Counting from Zero (18 page)

“And did you enjoy the ride?” he asked.

“Truthfully, I had my eyes shut for most of it!” she replied.
 
Mick laughed.
 
“I guess I will amend my statement to say that I really don’t like rides.
 
But the 3D was neat when things weren’t moving.”
 
Mick shook his head.

“So how are things at F.T.L. these days?” he asked a few minutes later.

“Oh, OK.
 
I'm just having some problems with my boss these days.
 
I wish I could just let things go, but when he does stupid things, I have to call him on it,” she replied, running her hand through her hair.

“Glad I don’t have a boss...”

“Ha, ha.
 
I'm just glad to be out of the office for a few days so I can cool down,” she replied.

They walked in the direction of the hotel but talked very little on the way back.
 
Mick wondered how he could feel so comfortable both talking to this woman, and also just being with her in silence.

Kateryna suddenly stopped and took his hand.

“Mick, listen… I have to tell you something,” she began.
 
Mick stared at her intently.
 
“I really like you, too.
 
It’s just…
 
I’m married.”

“You’re what?”

“I’m married…
”
 
Frowning, Mick stole a glance at her ring finger, which she noticed.
 
“I know
,
I don’t wear a wedding ring.
 
That actually isn’t uncommon in Europe.
 
I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.
 
I meant to a few times…
 
I’m really, really sorry Mick.”
 
Mick moved his hand away from hers.

Is this really happening to me?

“So tell me about your husband,” he asked, ignoring the hole he felt inside.

“His name is Milos.
 
We met at university in Quebec.
 
We’ve been married five years.
 
I was so young when I got married…”

“I see,” was all
Mick
could get out.
 
His stomach hurt.

“Mick, I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to mislead you like this.
 
I still want us to be friends,” she continued, but Mick was hardly paying attention.

“I think we should head back to the hotel,” Mick said and set off walking.
 
The rest of the walk to the hotel was also in silence, but a different kind of silence.
 
Mick went up to his room without saying goodnight.

Mick spent the next morning catching up on some writing, both mails and his blog.
 
He changed all his passwords to:

theFuture1sntEv3nlyDistd

His day at the conference passed quickly without
anything exceptional
happening.

That evening, it being Vegas, Mick finally gave into temptation.
 
Perhaps he had been thinking about it to try to distract his thoughts from his beautiful married colleague.
 
Perhaps it had just been building in him since his arrival.

Everyone does this in Vegas...

This wasn't Mick’s first time, so he knew where he wanted to go and gave directions to his cab driver.

He alighted the cab, stretched his legs,
then
entered the building, a big smile spreading across his face.
 
It had been a long time since Mick had seen so many vintage and antique motorcycles in one place!
 
Vegas hosted one of the largest vintage motorcycles auctions each year, and as a result there were a number of amazing dealers in town.
 
This one, on the north side of town, was his favorite, specializing in Italian and Japanese bikes.
 
Mick passed a few hours, filled his mobile with photos, and generally escaped from reality.
 
He left without buying another bike, which also made him happy.

Chapter 11.

From the
Security and Other Lies
Blog:

How hard is it for someone to track my mobile phone?
 
What can I do to prevent it?
 
Raptorwhisperer

Raptorwhisperer
, the answer to your question depends on
who
you mean by ‘someone’.
 
If you mean the average person, then it is difficult for them to track your mobile device, unless they manage to install some malware on it, or you accidentally leak geographic information.
 
Governments, however, are a different story.

Many phones and mobile devices are aware of their location, either through built-in GPS radios, by triangulating mobile base station towers, or a combination of these two methods.
 
Location tracking spyware could report this location every time you turn on your phone and at regular intervals – you would not have to actually make calls or use the phone.

Some phones also tag your geo-coordinates on every photo taken.
 
When you post or share or email that photo, you are giving out the exact location where it was taken!
 
You can disable this with geolocation privacy settings, but this often isn’t easy to do.
 
Also, if your application isn’t open source and you haven’t inspected the source code, you don’t actually know what it is doing with the location information known to your phone.
 
One approach to combat this is to use an old phone that does not have GPS or other location capabilities.
 
If the phone doesn’t know your location, it can’t share it with anyone!

Now, if by someone, you mean a service provider or government, then the answer is completely different - for them, it is trivial to track your location.
 
In addition, they can identify you using two pieces of information that your mobile device shares with mobile base stations as soon as it turns on: your subscriber identity and your phone serial number.
 
I’ll explain these in terms of GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) mobile technology, but other technologies will have an equivalent, although the name will be different.

The Subscriber Identity Module or SIM is a tiny, fingernail-sized chip plugged into your phone that contains the private key that identifies your user account on the mobile network.
 
When you activate a phone or establish your phone service, you are creating your SIM identity.
 
Your mobile phone number is associated with this SIM identity.
 
(Mine isn’t because I only use my mobile device for Internet access and do my calling with Voice over IP or VoIP services, but that is a different topic.) If you remove the SIM from your phone and put it in another phone, that phone will ring when someone dials your number.
 
If you cancel your service or don’t pay your bill, your SIM identity is disabled, and you won’t be able to place or receive calls or use an Internet connection associated with the account.

The other piece of information is the phone’s serial number, known as the IMEI number – the International Mobile Equipment Identity number.
 
This number identifies the manufacturer, model, and the individual device.
 
This is how your service provider knows what kind of phone you have, and can provide some phone-specific features.
 
This serial number is also used to identify stolen phones.
 
As a result, there are laws in many countries against changing the serial number on a mobile phone.

So from all this, you might conclude that there is no way to use mobile services with any sort of privacy or anonymity.
 
However, there are some approaches you can use.
 
One way is to use a prepaid mobile phone.
 
If you pay cash and provide only minimal information to activate the account, there is very little to associate your identity with the phone or the phone number.
 
However, if someone knows or learns your SIM or IMSE identity, then you can be tracked.
 
Of course, governments and operators can easily work backwards if they know the phone number to get your SIM and IMSE identity and hence discover your location if the phone is turned on.
 
I have heard of some approaches that use forwarding between multiple accounts in different jurisdictions (e.g. countries) to make this kind of tracking more difficult.

I would strongly advise you to be careful about your mobile device usage, and especially with any geolocation information your mobile device might share.

-> Your question not answered this week?
 
Argue for your vote on the Shameless Plugging area of our discussion forum.

Chapter 12.

Mick O'Malley
– hopes it is true that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
 
(3 comments)

Mick didn't stay for the entire conference in Las Vegas.
 
After a few days, he needed a break from the incessant noise and frantic activity.
 
And, he needed to get away from Kateryna.
 
He was also keen to get back to his LeydenTech work, and he could only do that at his apartment with the hardware encryption device Vince had lent him.

The weather had turned cooler back in Manhattan, and on cloudy days, Mick had to wear his cool weather riding gear, including thermal gloves and leather pants and jacket.
 
He had successfully fixed a misfire in his Ducati 75Ø Imola Desmo by replacing a spark plug lead that was apparently arcing on the frame.

Mick received an email from Kateryna:

Mick,

I’m so sorry about how I handled things.
 
I really never meant to mislead or hurt you.
 
Please don’t let this ruin our friendship.

How are things going with your spambot investigation?
 
Let me know if I can help in any way at all.

Regards,

Kat

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When he finished reading it, he realized that he had been holding his breath.
 
He tried to feel angry with her, but in this case he found he could not.
 
At the same time, he detested dishonesty, and could never deal with anyone who wasn’t truthful.

Why do I feel this way about her?

He wrote back to her immediately saying he wasn’t angry, which was mostly true, trying to put her mind at ease.
 
He promised to keep her abreast of his investigation.
 
He rationalized his response, telling himself that he might still need her help and expertise on the botnet investigation.

The coming Wednesday was Mick’s favorite holiday of the year: Halloween.
 
Mick didn't grow up with this holiday in London, but embraced it fully in New York.
 
As a kid he would plan his costumes for months.
 
Later at Columbia University, he used to visit a graveyard with a few friends and tell ghost stories.
 
He had more than one difficult-to-explain event occur during these adventures.
 
This year he had picked out an isolated cemetery near Newburgh, NY to visit.
 
He planned to spend the October afternoon at the local historical society library researching the cemetery and those buried there,
then
hang out until after midnight before riding home.
 
During Halloween, he always did frequent posts to his social network, and his friends looked forward to experiencing it with him.