章 15: Things getting serious.
One week before Aron received his payment.
While the payments were set to arrive in a week, the negotiations had been concluded two weeks earlier. As a result, almost all the companies spent a week patching up their programs' weaknesses.
This means that someone's everyday day-to-day life has been messed up during this week.
…..
Bluffdale, Utah
The NSA's Utah Data Center
This week has been nothing short of hell for those working at the center because almost 17 data collection points have been blocked one after another, cutting off their access to virtually all the social media sites.
This development wasn't particularly good since certain departments heavily relied on collecting and analyzing data from these platforms. Losing access to these sites meant that they had lost almost all of their functionality within a span of a month.
This all had begun from the loss of access to Facebook's data, and while they were trying to solve this one issue, a cascade of 17 similar problems rose beside it, one after another.
...
NSA Conference Room
Everyone from the department of Special Source Operations Directorate had gathered in the conference room due to the meeting room needing to be larger to accommodate the whole department to fit everyone in it.
The head of the department, Teresa H. Shea stood in front of everyone, ready to begin the meeting; a moment later, she started addressing.
"Since everyone is here, let's commence the meeting. But before that, Noah, why don't you catch us on what has been going on?" Teresa said as she pointed at the team leader, Noah, who was the first one to report the situation a month ago when Facebook first strengthened their security patches.
"Yes, ma'am," Noah replied, rising from his chair and heading off to the stage to take hold of the microphone. He then began explaining how the situation had unfolded from the beginning.
After clearing his throat and adjusting the microphone, signaling to the crowd that he was about to begin, he began describing the situation and the various circumstances they had come across.
"It all started a month ago with Facebook when the amount of data we were able to collect from it before was significantly reduced. And after just another week, all the data that we managed to continue collecting became encrypted. Since then, we have been struggling to break the encryption, but that has yet to give us any results. Over the past week, this same trend has spread to many of the famous social media sites that have started to follow suit. As of now, we have finally reached a point where all the data we were able to collect from nearly 17 different social media sites is not heavily encrypted."
Just as he was about to continue, a voice came from the crowd interrupting him while asking, "Could it be Russia?"
Noah paused for a moment and then responded, "Initially, we also suspected that Russia might be behind this. However, after conducting a joint investigation by collaborating with the FBI, we discovered that some of the known Russian agents within the US were also attempting to uncover the source behind this encryption. This seemed to be a problem that they were facing as well."
"Did you manage to interview any of the employees from those companies?" queried another person in the room.
"I was about to address that point next," Noah replied.
"And the answer is yes, we have interviewed a few employees through the FBI," he then proceeded to share the results of their investigation.
"Based on the information we have gathered, Facebook had been contacted by a man named Aron Michael. He had also set up a meeting with the company, and their meeting proceeded without any problems. And when they further investigated his background after their meeting, they discovered that Aron was a former Columbia University student in his final year," Noah paused to catch a breath before continuing.
"But he was expelled for thesis theft (Allegedly), which left him in dire need of money. He could not get a job without a diploma and was also left with massive student debt. This prompted him to turn to bug hunting which he discovered that he was remarkably good at."
"So, he is not a spy?" someone inquired.
"Yep, that's correct. Our investigation suggests that he is American, as are his parents. There is no criminal record and nothing that can indicate him being a sleeper agent either."
"And after having interviews with the remaining companies that are in similar situations, our estimation is that he has earned more than $900 million dollars from his activities." With that, Noah concluded his report.
The revelation left the people in the room stunned. It was difficult to fathom how one person could earn such immense wealth in such a short period of time– barely a month– without even diving into any illegal activities.
Then Noah began addressing the questions from the audience, providing them as much information as he possibly could.
Upon concluding his explanation and answering almost all of their questions, he returned to his seat and waited for the head of their department to give them a direction they would set to follow.
"Now that everyone is updated, let's proceed with our meeting," said Teresa.
The meeting continued for a little longer, with some individuals sharing their ideas on how they should move forward, while others were more focused on making strategies that would allow them to crack the encryption, which induced utilizing the powerful supercomputer on the campus.
"So our next course of action is to break the encryption within the next month. If we aren't able to achieve that, we will need to arrange a meeting with Aron. Meeting dismissed," Teresa announced after giving them the next steps to follow before dismissing them and then calling Noah.
"Yes, ma'am," replied Noah as he answered her call.
"Noah, instruct the FBI to continue keeping an eye on this Aron. If foreign agents try to harm him, the FBI should take him into their custody. Understand?" Teresa's tone was serious.
"Yes, ma'am," Noah replied immediately before ending the call to communicate with the FBI.
.....
A week after receiving his payment, Aron spent most of the past week optimizing BugZapper to be prepared for consumer use, as he was planning for it to become his SP farm.
After he finished dealing with these optimizations, Aron turned his attention to naming the company that would be used to oversee the consumer rollout.
Realizing that the name of a company has to be memorable, he decided to draw his inspiration from Greek mythology.
Initially, he had thought of going with Prometheus, but the problem he faced was the fact that the name was already taken by his programming language, and it would also prove to be difficult for people to pronounce it. Instead, he settled with "GAIA."
In Greek mythology, Gaia is the goddess of the Earth. She is often viewed as the mother of all life. She is associated with fertility, agriculture, and harvest. According to the myth, Gaia emerged from the chaos at the dawn of time and gave birth to Uranus, the god of the skies and the mountains. She is also considered to be the mother of the Titans, the Cyclopes, and numerous other creatures in Greek lore. Gaia is often depicted as a nurturing figure who offers sustenance and protection to all living things on Earth.
The reason Aron chose this name was because he envisioned this company to be a mother figure to his upcoming business ventures, which he might take. And since this will be his inaugural company, he decided to go with this very name.
"GAIA Technologies."
With the company name now set, Aron faced uncertainty about the next steps he should be following since this was his first time establishing a company. And so, he decided to call his friend and ask for guidance from him regarding it.
After the call, Aron realized that starting a company was a really complicated endeavor, so he dumped all that work upon his friend to solve it for him, and since he was their law firm's highest-paying client, they were more than willing to handle the intricacies for him.
From what Felix told him, Aron understood that the guy would need only about a week to complete all necessary things and make sure everything was in place without any mistakes.
Next, Aron embarked on a journey on a hunt for a CEO for his company. Realizing that he wasn't knowledgeable about bossiness, he knew that he needed someone who majored in it so that the said person could look after his company.
He contacted Sarah, who held a major in business management. Aron wasn't that arrogant to want to be a CEO of a company without having any knowledge about business, as that could lead to disastrous outcomes, akin to the story of Theranos.
"Aron, you finally remembered that I exist, huh?" a voice came from the other side.
"At least I called you. Why didn't you do it by yourself if you wanted to talk?"
"I'm busy, you know, unlike you, who has been lazing himself at home."
"Anyway, let's stop this banter. Otherwise, we will continue to argue until tomorrow," Aron suggested calling for a truce, or they might really continue this banter until tomorrow.
"So, why did you call? Do you need money? Just say it," replied Sarah.
"Not that. I need a CEO for my company, and you were my first choice. Are you up for it?" Aron inquired.
"What company? Explain in detail first before I make my choice. If you are joking, I'm blocking you for 2 months. UNDERSTAND!"
Aron then immediately proceeded to give her a detailed explanation of the company and its products during their conversation.
Their discussion continued for around half an hour.
However, given that Sarah couldn't believe what Aron had bragged about the app, she decided to visit his house in the evening to take a look at it and check it by herself before committing to a decision.
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