I had the choice to either go big right from the start, beginning with a multinational corporation or play it safe and start with a local company. But which company should I choose?
After a few minutes of contemplation, I decided to go big. I chose a company called X. It's a social network that allows users to post messages, photos, and more.
After making my decision, I decided to head back to the dorm before starting to look for vulnerabilities. Unlike the university's website, this was a global social network, so security would be tighter. Plus, the library would be closing soon. The dorm was strangely quiet, with no sounds of video games filling the room.
- Are you guys dead? I asked after opening the door.
- Hey, bookworm, finally back. Jake replied.
- Since when am I a bookworm?
- Stop pretending. Who spends the entire day in the library even before classes officially begin?
- I just like the quiet, that's all. Speaking of which, it's too quiet tonight. Where are the others?
- It's the last Saturday before the semester starts. They went out to enjoy themselves.
- You didn't go with them?
- I also like the quiet. Jake replied with a smile.
I returned his smile and headed to my bed. Everyone had their own way of having fun. I turned on my computer and launched the assassin program. After finishing the setup, I turned to Jake, who was on his computer as well.
- What are you up to? I asked.
- Nothing, just browsing the internet.
- I've always been into computers. I watch a lot of hacker movies and stuff. It fascinates me.
- Sorry to burst your bubble, man, but real life is quite different. In real life, hackers spend their time analyzing code, finding security flaws, and fixing them. It's less exciting than in the movies, but it's more challenging.
- Why not create a program or software to do that instead?
- Hahaha, you're funny. If it were that simple, someone would have done it years ago.
Well, I just realized that the program the system gave me wasn't something anyone could do. The tedious work that a hacker had to do, the program did automatically and more quickly.
[ Of course, you think I'm a genius. ]
Okay, okay, you're great. Let me sleep, I have a big day tomorrow. According to the assassin's estimates, I'll have the report by 10 a.m. tomorrow.
I continued chatting with Jake for a while before going to bed.
The next day, I woke up excited, like a kid on their birthday. I washed up, grabbed my bag and laptop, and headed to a cafe near the university. The library was closed on Sundays. I had breakfast, lit a cigarette with trembling hands, and began reading the report. The more I read, the more I trembled. It was a treasure, a real treasure. Testing it on the university was one thing, but using it on a big company was a whole different story.
I took a deep breath, searched for X's IT department email, and started drafting my message. I also sent some examples of the vulnerabilities I had found. Now all that was left was to wait.
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On the other side of the ocean, in a large building, X's IT department was as busy as usual. A young man, around 26 or 27, knocked on his boss's door.
- Come in. Aren replied.
- Sir, we've received an email reporting security vulnerabilities in our system.
- Another one? Follow the usual procedure.
- Sir, we tried with the information we received, and he was right.
- Uh-huh, okay, give me the report.
The young man placed the report on the desk and left. After glancing at the report in front of him, cold sweat began to bead on his forehead. He picked up his phone in a panic and made a call.
- Sir, we have a problem.