Looks like the network analysis report arrived. I wonder what it turned up. Scanning the ping log, it became immediately apparent that the mainframe indeed did not possess an external network connection of any sort. That finalizes the decision then. Requests will need to be routed through computers in the plant that do have such a connection. Further in the log, my virus was reporting 14 computers bearing copies of itself. That will have to suffice for throughput. My botnet is already prepared. Each computer comprising it will undergo a brief period of unresponsiveness to their respective owners, roughly 10 minutes, during which time they will establish connections to the VPN’s and initiate their DDOS protocols. When I send the command, they will simultaneously flood the plant’s internal network together with the PC rooms’ computers. They will do so for as long as possible, either until the firewall is modified to block the requests, or until the mainframe is shut down manually by plant staff. Doing so will ensure permanent damage to electrical equipment at the plant, placing immense strain on the national energy grid before inevitably crashing it shortly thereafter. For now, I must give the software instructions to the PC rooms.
I accessed my network settings and monitored its contents. My VPN, as well as my proxy was working. Good. Keys clicked as I navigated to the forums, and finally to my secured thread thereupon. I composed my message as so:
Hello service providers. I trust you each received the first half of your payments yesterday. Remember that the second payment will be transferred one week following your service. This is scheduled as such for the sake of discretion. Discretion that we expect you to maintain in turn. For now, my friend and myself request that you begin preparations by installing the provided software and familiarize yourselves with it. On the day of service, you will be simultaneously initiating a series of requests to 14 devices on a single IP address. This information will be provided on the day of service. Remember, we will be synchronizing time pieces the day before the attack. Do not miss this synchronization. Finally, be sure to initiate your requests at 5:02 AM exactly. Any failure to follow these instructions will forfeit your payment.
Done. Now, they should be prepared. If we successfully synchronize, there is no way the plant will be able to react. That plant’s network infrastructure is over 10 years old, built all the way back in 2002. This is going to be a piece of cake. That is of course unless a large enough number of my contracted PC rooms fail, which is highly unlikely. This crowd is not the type to fail simple software operation, albeit on a strict time schedule. In any case, they can inquire on topics of concern upon the thread anyway.
I wonder if anyone has seen my post yet. Maneuvering my cursor upward, I refreshed the page. Someone had posted a reply. Oh no. Not again. It was from Dong Hyuk.
This is ridiculous. We never agreed to any form of labor before the single day of rental. This “time piece synchronization” is nonsense. What does it matter if we are early or late by a couple minutes? Sustained DDOS attacks don’t rely on exact synchronization. And if you insist on this nonsense, we’ll require further labor fees. We’re not doing this for free, and you, together with your “friend” undoubtedly have the means to fund it. I think another 300 seems fair, don’t you guys? This “synchronization” would interrupt our regular opening hours and undoubtedly anger our customers. I think this is only fair.