You Want Me To Do What?

You Want Me To Do What?!

Saul was too intrigued to hang out with his friends after the meeting as he normally would. Instead, he said his goodbyes and hurried home. The envelope in his jacket pocket had been calling to him ever since he had stuffed it in there about 30 minutes ago. He wasn t quite sure what to think of it and started organizing his thoughts as he walked down the dark streets toward his home.

It took Saul only 20 minutes to walk home and he wasn t too surprised to find his mother away for the evening when he walked in the front door. After a quick stop at the fridge for a soda, he headed to his room. Opening the door, he tossed his backpack on the floor and hung his jacket on the chair in front of his desk.

His room was a geek s room. There were multiple computers all around the room, each one currently powered up and running a different operating system. Most of the computers were fairly old because the newer hardware was too expensive in that part of the world and most of his hardware came from dumpsters anyway. Various books and magazines lie in haphazard stacks around the room. Saul sat on his unmade bed and glanced at his jacket hanging on the chair. What s in there? he wondered to himself. He reached over, slipped his hand inside the pocket, and retrieved the envelope.

The envelope appeared to be a stock bulk envelope and his name was hand written in black ink. Relatively impatient, Saul tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter. It was a normal letter- size piece of paper that apparently had been laser printed.

 Saul, Your skills with wireless networks are needed for a project I have. Currently, I own several large medical organizations, including St. James hospital in your city. I have concerns about the security of the wireless network utilized at the hospital. Our physicians and administrative staff use the wireless network for various routine and critical tasks. My biggest concern is that perhaps my security team does not take their job seriously where wireless networking is concerned. Initially, all I want you to do is profile the network and provide me with an idea of what sort of wireless footprint we're projecting into the surrounding area. I'm also interested in knowing how difficult it would be to break the encryption used on our network, if there is any. I would appreciate it if you would spend a week examining the St. James wireless network from some spot outside our facilities. Do not tell anyone what you're doing and try not to draw attention to yourself. This assessment of our wireless network must remain confidential as I'm testing the abilities of my on-site security team. You can expect payment of ,000 after your next hacker meeting should you meet these requirements and have a report ready for me. Respectfully, Your Friend 

Saul read the letter several times to ensure he really understood what was being said. His instinct told him that this was probably a prank, but he had never really tested the security of the hospital s wireless network and it sounded like fun. He decided to try it out and see what he could come up with. Worst-case scenario, he got to do what he enjoyed doing. Best case, he got an extra $2000 for college and got to check out the wireless networks around the hospital, which he hadn t had time to do up until now. It seemed like there was no way to lose.