Chapter 1: Hackathon

Fingers flew across nearly 200 keyboards in the cavernous room. Workstations were spaced four feet apart, so participants could not easily see each other’s monitors. Most had polarizing screen shields over them and the brightness was minimal. The room was dark, illuminated only by the glow of the monitors and lit keyboards. Most of the operators wore hooded sweatshirts and dark glasses with surgical masks so they could not easily be identified. Some few boldly defied authorities to recognize them, not hiding their faces or identities.

They knew they were being watched. The competition organizers couldn’t prevent that. Everyone entering the competition had been warned. The organizers could not be held liable for leaked identities. But the attraction of being acknowleged as the number one hacker in the world as well as €10 million in prize money attracted code monkeys like nothing else possibly could. They all believed they were the best.

Unfortunately, many had made their marks by illegally hacking into private or even government servers. That was why so many observers were intent on the competition. There was a chance one of the renegades would slip up and identify himself. Agents would sweep in to arrest the perpetrators, whether they had jurisdiction in Antwerp or not.

There were also less savory agents in the audience, hoping to capture a top hacker in order to press him into service. Some were legitimate businesses and some operated only in the underworld. The war they fought was for data and these hackers were the keys to enriching them.

Which was also why some of the hackers were in the competition to start with. There were lucrative contracts to be had for some of the big names in business, government, and the underworld. They intended to leave their marks.

Occasionally, someone would stretch or take a sip of water. Otherwise, there was only the nearly silent tapping of keys.

Displayed on a projection screen in the front of the room where the audience and hackers alike could see it was the status of the targeted server. Located off-site, the server was protected by multiple firewalls and a staff of security experts working non-stop to counter attempts to break through. Some came so close that the audience let out a gasp when they were repelled by the security professionals.

The battle had been non-stop for twenty hours. Some were beginning to believe none of the hackers was capable of breaking through. Then a red border appeared on the big screen. The firewalls had been breached and the final stage of the competition had been entered by at least one of the hackers: the data download had begun. Unless the hacker could successfully download the gigabyte of data, they could not access the bank code for the prize money. The security efforts still had the opportunity to battle for control before the download was complete.

Observers held their breath.

ATTACK REPELLED, flashed up on the screen. A collective gasp indicated the observers’ disappointment. Another failed attempt. Then, ten seconds later, another message appeared on the screen: DOWNLOAD COMPLETE. YOU HAVE BEEN HACKED BY CODE KITTY.