gets an email; it goes first to Plague’s cuff and we can read it before it even passes
through his firewall. But the ingenious part is that the email is rewritten and a few
bytes of source code are added. This is repeated every time he downloads anything
to his computer. Pictures are even better. He does a lot of surfing on the Net. Each
time he picks up a porn picture or opens a new home page, we add several rows of
source code. After a while, in several hours or several days, depending on how
much he uses the computer, Wennerström has downloaded an entire programme
of approximately three megabytes in which each bit is linked to the next bit.”
“And?”
“When the last bits are in place, the programme is integrated with his Internet
browser. To him it will look as though his computer has locked up, and he has to
restart it. During the restart a whole new software programme is installed. He uses
Internet Explorer. The next time he starts Explorer, he’s really starting a whole
different programme that’s invisible on his desktop and looks and functions just
like Explorer, but it also does a lot of other things. First it takes control of his firewall
and makes sure that everything is working. Then it starts to scan the computer and
transmits bits of information every time he clicks the mouse while he’s surfing.
After a while, again depending on how much he surfs, we’ve accumulated a
complete mirror image of the contents of his hard drive on a server somewhere.
And then it’s time for the HT.”
“HT?”
“Sorry. Plague calls it the HT. Hostile Takeover.”
“I see.”
“The really subtle thing is what happens next. When the structure is ready,
Wennerström has two complete hard drives, one on his own machine and one on
our server. The next time he boots up his computer, it’s actually the mirrored
computer that’s starting. He’s no longer working on his own computer; in reality
he’s working on our server. His computer will run a little slower, but it’s virtually not
noticeable. And when I’m connected to the server, I can tap his computer in real
time. Each time Wennerström presses a key on his computer I see it on mine.”
“Your friend is also a hacker?”
“He was the one who arranged the telephone tap in London. He’s a little out of it
socially, but on the Net he’s a legend.”