What from happening?

THE FULL ATTACK. IT CAN"T BE TOTALLY STOPPED, BUT I CAN HELP.

How much of an attack?

YOU HAVE NO IDEA. NO IDEA AT ALL. THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE INVOLVED AND NOW IT"S ON AUTOPILOT. THERE"S NO WAY TO TURN IT OFF.

That"s incredible . . .more than incredible. Why? For what purpose?

MAYBE LATER. THAT DOESN"T MATTER NOW. I WILL SAY, THOUGH, THAT I NEVER THOUGHT h.o.m.oSOTO COULD PULL IT OFF.

So you worked for him?

I WAS HIRED BY OSO INDUSTRIES TO WORK ON A SECRET CONTRACT TO DESIGN METHODS TO COMBAT COMPUTER VIRUSES AND STUDY MILITARY APPLICATIONS. AS THE PROJECT CONTINUED, IT TOOK ON A NEW SCOPE AND WE WERE ASKED TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS AND CONSIDERA- TIONS IN OUR EQUATIONS.

Equations?

COMPUTER DESIGN IS MATHEMATICAL MODELING, SO THERE"S A LOT OF PENCIL AND PAPER BEFORE ANYTHING IS EVER BUILT. WE FIGURED THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE SEQUENCED VIRUSES ON LIMITED TARGET DEFINI- TIONS, COMPUTER SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION DYNAMICS, DATA PROPAGATION PROBABILITIES. OUR CALCULATIONS INCLUDED MULTI-DIMENSIONAL INTERACTIONS OF INFECTION SIMULTANEITY. EVERY POSSIBILITY AND HOW TO CAUSE THE MOST DAMAGE.

It"s a good thing I kind of understand the technical gobbledy- gook.

OH, IN ENGLISH? WE STUDIED WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU ENDLESSLY THROW THOUSANDS OF COMPUTER VIRUSES AT THE UNITED STATES.

I got that. So what does happen?

YOU"RE f.u.c.kED FOR LIFE. ONE VIRUS IS A PAIN IN THE a.s.s. 1000 IS FATAL.

You have a way with words.

G.o.d GIVEN GIFT. I GUESS YOU COULD CALL US A THINK TANK FOR COMPUTER WARFARE.

So what happens next Mr. Spook?

PATRONIZING, NOW, NOW, NOW. LET"S SEE HERE (FLIP, FLIP) SATUR- DAY, JANUARY 23, NO, THAT WAS THE STOCK EXCHANGE, NO DECEMBER 11, THE PHONE COMPANY AND FEDERAL EXPRESS . . .

c.o.c.ky son of a b.i.t.c.h aren"t you?

AH YES! HERE IT IS. MONDAY, JANUARY 25. SCOTT, YOU"RE MY FRIEND, SO LET ME GIVE YOU A TIP. DON"T TRY TAKING AN AIRPLANE FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.

Why not?

THE NATIONAL RESERVATION SERVICE COMPUTERS ARE GOING TO BE VERY, VERY SICK.

"Yeah," the deep sleepy voice growled in Scott"s ear.

"Ty, wake up."

"Wha?"

"Tyrone, get up!" Scott"s excited voice caught Tryone"s notice.

"Scott," he yawned. "What"s the matter?"

"Are you awake?"

"Don"t worry, I had to get up to answer the phone." Then in a more m.u.f.fled voice Scott heard Tyrone say, "no, it"s all right dear. Go back to sleep, I"ll take it in the den." Tyrone got back on the phone and barked, "hold on."

Scott paced across his junked up home office, sidestepping some items, stepping on others, until Tyrone came back on the line.

"s.h.i.t, man," were Tyrone"s first words. "You have any idea what time it is?"

"Hey, I"m sorry," Scott said mocking Tyrone"s complaint. "I"ll write you a letter tomorrow and lick a stamp and let the Post Office take it from there . . ."

"You made your point. What is it?"

"The airlines are going to be hit next. h.o.m.osoto"s next target."

"How the h.e.l.l would you know that?"

"I"ve been talking to Foster. He told me."

"Foster told you what?"

"It"s a huge attack, an incredibly large computer attack. He worked for h.o.m.osoto. But the point is, the airlines. They"re next. Worse than the radar computer problems."

"Can I get right back to you?"

Waiting for Ty"s call, Scott wrote an article for the following morning"s paper and submitted it from home to the office comput- er.

COMPUTER TERRORISM An Exclusive Interview With The Man Who Invaded America By Scott Mason

The man who claims to be the technical genius behind the recent wave of Computer Crimes has agreed to tell his story exclusively to the New York City Times.

Only known as the Spook, a hacker"s handle which represents both an alter-ego and anonymity, he says that he was hired by Taki h.o.m.osoto, late chairman of OSO Industries to design and prepare a ma.s.sive a.s.sault against the computer systems of the United States.

The incredible claims made by the Spook appear to be grounded in fact and his first statements alone were astounding. Please note, these are exact quotes from a computer conversation with the Spook.

"There will be thousands of viruses. Thousands of them. I have to imagine by now that every program in America is infected with ten different viruses. There is only one way to stop them all.

Never turn on your computers.

"You see, most virus programmers are searching for immediate gratification. They write one and want it to spread real quick and then see it blow up. So most amateur virus builders are disappointed in the results because they don"t have patience.

But we, I had patience.

"To maximize the effects of viruses, you have to give them time.

Time to spread, to infect. Many of the viruses that you will experience are years old. The older viruses are much cruder than those made recently. We learned over time to build better vi- ruses. Our old ones have been dormant for so long, their conta- gion is complete and they will be just as effective.