A number of years ago, while working at Bell Labs I asked myself what would happen if a hacker or terrorist or hostile nation were to break into the United States Federal Reserve. I then asked myself a second more interesting question. How would I do it? The result of those two questions is my high-tech crime thriller, Satan’s Gold. Network Hacking The first question, unfortunately, isn’t fiction any longe. The recent hack of SolarWinds proved that our financial networks are as vulnerable as I imagined they might be. SolarWinds, is network monitoring company used to connect and monitor worldwide corporations, individuals, and government agencies, including the US Treasury Department. Tools like SolarWinds allow organizations to proactively monitor their computer infrastructure so that, if there is a problem, they can learn about it quickly. When money’s involved, it’s important to fix a small problem becomes a bigger one. Companies would much rather be proactive than reactive. They would rather be the bowling ball than the bowling pin. The Solar Winds hack was so big that it was impossible to ignore. Unfortunately, data intrusion has gotten so prevalent in our lives that no one really notices when sites temporarily go offline. Credit card companies have gotten so used to their customer’s data being stolen, for example, that the theft has simply become a part of doing business. The customer calls a phone number, reports fraudulent charges, and the credit card company issues them a new card. In short order the customer…
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