Monday Morning, 11:00 AM
Chris was just settling in after a chaotic first day when he noticed a peculiar message pop up on his screen. An automatic alert flagged a “data discrepancy” on the shared drive, but when he opened the alert, the details were vague. Probably just a file transfer error, he thought, trying to brush it off. But then, one by one, emails started pouring in.
“Chris, some of my files from last week are missing—any idea what’s going on?” “Hey, my folder from the shared drive is gone. Can you look into it?”
Chris frowned. This wasn’t just an isolated incident; it was a pattern. Jack would’ve documented this, he thought, wishing once again for those legendary notes he kept hearing about.
Determined to solve the mystery, Chris began digging. First, he pulled up the server logs, expecting to see some evidence of deletion or movement. But the logs were… clean. Too clean. No user activity that would explain the missing files, no transfers, no accidental deletions. It was like the files had been erased without a trace.
The Hidden Script
Chris’s first thought was a glitch in the backup system. But he checked, and everything appeared normal. If it’s not a glitch, what else could it be? He moved to the user access logs, reviewing permissions and activity timestamps. Still, nothing. No one had the permissions necessary to delete these files—at least, no one he could see.
That’s when Chris decided to go deeper. As he sifted through the archives, he stumbled upon a series of fragmented server scripts, one labeled with an obscure file name he didn’t recognize. Curious, he opened it, and as he scrolled through the code, his stomach dropped.
The script wasn’t just random code. It was a complex algorithm, programmed to selectively delete files without leaving a trace in the usual logs. Its logic was flawless, set up to target files older than a week and delete them slowly to avoid detection. Whoever had written this had known exactly how to avoid detection.
Jack must have known about this, Chris realized, a chill running down his spine. But Jack had left without so much as a mention of this rogue script.
Calling in Backup
As the weight of the situation sank in, Chris remembered that Jack had once mentioned an old friend, a tech whiz who worked in data forensics. After a few calls, Chris managed to track him down. Mike, a seasoned forensic analyst, was more than willing to help once Chris explained the situation.
“Alright, send me the logs you have,” Mike said. “This sounds like a sophisticated setup. Whoever did this didn’t want it to be found.”
Over the next few hours, Chris and Mike dove into the server’s deeper layers. They searched for any clue that might reveal the source of the rogue script. After what felt like an eternity, Mike let out a low whistle.
“Chris, this is… deliberate. Someone embedded this script manually. And get this—it was scheduled to run on a loop.”
“What? So it’s deleting data on a schedule?” Chris asked, horrified.
“Exactly. But here’s the weird part: the script hides itself in the system logs and resets any changes it makes to the file directory permissions. It’s practically invisible.”
The Bigger Question: Who and Why?
The discovery opened up more questions than answers. Who had put the script there? Was it an inside job? An ex-employee with a grudge? Or could it have been Jack himself, who somehow forgot to disable it before he left? Or worse, Chris thought, could it be something Jack was tracking, something even he couldn’t crack?
The script’s design was complex, but it wasn’t perfect. Mike identified a few weak points, flaws that might let Chris deactivate it without triggering a total data wipe. Chris knew he had to proceed carefully; the wrong move could erase even more files, causing catastrophic data loss for the company.
As he prepared to dig deeper, Chris couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that this was only the tip of the iceberg. His predecessor had started a digital war, and now it was up to him to finish it.
With a few keystrokes, Chris took a deep breath and began the delicate task of unraveling Jack’s final mystery—hoping he could solve it before the next batch of data disappeared into oblivion.