The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3285 by Angharad Copyright© 2021 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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"Daddy, if I could prove to you that the computer problems we had the other day..."

"Och, George sorted that, sae dinna worry yersel'."

"What if it was sort of Munchausen's ransomware ?"

"Ye whit?" he looked at me very curiously.

"Well you know in Munchausen's disease someone pretends to be ill, and in Munchausen's by proxy, they make someone else ill, usually so they can rescue them?"

"Aye, I'm familiar wi' thae term."

"What if someone did that to the computer system?"

"Ye've mair than an inkling?"

"There is proof, I got Sammi to check out the system that same evening, she told me it was an inside job, that someone has caused the problem and then pretended to fix it."

"Aye, weel, Sammi kens whit she's daein', sae wha is it?"

"I think we both know that, don't we?"

He stopped and reflected for a moment remembering that George was seen as the hero of the hour. That meant he was also the villain. It was a great disappointment to him and it showed in his face."

"An' ye can prove this?"

"She left something on his computer which activates when the escape key is pressed."

"Ye realise if ye're wrang, ye'll be in a very difficult position yerself?"

"I'm prepared to back Sammi's judgement on this with everything I have, including my job, if that is necessary."

"Okay, let's pay George a wee visit." We wandered across the campus to the new computer department which had only been open a year or so. We requested to see Professor Gemmell and his secretary called through to his office. we were asked to go in.

"Tom, Cathy, to what do I owe this pleasure?" His voice was thick with something, I think it may have been irony.

"We came tae thank you for sorting oot thae system thae ither day," Tom offered as an opener.

"Well, that's what I'm here for. It turned out to be a nasty and fiddly bit of malware."

"Do we know its origins?" Asked Tom.

"Is that important? It's fixed and the firewall strengthened, so it won't happen again."

"Sae, the malware took doon the firewall?"

"Yes."

"It wis ransomware?"

"Yes, it's usually called that."

"And that is usually set off by a disgruntled insider?" Tom was circling like a shark.

"Sometimes, but I saw no evidence of that here." George was sweating and I could almost smell the fear, He was also growing redder in the face by the moment.

"Whit if I tell ye we hae evidence that shows wha did it?"

"I'd say you were mistaken, I suppose this is her interfering," he pointed at me. "If this concerns your so-called daughter, who left here because he couldn't cope with the syllabus, then I'd be very careful who you accuse."

"Wud ye noo," said Tom and nodded at me. I stepped forward and pressed the escape key on his rather nice HP laptop. Nothing happened. I glanced at Tom and pressed the key again. This time something happened.

Up came a message. "This computer has been used to create a malware incident to the University of Portsmouth's computer system. It has been traced and a full description of this process has been provided to the University authorities. In the words of many cop shows, "You're nicked, mate."

"This preposterous," he protested. "That weirdo has downloaded something onto my computer to frame me."

"Aye, mebbe, but I doobt it, George. Besides if yer system wis that robust, how wud she hae got into it?"

"Probably through her," he pointed at again. "Because she's as useless as that weirdo she supposedly adopted, with computers, she has it in for me, especially as she doesn't yet have computers in her evil little empire. That you're supporting her, Tom, could be construed as conflict of interest as you're her adopted father."

"George, I refute yer allegations completely, I'm also suspending ye until a full enquiry can resolve this. Please leave thae building immediately." Gemmell went to pick up the laptop and Tom stopped him. He left swearing at us both claiming he had been set up and threatening to sue for malpractice and slander.

"Please do try to sue me, George, my lawyers will enjoy destroying you."

Tom shook his head at me. "Dinna personalise it. He kens fine weel he's lost and only has insults left tae throw."

I nodded my acceptance of his comment and blushed. Tom called in his secretary and asked her to switch off the computer and to place it in a plastic bag, which he produced from his pocket. She sealed it and signed the label on it and added the date. It would go to an independent computer consultant who Sammi told me would be able to follow her unravelling of the attack and showing how the attack had been added and later removed. There was no neutralisation of it, it had simply been turned off by the person who turned it on. The evidence should be damning.

One of the porters was summoned to call a courier and despatch the computer to the cyber unit of the Hampshire Police, together with a letter Tom supplied. Apparently, he had phoned them before we came over to confront Gemmell. Tom then asked the secretary to disallow any communication with Gemmell while he was on suspension and the enquiry conducted. She was also asked to call in the reader in computer sciences and ask them to act up until this was resolved.

We both left with heavy hearts, it was like the feeling one got when discovering a student cheating in an exam or plagiarising someone else's work. It almost makes you feel physically sick, especially as I'd never dream of doing something so underhand, so didn't expect it in others. I explained that to Daddy as we walked back to my suite.

"Cathy, ye're tae close tae sainthood tae realise that yer standards are tae high fa many on this planet, if ye expect them tae be like ye are, ye're gang tae be disappointed."

"Oh," I said blushing.

"But promise me ain thing, wud ye?"

"What, Daddy?"

"Nivver ivver change." He walked off chuckling while I slunk into my office desperate for a cuppa and a desk to hide behind.

"Where did you go? Debbie's been looking for you, there's been an incident at the exam room."

It wasn't my day, was it? "Have a tea ready when I get back, will you?"

"Yes, boss." She actually saluted me as I dashed from my office to the hall we use for exams. Sometimes I wonder which of us is the crazier?

I found Debbie in the exam room with the exam still running. "You're a bit late, Prof," was her welcome.

"Sorry, I was involved in something I couldn't leave."

"Oh, okay, we had a bit of a problem..." She went on to explain how one of the boys had fallen off his chair and gone into a full-blown grand mal seizure. It had disrupted the exam for nearly fifteen minutes and the unfortunate student had been taken off by ambulance. She had decided to add ten minutes onto the exam time, hence it was still running. I nodded my agreement though I might have added fifteen minutes if it had disrupted things that much.

Instead of going to the refectory or out with Tom for lunch, I felt a need to take a walk and while out grabbed a baguette from a nearby shop. It was tuna and cucumber and together with a bottle of water formed my lunch. I went to a park and sat quietly while I ate my food and washed it down with the water. I dropped the bottle in a recycling bin on the way back to my office. It partly compensated for the damage the manufacture of said bottle did to the environment.

Walkling back I reflected on an article I'd read about a university somewhere, possibly Israel, that had created a sticky web it could use to capture micro particles of plastic from water, this could then sink to the sea bed and special bacteria in the sticky stuff would digest the plastic. It was a clever idea but I wasn't sure how feasible it would be and how they could scale it up without accidentally involving something else. It seems many of the ideas we have to sort one problem causes several more that hadn't been foreseen.

Although I hadn't solved the problem of removing microplastics from the sea, I had improved my mood from the morning and entered my office feeling much better until Diane said, "Have you heard, the VC suspended old Georgie Porgie." Then she shut up looked at me and suddenly realised that I had been with Tom when we went to see Gemmell. "Oh," she said, "tea?"

I nodded and went into my office and slumped in my chair.