"Leo, what are you mumbling about?" Michael Fang nudged Leon Chen.
Among all the students, aside from the cold Isabella Xiang, only Leon Chen seemed the calmest.
Leon Chen had always been the unassuming, low-profile type. Even in the face of such events, his nonchalant demeanor impressed Michael Fang.
Leon Chen shrugged and casually said, "I'm wondering which country this hacker is from?"
"It has to be someone from R Nation!" a student said confidently.
"Exactly."
"I heard there's a 'Hacker Alliance' in our country full of experts. "
"It must be them."
Although the H Nation's Department of Defense spokesperson claimed it was a premeditated framing by a hacker organization, the detailed, shocking information revealed made the so-called framing a matter of perspective.
The classroom buzzed with excitement as students speculated about the hacker's identity and methods, reaching a fever pitch.
"Professor, I have a question!" A loud male voice stood out amidst the chatter.
Everyone turned to look, even Isabella Xiang couldn't help but glance over. The question came from the corner of the room, where Leon Chen stood.
"What's your question, young man? But I must say, I can't tell you how this hacker did it," Professor Yao smiled.
Leon Chen shrugged, his face nonchalant. "I'm wondering if the hacker could have accessed any deep technical information from those exposed classified documents?"
"You're thinking too simply," Professor Yao chuckled. "Classified technical data wouldn't be stored online for anyone to steal, right?"
The room erupted in laughter, with students casting mocking glances at Leon Chen.
Leon Chen felt a bit disappointed; it seemed those secrets wouldn't be so easily accessible.
"However, I've heard that due to the increase in espionage cases, many countries store their technical data on computers isolated by physical barriers. The fifth-generation intelligent computer Turing, developed by the H Nation., seems to be for this purpose."
"Thank you." Leon Chen nodded, deep in thought.
"Alright, let's drop the hacker topic. No matter how we speculate, whether this hacker is an individual, an organization, or even a national effort, we can't know for sure. If it's an organization, it must be very powerful. If it's a national effort, we should be proud it might be our country's strength…" Professor Yao said.
"What if it's an individual?" Michael Fang shouted.
"Then he is God." Professor Yao couldn't help but laugh.
The students burst into laughter.
…
At a secret meeting in the Department of Defense, a group of cybersecurity experts and DoD officials looked grim.
A projector played scenes of H Nation's humiliation over and over.
"Are you all useless?" General Dawson thundered, slamming the table. "You let an enemy hacker freely infiltrate our core network. This is a lifetime disgrace! The Secretary of Defense is furious, and the President is unhappy."
"Yes, General," a cybersecurity expert said shamefully.
"Do you understand how the enemy did this?" General Dawson asked coldly.
"We didn't expect the enemy to bypass IP scanners and the five-layer firewall to establish top-level access. The server ports showed no anomalies," said the head of the DoD network maintenance. Due to H Nation's dominance, the DoD was the prime target for global hackers, facing twenty to forty attacks daily. However, these were minor and caused no substantial damage.
Yesterday's shocking breach was only discovered through a tip from intelligence agents across the ocean. Thinking of this made the network experts want to die.
It felt less like a hacker intrusion and more like the Secretary of Defense casually strolling in his backyard.
"The Secretary doesn't want this to happen again," General Dawson said coldly.
Everyone nodded quickly, though they felt despair internally.
"Have you traced the hacker's origin?" Dawson continued, "I heard all network users in R Nation received the attack notification?"
"That's correct." The head of maintenance felt embarrassed. He had asked friends working in R Nation, and their response shocked him. Even top network security experts there had their computers automatically pop up the message. When questioned, his friend had banged his head against the wall, thinking he had caught a virus from visiting inappropriate websites.
Disgraceful.
"How was it done?"
The experts exchanged glances before the head spoke, "It's possible R Nation has also developed a fifth-generation computer. Otherwise, an individual couldn't have done this."
"So, it's definitely R Nation's doing?" Dawson pondered. "But why do this? Is it a warning?"
"It must be. R Nation has always been discreet in scientific research but has an impressive knack for copying. We must report this and increase the cybersecurity budget!" The head immediately seized the opportunity.
"I'll discuss this with General Gomez." Dawson nodded, rising from his seat. "You are H Nation's proud cybersecurity experts. Don't let a mere hacker humiliate you."
"Of course, of course."
They nodded, wiping sweat from their brows, relieved.
Once Dawson left, a colleague asked the head, "McRae, why didn't you tell the General about the signs of data alteration?"
"Tell him what?" McRae cursed, feeling helpless. If they admitted that quantum-encrypted data was altered, they might as well kill themselves.
"Damn it, let's pray this hacker doesn't attack again. Otherwise, we'll be left with nothing." McRae sighed heavily.
The others nodded in agreement.
Leon Chen didn't hear their prayers. In fact, he had no plans to hack the DoD again. After yesterday's intrusion, he had seen everything the DoD had to offer. He wasn't interested in a repeat performance.
This time, Leon Chen's target was the fifth-generation computer, Turing!
Sitting on the toilet, Chen Ling watched the 3D screen.
Recently, he had launched DOS attacks on fifteen critical research institutions of H Nation. This looked like typical hacker activity, but Leon Chen had a different goal.
The data streams from these institutions flickered across the screen.
Network experts began their counterattacks, patching, and repairing.
Leon Chen remained unfazed, ordering the data to further self-disrupt, restructuring with various machine code.
Minutes later, a unique information program appeared in the data.
There it is! The AI began issuing repair commands.
"Immediately enter the intelligent computer network!" Leon Chen ordered.
In an instant, the data stream transformed into a complex geometric 3D shape.
The computer indicated: Successfully connected to AI internal network!
"Heh heh, intelligent computer, here I come," Leon Chen chuckled.