Not the fortune you want in your cookie. Deedee does a beautiful job of exposing and humiliating the targets. Thank you for sharing!

Yeah, i had some fun with this one... even if my first pass was over 600 words and I had to trim it down to match the 365 word limit.

And Deedee definitely has her own sense of ethics, and a group like this makes her feel good about doing a job that is often rather grey morally.

You're in a cyberpunk-ish setting. Computers are everywhere and woven into the fabric of life so thoroughly people forget how deeply it's entrenched. There's so many different things to worry about, from losing everything because a corporation decided to move a decimal point. Or maybe you saw something you shouldn't, and don't know it. Maybe you happened to bump into the wrong person with augmentations who is having a bad day. There's only one thing worse than all of that, one worry which could be a serious matter.

What could a motivated hacker do to your life?

You don't even have to be in a full-on cyberpunk setting. I've done computer security work before. The question of 'what is the worst that somebody could do with access here' is, really, a question where failing to ask it is arguably business incompetence.

For most people, computers are like the lock on your front door. A determined attacker will be able to break through your security, but 99% of the attackers out there aren't looking for you in particular, they're just looking for an easy score, and so 'better security than the neighbours' is usually good enough. What makes it different for computers is that computers are really good at automation... somebody can just set up a machine to try to break into thousands of other machines at once using whatever easy attack just got noticed. That cheap computerized thermostat that you bought could be taken over and used as a part of a botnet to attack someone else.

Of course, if somebody absolutely is after you in particular, than a stronger lock on the front door isn't going to help, and that's when you need to look into backups, tripwires, and other forms of defence in depth...

Oh, I'm partial to "tigers as a housecat" myself.

Heh. That carries risks of its own, of course...

Absolutely love this. The image just adds to the awesomeness.

Thanks! I definitely has fun with this, even if paring it down to the 365 word count took some work.

Sounds like the message was received, loud and clear, LOL

Oh, sounds like, yes.

*chuckles... good one!

Vix

Thanks!

Had to pare this one down a bit. Sometimes on the 365 word challenges my first draft has ended up under 380 words; this was not one of those times.

mine actually ended on the exact word count this time (never happened before) - but of course I had to edit; a chore we cannot escape.

Vix

I'm a bit of a compulsive editor/tweaker; it's difficult for me to just write it out without pausing and rereading. On the positive side, that means even my 'first draft' is usually pretty good. On the negative side, well, there's a reason I only tried NaNoWriMo once. I can't seem to make the editor in me shut up long enough to just write like that required.

*chuckles... the editing part has become a part of 'how' I write, so that much doesn't bother me. I do love when I get rolling along and the story just flows.

Vix

That is absolutely awesome! What a great troll she is, hee! *chuckles* I'm definitely partial to a lovely mousie anytime, but one leaning out to me out of nothing while being that large, even when obviously not physically present, would still have me scurrying to the hills faster than you could say... >~_^<

Unfortunately for the folks inside, given the fact that she controls the lights and the security system in the building, getting out is going to be difficult.


Of course, in the real world there are rules against being able to lock your workers into the building after events like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, in a cyberpunk world rules like that are only for people who can't afford to pay off the inspectors.

They're probably not getting out before the creditors arrive.

Oh gosh, yes, I've seen a documentary about that fire once, that was a terrible disaster!

*chuckles* I probably should feel sorry for the fellows, but somehow, I just so totally don't. Karma and what goes around and all that >~_^<

Sometimes you need to do some professional trolling, and sometimes the people you are trolling very much deserve it lol.

Yeah... I will admit that I tend to be in the 'if I'm going to really make someone suffer, I'd rather they deserve it' territory as a writer. Obviously the main characters are going to suffer somewhat, or there's not much of a story, but still...