“I can think of one way to avoid the problem. Don’t put in a phone link to the Data Banks.”
“Uh uh — you need that phone link. You need it both ways, for information coming in and going out. Any other way just wouldn’t be efficient enough.”
“And the VACCINE program wouldn’t work?”
“Yes and no. For every VACCINE program you could write, somebody else could write another VIRUS program immune to it.”
“That doesn’t sound very secure.”
“It isn’t — but that’s the way it is. Any safeguard that can be set up by one programmer can be breached or sidestepped by another.”
“Well, then, what did they finally do with the Data Banks?”
“Search me,” Handley shrugged. “It’s classified information — top secret.”
“Huh?”
“All I know is that one day they announced that they’d solved the problem and could now guarantee absolute security of information — the National Data Banks are now in business. If I knew how they’d done it, maybe I could figure out a way to get around it, so that’s why it’s classified.”
“How do you think they did it?”
“Who knows? Perhaps they have an all-encompassing VACCINE where the key to breaking it would be to work out the ultimate value of pi. You could connect with it, but you’d never get any information out of the machine — your computer would be too busy computing an irrational number. Or maybe they have a complicated system of check-backs and ask-me-agains. Or maybe they have a thing which erases your program as it makes its requests. Or maybe they have some kind of program-analyzing function which automatically cancels out and traces back to its source anything that even remotely resembles an unauthorized program. I know that’s what a lot of lesser corporations have done. Or maybe they’ve got a combination of all these things. The only way to program the machine is through a coded input — and the codes change every hour according to a random number table. Output is the same, except over the phone, where you need a special code key for your computer as well.”
“Wow,” said Auberson.
Handley shrugged again. “National security,” as if that were enough explanation. “The problem is that it’s very hard to maintain any kind of security system when anyone with a console and a telephone can tap into your banks. A lot of smaller companies with their own computers can’t afford the same kind of really sophisticated protection. A skillfully written information-tapping VIRUS program would be very hard to distinguish from an ordinary request for information — especially if both were coming in over the phone.”
“Couldn’t you classify certain information as not to be released over the phone?”
“Not if you want it retrievable. Aubie, anything you can program a computer to do, someone else can program it not to do. Or vice versa.”
“Oh,” said Auberson.
“Anyway, for the most part, most companies have protected themselves with analysis programs which hopefully weed out all unauthorized programs.”
“You say ‘hopefully’…?”
“Well, most of them are based on a user giving the correct code signal when he punches in to certain classified programs — a different recognition signal for each authorized user. If he doesn’t give the right one, the receiving computer disconnects. Most of the code signals are simple patterns of digit combinations. If somebody were really patient, he could keep dialing and re-dialing, each time trying a different signal. Sooner or later, he’s bound to hit someone’s recognition code.”
“That sounds awfully tiring.”
“It would be — but you wouldn’t have to do it yourself. Once you knew what you wanted to do, you could write a VIRUS program to do it for you.”
“So we’re back where we started—”
“Look, Aubie, the code-signal function is usually enough to dissuade the casual electronic voyeur — the person who gains access to a console and thinks it’s the magic key. But it’s like I was saying before — there is no system so perfect that there is not somewhere some programmer trying to figure out a way to trip it up. A truly determined programmer will get in anywhere.”
“So there are no safeguards?”
“No, Aubie — there are safeguards. The thing is, how much are you willing to pay for them? At what point does the cost of protecting the computer outweigh the efficiency gained by its use? In other words, the value of a piece of information is determined by two factors. How much are you willing to spend to protect it — and how much is someone else willing to spend to get ahold of it? You’re betting that you’re willing to spend more than he is. A determined programmer might be able to break the National Data Codes, but that would mean he’d have to spend at least as many man-hours and probably as much money breaking them as did the Federal Government setting them up.”
“Why not just tap into a computer that already knows the codes or has the signals?”
“See?” said Handley. “You’re starting to think like a programmer. Now you see why they had such a devil of a time figuring out how to protect themselves.”
Auberson conceded the point “Then that isn’t a loophole, is it?”
“Uh uh. Apparently, if’s not the computer that hooks into the Data Banks, but the user. You can call in from any machine with an auto-dial if you have your card and code-key — but the machine you’re using doesn’t have to have any special programs at all. Probably, the banks temporarily reprogram any computer that taps in to perform the coding and recognition functions itself. You could monitor it if you wanted, but because the codes and coding programs are constantly changing, you wouldn’t gain anything. The Rocky Mountain Center controls them all. If you personally are cleared, you can ask the Data Banks anything you want — that is, anything you’re cleared to know. If you’re not cleared, then no matter what computer or console you’re tapping in from, you’re going to be ignored — or arrested.” He added, “And that’s where HARLIE comes in.”
“Huh?”
“Look,” said Handley. “If HARLIE got into the Bank of America’s computer, he must have broken their recognition code or tapped into the interbranch line. I didn’t worry about this happening before because I figured the various codes in effect would be a deterrent to him. Apparently they weren’t. Not only that, I’d thought you couldn’t program a bank computer by telephone; there were supposed to be safeguards — hell, it was supposed to be impossible. But HARLIE did it; this postcard is proof.” He glared at it — its existence was an unpleasant anomaly. “It might have taken a human being a few hundred years to figure out how to do this. I’ll bet HARLIE did it in less than a week.”
“I’ll ask him.”
“No, I’ll ask him — I want to know how he did it. If he can do that to the Bank of America, think what he could do to IBM. If he can reprogram and monitor other computers from a distance, he can put them all to work on one central problem — like for instance, breaking the codes of the National Data Banks.”
“You think HARLIE would try?”
Handley pressed his fingertips thoughtfully together and flexed them slowly. “Remember when we were building him — how we kept calling him a self-programming, problem-solving device? Well, that’s what he is. He’s a programmer, Aubie, and he’s got the same congenital disease every programmer has — the urge to throw the monkey wrench, if for no other reason than to see sparks. The National Data Banks are a challenge to him. To all programmers — but he’s the one with the capability of doing something.”
“You don’t really think he—”
“No, I don’t think that he’ll get through. I don’t think he’s smart enough to outwit the unlimited brains and money of the government — but unless we warn him off, we’re likely to get a call from the F.B.I. someday soon. They can trace him back, you know — the banks not only list all calls accepted and the nature of the information exchanged, they also list all calls rejected and the reasons why.” Handley reached for his water glass, discovered it was empty, reached for Auberson’s instead.