You find a strange object in your pocket that wasn’t there this morning. Describe it and speculate on how it got there.
As I stepped out of the elevator, my hand brushed past something in my jacket pocket. Cold. Hard. But small.
I was walking into the office as part of my usual routine; Breakfast, short commute on the Tube, then a brisk walk to the office. The building housed multiple companies, but our newspaper were on the twelfth and thirteenth floors, with my desk being on the lower of the two.
As I walked across the open-plan space, my hand reached into the deep pocket of my winter coat towards the object. It was no longer than a finger and quite slim. As I brought it out I could see that it was a USB stick housed in a matt brushed metallic case. What could it contain?
The research team that I am currently stationed with are accustomed to recieving tipoffs. But these wouldn’t normally come to me directly, and also how had the thumb-drive appeared in my jacket? It definitely wasn’t there when I left the house as I remembered checking for my keys, and that pocket was empty.
At my desk, I sit down to see if there are any discernible marking that may give a clue or it’s origin. On the side I can see that it is unbranded but does show the capacity…. 128Mb. Wow, that takes me back. It must be 20 years since I have seen one this small!
Leaving the device on my desk, I wander over to the office kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee. I long for the proper coffee from home, but here instant will have to do. Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, I’m thinking back to my commute to see if I can remember anything out of the ordinary. There was that guy that bumped into me as I was trying to get off at my stop. Could that be it?
Taking my mug back to the desk, I pull out the laptop we use for initial tests which has been specifically air-gapped to keep it separate from the main IT network for security.
Firing it up, I wait for the usual hum, and notification to say it is ready to login. I enter the username and password, then wait for the final bits of the boot process to finish.
Picking up the drive, I look for the USB slot on the side of the laptop to insert it, it connects with a satisfying click. Immediately I can hear the computer start of whire. A couple of command-prompt windows quickly pop up and close down. Then all control disappears, and a full screen warning message with a bright red background warning….
What happened …
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