Cyberclipper Read online

  “Honey, it’s two cellphones. It means that your bother is in something really big, and I’m appointed to help. The instructions are in Urdu which I can read,” said Jim.

  “You’re to tour the Federal Reserve Bank tomorrow and leave this cellphone there the following day at 4:00PM. I sure hope this works. I want to build that cabin in Idaho,” said Jim.

  “So do I,” was Ann’s response with real resolve in her voice.

  “Good evening, Countess, your seat at the baccarat table is ready,” said the Monaco Casino manager as Monika von Strassberg, the Countess of Hapsburg in Austria, arrived at the casino. This tall, muscular blond woman resembled Maria Sharapova, the tennis player. She, too, was in receipt of a package from HSC and knew exactly what to do. In the past, she had had affairs with the Prince and could be trusted.

  On a cold and rainy Thursday, Audrey Goldman was in the 10:00 AM tour group at the Federal Reserve Bank on Maiden Lane in the financial district of New York City. She was bored for an hour until she was about to leave when she asked the Rent-a-Cop: “I thought we would see the computer center on the tour?”

  The guard responded: ”No. Since Hurricane Sandy when the basement flooded, the computer center is just above us on the second floor and not part of the tour.”

  “OK, I understand. The tour was great. Thank-you, Sir,” replied Audrey who figured the guard’s desk would be the perfect place to leave the cellphone the next day.

  “This tour has been great. I thank you for your information. In fact, I’m so excited about the role of the Federal Reserve in our economy, I just may be back tomorrow,” said Ann Nichols as she left the building in San Francisco’s financial district.

  Friday came all too soon due to the accelerated New York minute, and after her morning workout, Mrs. Goldman was back in the line for the last tour of the week at the Federal Reserve Bank. She accomplished her mission by leaving the cellphone at the guard’s desk just as she was leaving the building. When she returned to her condominium, she texted: “Houdini 1 is a go.”

  In San Francisco, Ann Nichols smiled as she texted: “Houdini 2 is a go.”

  Five days later, Countess von Strassberg left the baccarat table just before the Casino closed. She had clandestinely placed her cellphone only thirty feet from the computer center. In her apartment in the wee hours of the morning, she sent a text: “Houdini 3 is a go.”

  Having received the messages, Adam Raviv, provided an encrypted text to His Highness: “Please set sail.”

  Before he went to bed, the Prince calculated the sea voyage from Cabo to San Francisco to be 31 hours and the voyage from Bermuda to New York to be 17 hours. Blue Clipper III in Monaco was already in place. Via secure satellite link, he told Dubai that Operation Houdini was a “go.”

  Two HSC’s were underway. Adam and his two colleagues were on Blue Clipper I headed to New York.

  At 8:00AM the next morning the Prince told Captain Jolie to be ready to return to Dubai in five days to remove a large cargo bound for the King Abdulaziz Hospital Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

  He then made a series of phone calls. One was to Dr. St John at IBM to request technicians for the removal of the supercomputers “within six weeks.” Dr. St John listened intently but in disbelief. But the Prince was a great customer and thought to himself: “He must know what he’s doing.”

  Another call was to Win Parker alerting him of the removal of a large cargo bound for the nautical research center adjacent to the Dockyard.

  A third call was made to Katie Flynn to alert her to the removal of a large cargo bound for a climate research center in Mexico City.

  The Prince had trouble sleeping that night.

  14

  EN ROUTE

  As the Blue Clipper I left Hamilton bound for New York City, the megayacht left a wake the size of two football fields. The seas were calm on this day as the huge craft was propelled along at 45 knots. Captain Crowley was on schedule to reach the mouth of the East River in fifteen and one-half hours. After a short refueling stop in Norfolk, Virginia, the HSC was off the coast of New Jersey when Catfish signaled an emergency due to a crew member with an apparent appendicitis. The New York harbormaster approved the patient drop-off at Pier 15 just below the Brooklyn Bridge on this quiet Saturday morning. The dockage window was from 9:45AM until 10:30AM.

  At 9:15 that morning Steven Goldman climbed into his ambulance and headed north to the Hugh Carey tunnel leading into New York City. He proceeded to the pier where crewman were carrying a stretcher down the gangplank to the ambulance. Only a select few knew that under the blanket was a department store manikin. The ambulance turned on its siren as it left the dock and disappeared into the Financial District. At 9:55 the ambulance was silently parked at the Federal Reserve Bank at 33 Liberty Street.

  On that Thursday evening, Captain Caselli was in command of Blue Clipper II as it left Cabo San Lucas for the 31 hour voyage to San Francisco. This megacraft also averaged 45 knots speed. It stopped in Long Beach, just south of Los Angeles, to refuel. Twenty-five miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Captain got a secure SATCOM message to proceed with Operation Houdini.

  As the megayacht passed under the bridge, Captain Caselli was granted permission to drop-off an ill crewman at Pier 3 just north of the Bay Bridge, only 5 blocks from the Financial District. He was told by the Harbormaster that ferries would start using the Pier at 10:40. The Skipper assured the authorities that the Blue Clipper would be gone by then.

  At 9:20 Nathan Kalish drove his ambulance north from the City of Industry on 3rd Street right into the pier area to accept his plastic patient. Right on schedule at 9:55, the ambulance quietly parked at the Federal Reserve Bank on a foggy Saturday morning.

  15

  OPERATION HOUDINI

  At 9:56AM, Steven Goldman got an encrypted message on his communciations consule: “Power up the cellphone.” Seconds later Raviv and his team got the message that the cellphone was “alive and well.” Upon seeing this message, the Blue Gene L began using the cellphone link to search for the encryption keys in the Bank’s computer.

  Three minutes later, Dr. Raviv confirmed: “We have by-passed the security codes and are in control of the two air-gapped computers.” Less than one minute later, the SATCOM link from Monaco displayed: “Perform Operation Houdini.”

  The application on the supercomputer began to extract duplicate data files from the two computers. This process enabled the Deposit File on one computer and the Audit File on the other computer to each have their balances reduced by $350 million.

  Twelve minutes passed, and the Blue Gene’s battery pack energy level indicator signaled only three minutes of operation time left. Dr. Raviv looked at Amy and Amira and smiled as he confirmed the successful relay of the data from the ambulance to the Blue Clipper which in turn immediately relayed the data files via SATCOM to the HSBC bank in Dubai. One minute later, confirmation of the receipt of the funds was displayed on the Blue Gene and on Prince Latif’s computer in Monaco. The Prince then issued a destruct command which was relayed to the ambulance, and the cellphone in the bank had its memory erased and was burned to be inoperable.

  Mr. Goldman confirmed the destruction of the cellphone which was his instruction to leave the scene. He immediately proceeded to an automobile destruction facility in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. After removing the special communications boxes, he watched as a giant magnet picked up his vehicle and lowered it into a Big Daddy crusher. Five minutes later a 3,000 pound red and white cube the size of a refrigerator was lowered to the ground.

  Seventeen minutes into the mission, Captain Crowley thanked the Harbormaster for his permission to drop-off his crew member.

  “Skipper, you’re welcome,” came over the loudspeaker. “Have a safe trip to your next destination. Over.” Only minutes later, the Blue Clipper I sailed past Perth Amboy and headed south out into the Atlantic Ocean.


  Exactly three hours later, under the direction of Dr. Raviv, Steven Kalish received an encrypted message to power-up the cellphone in the Bank in San Francisco. Upon confirmation that the cellphone operated properly, two of Dr. Raviv’s assistants aboard Blue Clipper II got the order to commence Blue Gene operations. As in New York, the supercomputer only took three minutes to bypass the security systems in the bank’s computer. The extraction command was approved and the duplicate files on the air-gapped computers were found and extracted via the cellphone to the ambulance for relay to the Blue Clipper. The sum of another $350 million was transferred from the Deposit and Audit files to the Blue Gene for subsequent re-transmission to a private account in the HSBC Bank in Hong Kong.

  Fifteen minutes had passed, and the Prince ordered the cellphone and the ambulance destroyed. Once Mr. Kalish had confirmed the destruction of the cellphone, he drove the ambulance to its destruction facility in South San Francisco.

  Only seventeen minutes into the Operation, Captain Caselli thanked the Harbormaster for permission to dock and asked permission to resume his voyage.

  “No problem, Skipper. Have a safe journey,” was the response.

  Once the ambulance was crushed beyond recognition, Mr. Kalish disappeared.

  Upon hearing that the Blue Clipper II was headed south to Cabo, Dr. Raviv and Amy and Amira climbed aboard the Prince’s helicopter for the flight to the Newark International Airport where the Prince’s Gulfstream was ready to take the trio to Monaco for the final phase of Operation Houdini.

  After a six-hour trans-Atlantic flight, the party landed in Nice and was driven to the Blue Clipper III in Monaco. The Prince shook the guru’s hands and asked if they were ready for the next extraction.

  “Yes, Your Highness, we are ready,” replied the Israeli, eager to get below, down to his beloved Blue Gene.

  As the Countess had confirmed the emplacement of the cellphone in the casino earlier that day, the Prince gave the command to commence the Operation once more.

  It was 10:00AM on a quiet Sunday when Jacques Malreau parked his ambulance in the plaza in front of the Casino and called: “Ambulance ready.”

  Prince Latif in the Information & Communications Center aboard the Blue Clipper only 5 blocks away gave the command: “Operation Houdini is a “Go.”

  Upon hearing this, the Frenchman used his special equipment to power-up the cellphone. Once confirmed, Dr. Raviv and the two ladies initiated Blue Gene operations. Dr. Raviv told Amy: “My guess is that we’ll crack this encryption code in only two minutes.”

  His prediction was right. After only one minute and fifty seconds, the extraction routine began. In six minutes the target files were located and transferred via the cellphone-ambulance connection to the Blue Clipper. Dr. Raviv confirmed the receipt of $100 million in an HSBC secret account in the Bank of Scotland.

  It was only then that the Prince issued the command: “Destroy the cellphone and the vehicle. Within minutes, Monsieur Malreau confirmed the destruction of the cellphone and drove away. The Prince than gave the order to shut down the supercomputer.

  “Roger, Sir. We are shutting down,” replied the computer guru.

  Twenty minutes later, Mr. Malreau had removed the special communications suite from his vehicle, put the vehicle in neutral and with a huge grunt nudged it over a 100-foot cliff as he watched it sink to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

  Within the hour the giant Blue Clipper left the marina headed for Dubai as the Prince climbed aboard his Gulfstream and called Prince Khalid to report: “Operation Houdini is complete. We will commence Phase 3 of our project in five days.”

  16

  DISCOVERY

  On the following Monday at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City, auditor Kirk Davis was reviewing the previous Friday’s transactions but was unable to reconcile the deposits with the audit files.

  “They are exactly $350 million different. Where did the money go? Was there a withdrawal for which I was not alerted?” he thought to himself.

  “Here, please check these files,” as he requested a colleague to double-check his work. He continued: “I know there is an air-gap between our primary computers, but the totals should be mirror images and both show $350 million less than the close on Friday. Something’s wrong, and we need to tell the chief.”

  The two auditors took the elevator to the 9th floor. “Chief, Kirk has uncovered a problem. He is unable to reconcile his statements from Friday,” said the auditor.

  “How far is the balance apart?” asked Chief Johnnie Barnes.

  “$350 million,” was the reply.

  “$350 million!, exclaimed the chief.

  “Yes, sir, you heard me right,” said Kirk’s supervisor.

  “Have you run the numbers a second time?” asked the chief.

  “Yes, sir, with the same result,” replied the supervisor.

  “Looks like we need Myles on this case,” said the chief as he pushed his intercom button: “Myra, please ask Ben Myles to come to my office.”

  As the chief continued to question the two auditors, Ben Myles entered the office.

  “Hi, Boss. What’s up?” asked Ben, a senior financial analyst and automation specialist.

  “Ben, Ray and Kirk can’t explain a variance of $350 million from Friday’s close, replied Chief Barnes.

  “I’m sure there is a logical explanation, boss. Do you want me to look into it?” asked Ben.

  “I sure do,” answered the chief. “They’ll show you the findings. And I want a report as soon as possible and certainly by the end of the day.”

  Ben and his team met in a glass cube adjacent to the data center. Lunch was brought in as the three auditors examined the computer records. Each file was checked and double-checked for accuracy. All withdrawals were verified as authorized. Several hours passed and many search routines initialized before Myles came to the conclusion: “We’re no closer to solving this when we started.”

  “It’s 4:00PM. I’ll call the chief and tell him that we’re still on the case. This may be an all-nighter, guys. Better call and alert your spouses.” Both auditors nodded their consent.

  An hour later, the trio was reviewing the security videotapes to determine if an unauthorized person had been at the console. It was another dead end.

  “Now our investigation must focus on the possibility that we were hacked from the outside,” said auditor Myles. “Who knows? Maybe it was the Chinese or the Russians. They’re very savvy cyber thieves, you know.” said Myles.

  Having satisfied themselves that the financial records had not been altered internally (although lie-detector tests were still a possibility), the team divided the task of reviewing the computer instruction code into thirds and began the painstaking process abound 8:00PM.

  Around midnight and several cups of coffee later, Auditor Myles asked the team to take a break as he said: “We’ve found no viruses using our detection sweep. We’ve invoked digital forensics, complete with sandboxes. We’ve viewed all the network traffic since midnight on Thursday. We’ve found no signs of malware or extraction code, and the registry files don’t appear to have been changed.”

  “Gentlemen, this theft, if it is a theft, requires a whole forensics team above our pay grade. Do you agree?’ asked Ben Myles.

  “Yes, Sir,” replied Ray and Kirk.

  “Ok. You guys go home and get some sleep and be ready to brief our findings in the morning,” directed auditor Myles.

  The two auditors closed their laptops, packed their backpacks and left the room.

  Ben thought to himself: “I want to noodle this a little more before I text the chief to call in the FBI’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT).”

  Early the next morning, Ben got a call from Chief Barnes, “Ben, I read your message last night and called the FBI. They are sending a CERT team just like you requested. They sho
uld knock on your door by 10:00AM.”

  “Fine, chief, I’ll be ready,” said Ben.

  Promptly at 10:00, Ben was asked to join the 4-person CERT team in a conference room. For three hours Ben explained the steps that the audit trio had taken to find the missing money. Just as the chief inspector was dismissing Ben, he got a call on his cellphone. He listened intently and an increasingly disturbed look came over his face. He asked a few questions and ended the call. As he put his phone back in its carrier, he said to the group: “It appears that the FED in San Francisco experienced the same thing. Since Friday, exactly $350 million is unaccounted for. We have a CERT team there at this very moment. Gentlemen, I’m afraid we’ve got an enormous heist which we must solve and quickly.”

  The team members looked around the table in amazement.

  The chief inspector continued: “This is not the type of publicity this country needs precisely when our President is cracking down on cybercrimes. Gentlemen, let’s get to work. Thank-you Mr. Myles. We’ll call you if we need you. Oh, and if you come up with any additional information, please call me. Here’s my card.”

  Auditor Myles kept asking questions to himself as he took the #7 subway train to his apartment in Long Island City. He mused that the Federal Reserve network had been compromised to extract the data. But how was it done? There was no evidence of any foul play in the network scans the team had performed. All the proper filters, encryption schemes and passwords were in place. It was a restless, almost sleepless night. About 3:00 AM, the auditor got up and fixed a cup Chamomile tea and stood at the window looking into the patio garden. The lights of Manhatten twinkled across the East River.

  What kept going over and over in his mind was twofold: first, what device was used to enter the Federal Reserve’s secure network, and, second, how could the encryptions codes be bypassed?