Bliss & Blunder by Victoria Gosling

Author:Victoria Gosling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Profile
Published: 2023-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

25

Friday Night is Pizza Night

____

‘Now, before we wrap this up, can we first address an old rumour? Is it true, Arthur, about the Iranian nuclear reactors? Was it you?’

Arthur closes his eyes and shakes his head as if to say, Get outta here! and the audience break into whoops.

The interviewer turns to camera. ‘For those who don’t know, about a decade ago, certain government agencies here in the US and in Israel arranged for a computer virus to be smuggled on to an Iranian scientist’s memory stick, from where it was uploaded on to the computers at a nuclear facility, setting the Iranian nuclear programme back years. Now, Arthur, would you like to comment on the identity of the person or persons who wrote that virus?’

Arthur shifts in his seat and opens his hands, and in response the crowd roar. When they quieten down, he clears his throat and just like that the room is silent.

‘No. Not one of mine, I’m afraid. Sorry to disappoint you all. Besides, if a person had done something like that, they’d be pretty foolish to boast about it. I don’t know if you all heard, but I had a little bit of trouble at my birthday party recently. As assassination attempts go, I’m good. I’m good.’

When they stop laughing, he opens his mouth to speak and then hesitates. His brow furrows.

‘Arthur?’

‘Joking aside, security is what I do. It’s what my company does. All of us here know there’s a war going on. It’s not just fraudsters after money. We’re talking state-sponsored teams of cybercriminals. We’re talking digital warfare on an unprecedented scale.

‘The average person, what are they worried about? That a private photo gets stolen or their Facebook page hacked? Maybe they get locked out of their computer by ransomware?

‘People need to wake up to what’s really at stake: critical infrastructure – the ability to power, feed and defend our nations; the economy – how to protect research from foreign spies who’ll steal it and produce a rival product, only cheaper as they haven’t had to spend billions on developing it; and if we’re being honest, democracy itself. Democracy. Our way of life.’

Around Arthur, the room holds its breath.

‘The war is digital and it’s here. And as a good friend of mine recently showed, sometimes attack is the best form of defence.’

For a moment, he seems to lose his thread, looks momentarily adrift.

‘And in any war, there are casualties. Mistakes get made. I mean, the inventor of … I don’t know … the sword? Was he responsible every time someone—’ Arthur stops, gathers himself. ‘It’s not only what we do. It’s what we allow. I’m saying this to Mark. To Sergey. To Sundar. To Jack. To everyone. We have to do better. Or we deserve …’

But whatever he goes on to say is muffled as Arthur pulls the mic from his collar, stands and, after quickly acknowledging the crowd’s applause, strides from the stage.

At company HQ in Abury, Kay clicks the mouse and pauses the video.

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