9781422284858

Those networks were “air-gapped.” That means they were sepa- rated physically and electronically from other networks that might be unsecured. Somehow, however, Agent.btz had gotten in anyway. NSA cyber spy hunters couldn’t tell right away who had created the malware, but they had their suspicions. Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service was at the top of the list. The NSA also didn’t know how long Agent.btz had been lurking on the U.S. system. Those were important questions, but it was even more important to neutralize the malware as quickly as possible and stop it from spreading. The teammembers worked throughout the night, fortifying them- selves with pizza and soft drinks. By morning, they had come up with computer code that ordered Agent.btz to shut itself down. That was only the first step, however. Now they had to track down Agent.btz everywhere it had spread on government networks. That turned into

The ability of a thumb drive to contain enormous amounts of information is a relatively new develop- ment. The portability of viruses and malware makes them much harder to attack and track.

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