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‘Harry? You finished over at Sheridan?’
Judging from the background acoustics, he was yelling into a conference phone from several feet away.
‘I’m done,’ Harry said. ‘Except for the paperwork.’
‘Ditch it. I’ve another job for you.’
‘Right now?’ She was starving and could smell the coffee and bacon rolls from the sandwich bars in Baggot Street. She stood up and strolled towards the canal bridge.
‘Yeah, right now. Send me on the Sheridan details, I’ll get Imogen to compile the report. I want you on another vulnerability assessment.’
Harry could hear the click of his keyboard in the background. Trust Dillon not to waste an opportunity to multi-task. His left hand was probably flexed across his laptop like a pianist’s, while his right hand made notes on a pad.
‘So where to this time?’ Harry said.
‘The IFSC, and the client has asked especially for you. I told them you’re the best.’
‘Thanks, Dillon, you’re a gent.’ Now she was glad of the kitten heels. The International Financial Services Centre was definitely upmarket.
‘Call me when you’ve finished,’ Dillon said. ‘We’ll grab some dinner and you can fill me in.’
She felt her eyes widen. Doubly glad of the kitten heels. ‘Okay.’ Before she could let herself wonder what dinner might mean, she said, ‘So tell me more about the IFSC job. Do we know what kind of systems they have?’
‘Nope, you’ll find all that out when you meet them …’ Dillon paused. ‘If you ask me, I think they want to look you over first.’
Harry stopped in the middle of the pavement. ‘Why would they want to do that?’
Dillon hesitated for just a second too long. ‘Look, maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all. Maybe I’ll put Imogen on to it.’
Harry stuck a hand over her ear to block out the din of traffic. ‘Okay, what’s going on here? Who’s the client?’
She heard him suck in air through his teeth as he thought about his answer.
‘All right, it was a stupid idea,’ he said. ‘It’s KWC.’
The adrenaline shot out of Harry’s system like water from a burst main. She stumbled over to the canal wall and sank back on to the cold stone.
KWC. Klein, Webberly and Caulfield, one of the most prestigious investment banks in the city, servicing some of the wealthiest individuals and corporations in Europe. It was headquartered in New York, with offices in London, Frankfurt and Tokyo, as well as here in Dublin.
It was also the company her father had worked for before they sent him to prison.
4 (#u3b73707e-90e5-5479-9343-230970466da0)
‘Give me your worst-case scenario,’ Harry said.
The man across the boardroom table looked at her through half-closed eyes. He was in his forties, with bristly grey hair cut like a US Marine’s.
He shrugged. ‘Someone getting access to our investment accounts.’
‘Worse than that.’
He leaned back and folded his arms, flesh straining against his shirt. ‘What could be worse than some hacker getting hold of our clients’ money?’
‘You tell me.’ Harry sneaked a look at the business card he’d given her. Felix Roche, IT Procurement, KWC. She scribbled a note on the back: hostile.
Her gaze strayed to the window behind Felix. It wasn’t just a window, it was an entire wall of glass that made the quays along the Liffey seem like part of the room. In the distance, she could see the peppermint green dome of the Custom House and the corrugated cap of Liberty Hall tower. Business must be good for KWC.
Felix leaned forward across the table. ‘Okay, I’ll give you a worst case,’ he said. Harry could smell the onions he’d had for lunch. ‘How about someone getting a look at our confidential M&A deals? That bad enough for you?’
M&A. Mergers and Acquisitions. The department her father had worked for before he was arrested. Harry swallowed and fiddled with her notepad. Then she flicked a glance at Felix. His pasty face looked unhealthy, like the underbelly of a dead fish. She was used to antagonism from the technical guys, but this was something different. She’d told Dillon she could handle this assignment, that KWC was just another client. Now she wasn’t so sure.
The door swept open and a man in his thirties strode into the room. He was well-built, with light brown hair and shoulders that belonged on a rugby pitch.
Felix scowled at the interruption.
‘Hi, Felix, I’m sitting in.’ The man frowned at Harry as he pulled up a chair.
Her cheeks tingled under his gaze. What was up with these guys? She squared her shoulders and stood up.
‘Harry Martinez.’ She held out her hand.
His brow cleared and he grinned. ‘Sorry, I was expecting a man. Probably happens all the time, right?’ He returned her handshake. ‘Jude Tiernan. I’m an investment banker here.’
His hand was warm and his citrus aftershave perked up the room. What was an investment banker doing at an IT meeting? Then she remembered Felix’s barbed comment about M&A deals.
‘Let me guess,’ she said. ‘You work for M&A?’
‘Let’s say M&A work for me.’
Harry sank back down and worked it out. So he was Head of M&A, just like her father had been. One man’s prison sentence was another man’s career break. She felt their eyes on her, invading her. Her father was a legend in this bank. Had they made the connection and come to look her over? She chewed her lip, unable to meet their gaze.
Jude set his mobile phone on the desk and took a silver pen from his breast pocket. He twirled it between the fingers of one hand and gestured towards Harry with the other. ‘Please continue.’
‘I was really expecting someone from IT Security to be here,’ said Harry. ‘Someone who knows the systems.’
Felix snorted. ‘IT Security. I know these systems better than anyone. I practically built the damn machines myself.’
‘I see.’ Harry checked the card again. ‘And now you’re in IT Procurement?’
He glared at her. ‘The career move came up. Security were more than happy to let me handle this initial meeting, believe me. Saves them the trouble.’
Harry took a deep breath. She looked at her pad, although she’d written nothing down.
‘Okay, well, I don’t know how much Dillon covered with you on this,’ she said. Not much, from the looks of things. ‘We need to scope the penetration test, see which approach suits you best.’
Know the players at the table, her father had taught her. Adjust your style accordingly. Trouble was, she didn’t know these guys at all, and they weren’t giving her any clues.
‘A pen test is a waste of time,’ said Felix. ‘Our systems are secure, I can personally guarantee it.’ He glowered at Harry. ‘Anyone who says otherwise is challenging my professional competence.’
Jude ignored him. ‘What exactly happens in this pen test, Ms Martinez?’
Felix sighed. ‘Ah, come on, Jude, I’ve been through this with her already. Besides, we both know she’s only here because her boss is an old friend of yours and he wants the account.’
Harry looked back down at her pad. No wonder she was being fobbed off with someone from Procurement. They weren’t even serious about the business.
Jude raised a hand to shut Felix up and smiled at Harry. ‘Humour me. Tell me about this pen test.’
Harry suspected he was conducting some test of his own. She didn’t smile back.
‘A penetration test is when I use every dirty trick in the book to try and break into your computer systems,’ she said. ‘And once I’m in, I sniff around to see what kind of damage I can do.’
Jude stopped twirling his pen. ‘In other words, you pretend to be a hacker.’
‘Right.’
Felix leaned forward. ‘And just what kind of hacker are you, Ms Martinez? A black hat or a white hat?’
Harry stiffened, and glared at him.
Jude looked from one to the other. ‘Anyone care to fill me in?’
Harry cut in before Felix could take another swipe at her. ‘Black hats are malicious hackers intent on causing damage. White hats aren’t destructive. They’re only interested in the technology and how far they can push it.’
She turned to Felix. ‘To answer your question, Mr Roche, I’m a security professional, not a hacker.’
‘Well, well, a hacker with ethics,’ Felix said. ‘Who’d have thought it?’
Jude scribbled something on his pad and shoved it across to Felix. Harry watched Felix’s jaw tighten as he read the note, and she wondered if she’d passed the test.
‘I’m intrigued,’ Jude said. ‘So how do we do this?’
‘For a straight pen test, we can either do it as a black-box or a white-box scenario.’
‘Everything’s black and white with you, isn’t it?’
Harry looked him in the eye. ‘Pretty much.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Okay, I’m listening.’
‘Black-box testing is the closest thing to a real hack from the outside. I start with nothing except your corporate name. I use outside sources of information to snoop around your network, and then I break in.’
She paused to make sure he was getting it. He nodded and smiled.
‘For a white-box test, I know everything about your internal systems right from the start. Your firewalls, your network infrastructure, your databases, the works,’ Harry said. ‘In other words, I’m attacking from the inside.’
The door creaked opened and a man in his late fifties eased into the room. His grey hair fluffed out like a pair of wings on his balding head.
Coco the Clown, Harry thought.
‘Please carry on,’ the newcomer said and slid into a chair against the wall behind Harry.
God, how many more people were coming to gawp at her? She eyed up the conference table that could seat twenty people and feared the worst.
Jude watched the older man for a moment. Then he turned his attention back to Harry. ‘So which approach would you recommend, Ms Martinez?’
Harry tried to concentrate. ‘White box. In my experience, insiders are far more of a threat than external attackers.’
‘And I guess you’d know all about insiders, wouldn’t you?’ Felix said.
Every muscle in her body went still. ‘Just what are you getting at, Mr Roche?’
‘Come on, let’s put it on the table here. We’re all thinking it.’ He spread his arms as though the whole room was full of people on his side. ‘Your daddy was the master of all insiders, wasn’t he?’
Harry blinked. Then she dropped her gaze and fiddled with her pad, willing her voice to be steady. ‘What my father may have done is not part of this discussion.’
‘May have done?’ Felix said. ‘He was found guilty of insider trading, wasn’t he? Put away for eight years.’
Harry took in his clenched fists and the angry splotches on his cheeks. She stared at him. ‘You’re taking it all rather personally, aren’t you?’
‘Damn right, I am. Salvador Martinez nearly brought this company to its knees.’
‘Felix, you’re out of order.’ Coco the Clown’s voice behind her made her jump.
Jude shifted in his chair. Felix glared at Harry; it looked as if he had more to say.
Harry didn’t bother turning to acknowledge the unexpected support. To hell with it. She’d had enough. She placed her palms on the lacquered boardroom table. It was smooth and cold, like a mirror. She pushed herself up and stood to face them.
‘Mr Roche, I came here to talk about the security of your IT systems, and that’s all I’m prepared to discuss with you.’
She grabbed her bag and turned for the door. Then a thought struck her. She knew she shouldn’t say it out loud, but she was going to anyway. She swung round and faced them.
‘Who knows, maybe my father wasn’t the only insider trader around here. Maybe his arrest just spoiled the party.’
Felix’s jaw fell slack. Jude drew himself up in his chair, his lips disappearing into a tight line.
Coco the Clown stood and held up his hand. ‘Gentlemen, please –’
Jude cut in. ‘Don’t make accusations you can’t back up, Ms Martinez.’ He clenched the silver pen in his fist. ‘Some of us still believe in the integrity of our profession, even if your father didn’t.’
‘Well, well, an investment banker with ethics,’ Harry said. ‘Who’d have thought it?’
She marched to the door as fast as she could without actually breaking into a run. The damn room was longer than a tennis court. She yanked open the door and slammed it behind her.
She was halfway down the corridor before she realized she was shaking. She blundered around a corner, searching for the way out. Dammit, the lifts must be back the other way. Her sense of direction was dyslexic at the best of times, but this was no time to get lost and call for help.
She doubled back, retracing her steps past the boardroom, and found the lifts. She punched the button, pacing up and down while she waited.
The boardroom door opened, and voices growled from inside the room. She checked the lift. Two floors to go. She scoured the corridor for somewhere to hide. No doors, no closets. Nothing but polished marble floors.
