Chapter 44– Cyberattack!

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In last week’s episode, an unsuspecting David was learning how to fill out SEAS Reports. In this week’s episode, the enemy strikes the first blow against the St. Paul…

Laksh D’Cruze wondered for the millionth time why all security breaches seemed to occur in the middle of the night. Once again, he found himself sitting at his computer workstation in his bathrobe with his XR headset strapped on. From his home in Ogden, Utah, Laksh alerted all the rest of the team members in his cyber-security consulting firm. From remote locations across the world, nearly a dozen specialists had been running scans and diagnostics of every aspect of the St. Paul’s operating systems, and now D’Cruze was presenting his findings to Captain Pruitt. “I won’t sugar coat it,” the XR glasses managed to convey his dour expression. “This is bad.”

The morning sun peeked over the horizon nearly 1,000 miles out to sea over the North Atlantic. The meager sunlight wouldn’t last long because the St. Paul was now approaching the shear line formed between two competing pressure systems. The sky directly above was clear for now, but dense clouds were roiling ominously to the north of the ship. “How bad?” Pruitt asked.

The avatar D’Cruze was using this time didn’t wear the ceremonial costume of a Sanhedrin Council member. Instead, it looked almost identical to the real Laksh D’Cruze, except that the avatar was wearing slacks and a white lab coat instead of a bathrobe. To the St. Paul’s crew, D’Cruze appeared to be sitting with them on the flight deck. “We believe they accessed the St. Paul’s systems through a vulnerability in her satellite communications system terminals. From there, it gained access to your in-flight WiFi. We shut it all down right away, of course, but it was too late. Whoever did this installed surveillance software all over the place. They’ve gained access to all the St. Paul’s internal servers, communication, video feeds, and they’ve accessed crew records, and possibly even the flight controls…”

“Flight controls?” The alarm on Pruitt’s face was evident.

“I said possibly. My whole team’s been working on this for hours, Captain, and I’m confident that we’ve identified and disabled all of the surveillance software. We can’t delete it without a reboot of the St. Paul’s systems, but they shouldn’t be able to interfere with your flight controls.”

“You said they shouldn’t be able to interfere,” Pruitt growled, “but we’re getting ready to enter into some dicey weather. If some hacker gains access to our flight controls, we could all end up in the water.”

“Captain,” D’Cruze sounded both weary and cautious. “There’s never been a successful attempt at commandeering an airborne ship from a remote ground base.”

“Are you telling me it’s impossible to take over a ship remotely?” Pruitt asked tensely. D’Cruze could see the muscles in the captain’s jaw flexing as he ground his teeth.

“Nothing’s impossible.” D’Cruze hated this part. “In 2017, a US Department of Homeland Security test team did use a similar technique to hack into a parked Boeing 757. But to my knowledge, there’s never been a successful attack which took over flight controls and altered the direction of an aircraft in flight.”

Several crew members groaned at this. That was decades ago, and technology had advanced tremendously since then.

“Can you fix it?” Pruitt’s question was delivered ice cold.

“We can patch the systems, yes,” D’Cruze answered. He hesitated because he was reluctant to explain the rest. “But it would involve shutting down the St. Paul’s systems while we reboot.”

“I can’t shut down her systems, Laksh!” Pruitt’s voice rose in irritation. “You know we get twenty percent of our lift from aerodynamic flight, right? If I turn off the engines, we crash in the sea. And if I dump enough ballast for us to free balloon, I’ll be unable to generate forward momentum after the reboot without venting helium to compensate for the ballast I dumped.”

“We’ve been thinking about that, Captain, and you have a couple of choices here,” D’Cruze’s tried to keep his voice calm. The crew of the St. Paul was at risk, but he was feeling the tension too.

“Give me some options.”

“First, you could continue on your present course as planned. Our confidence is high that no malware on board that will enable the adversary to compromise your flight controls.”

Pruitt didn’t seem to like even the possibility that someone might be able to take his ship from him in mid-flight, as if the absolute control over the yoke in his hands was literally the only thing between life and death for the crew of the St. Paul. “OK, what else?” 

“Your second option, if you have enough clear sky, would be to run the engines only while we shut down the rest of the ship and reboot. My team assures me that, other than the throttle control, your diesel engine propulsion system does not rely on any electronic signals from the cockpit to operate. The thrust vectoring system would have to be shut down, of course, because the St. Paul operates with a fly-by-wire system. And the throttle would need to be fixed at a constant setting. So long as no one makes a throttle adjustment after that, the engines will not receive any electronic data packets capable of causing interference. With the St. Paul sailing in a safe direction, we can shut her down and reboot the systems, permanently deleting the malware.”

Without hesitation, Pruitt asked. “How long would that shut down take?”

“About five minutes to shut down all the systems, and another twenty to reboot.”

“What other options you got?”

“That’s all of them,” D’Cruze said, feeling deflated.

Come out! Show yourself to me! Tiānlóng demanded once again.

Your Majesty? The creature once again emerged just far enough to communicate, trying unsuccessfully to hide within David’s body. Where are you? How do you command us from so far outside your territory?

 I have gained access to the ship’s computer systems. I can see you through the cameras.

 The parasitic spirit scanned wildly about until it found the source of the demonic commands. How may we serve you, your Majesty?

 I must know the layout of the ship. Compel your host to explore it, I will tell you what to look for.

Captain Pruitt was still crafting his plan, and he turned to Singh for more detailed information about the weather, “What can you tell me, LT?”

“We’ve got a strong storm brewing ninety nautical miles to the north, and we’re currently heading east into the area where we’re anticipating shear winds. There is a weak high-pressure system to the south.” He indicated the various systems on his chart, but Pruitt was already familiar with them.

“Under normal conditions, shear winds would be relatively easy to traverse with just minor elevation changes. However, if you’re considering straight, level flight without active controls,” Singh extended his arm towards the cockpit window, indicating a course that veered towards the south, “the optimal conditions would be near the broad, central ridge of that high-pressure system. We could expect good visibility, light winds, and for a while at least, clear skies, but…”

“But what?”

“Sir, with the active low-pressure system north, and another potentially developing ahead, we would typically require detailed flight planning to provide you with escape routes in case the weather continues to deteriorate.”

Pruitt chewed on this assessment for a while, and everyone on board the St. Paul waited as he considered his alternatives. “What if we brought her around and put her bow into the wind. That way, we could reduce speed and practically bring her to a station-keeping posture? Would that buy us some more time?”

Station-keeping was a term that was more typically applied to high-altitude airships operating in surveillance or communication roles, frequently in the stratosphere. It was a process that involved very light controls and very little energy to keep the craft stationed precisely at a specific altitude and position for long periods. The St. Paul’s current altitude was just below 3,000 ft., so the maneuver Pruitt was proposing would be more like hovering a helicopter.

“That would require us to carefully match the headwind speed, sir.” Singh immediately grasped Pruitt’s plan, “But there is no guarantee that the current wind speed will hold for thirty minutes. That’s a long time in these conditions. If the wind gusts, we could drift anywhere.”

“I could get her relative ground speed to near zero. Then we could flip the switch and reboot her systems.”

“In theory, yes, sir,” Singh replied.

Pruitt made his decision. ”FO, bring her about!”  The captain would rather take the risk now and eliminate the malware before he entered into dangerous weather than risk running all the way to the Canaries with some invisible enemy threatening to take away his control over the St. Paul. “Put her nose in the wind and reduce thrust.”

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