’t be able to connect to the fastest possible broadband service. That was something else that was non-negotiable.

The house he’d taken on a long-term rental contract wasn’t ideal, but it was certainly good enough. It occupied a corner plot, which meant the garden was a little bigger than most of the adjoining properties. Most of it was grassed, which meant maintenance would be easy, and it was essential that the property was cared for by the tenants to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Quite close to the rear of the house was an area that had perhaps once been a vegetable garden or something of that sort, a smallish level area surrounded on three sides by well-established shrubs and hedges. That was almost ideal for his purpose, because the interior of that space was invisible unless you were actually standing on the property itself. And even if somebody did trespass to take a look, the piece of equipment that Sadir had arranged to be assembled there would not in itself arouse suspicions unless the trespasser had certain specialised knowledge. To a casual observer, it would be immediately recognisable as the kind of object seen close to many properties, especially those located outside a town. But to an expert, there would be one subtle detail that would imply a radically different purpose than its most obvious and harmless apparent function.

Well before he’d reached America, Sadir had already begun recruiting personnel, utilising the substantial finances that Rashid had placed at his disposal, and the two people who had occupied the house for the last three years were in many ways the most important of the dozen or so jihadists that he had persuaded to join him. They were the people who would, at the climax of the operation, provide him with the ability to deliver a deathblow to the centre of Washington. But before they could do that, they had been faced with a technological challenge of astonishing complexity that had required the most accomplished and innovative hacking skills. In many ways, the single most difficult task that Sadir had faced was finding people who possessed that kind of ability, and it had taken him the better part of a year to identify and assemble the two-man team that was now operating from the property near Fairview.

The traditional image of a computer hacker, fostered by countless books and films, is of a young man, probably no older than twenty or twenty-five, unshaven and dressed in jeans or shorts and a T-shirt emblazoned with the name of some obscure heavy-metal band, sitting in a darkened room where the only illumination comes from three or four computer screens and keyboards, and surrounded by discarded pizza boxes and empty soft drink cans.

And this image is not necessarily that far from the truth. Hackers tend to be dedicated and committed. Show them a problem, or more likely a target site and a good reason to get inside it, and in most cases they will turn their entire attention to breaching whatever security precautions are in place in order to achieve this. The effort becomes all-consuming, and basic human needs like eating and drinking – along with washing, shaving, showering and the application of deodorant – come a significant distance behind the task at hand. And of course pizzas and soft drinks are not only cheap and readily available but can also be consumed with one hand while the other continues to operate a mouse or keyboard, making them absolutely ideal foodstuffs for a dedicated hacker. And the final bonus is that in most places they can even be delivered, meaning that all the hacker actually has to do to get fed and watered is place his order by phone or through the Internet and then walk across and open the door of his house or apartment in order to take delivery.

Hacking and pizzas really do go together like bread and butter or fish and chips.

And in his darkened room, surrounded by the detritus of fast-food living, the hacker can employ sophisticated tools and software in order to somehow get through whatever firewalls the target site has put