Onderwêreld deur Fanie Viljoen | Log File: Die regte kant van die firewall | English Summary | Onderwereld

 

Onderwêreld deur Fanie Viljoen

Log File: Die regte kant van die firewall

One night, two months into the winter, Greg is nearly finished with all the novice challenges on hackthissite, but he craves something new. Eckhardt tells him to bring his network cable and laptop because they will be going to the school grounds, but Greg tells him that they are usually locked this time of night. Eckhardt tells Greg that they will be relying on the caretaker to let them in. On their way there, they run into Plank, whose eyes are red after smoking marijuana. Eckhardt tells Greg that he should never do any sort of drugs because the euphoria can cause one to make stupid mistakes in their hacking, in addition to being caught and arrested for drugs. Outside, at the steps near Da Vinci House, Greg sees a group of grade 9s, one of whom has a cigarette. He barks at him to put out the cigarette and commands the rest to get off the steps because they are not allowed to sit there.

The caretaker of the school grounds lives in a small cottage not too far away from Le Corbusier House. Eckhardt knocks on the door and when it swings open, he asks the man on the other side for a favour. He lies about the servers being down while they have a science project due the next day, so he asks the caretaker, Mr. Tom if he could unlock the library for them. Eckhardt tells Mr. Tom that he could call Mr. Andersen for them to see if it is okay to open up for them and at this point, Greg starts playing along, adding that his father would “go ballistic” if he found out that Greg missed a submission because he did not have internet access or entrance to the school library. “Wait here,” says Mr. Tom, as he returns to his cottage to retrieve a jacket and a set of keys.

Mr. Tom leads them to the main building, where the silence and darkness feel like the setting of a murder. After walking through the dimly lit corridor to the library, Mr. Tom tells them that he does not want to hear that they caused a commotion in the library and that they should get him when they are done so he can lock up. Moments after Tom leaves, Eckhardt reveals that their objective is not the library, but a room further down the corridor. They arrive at a door with a handle, but no lock. In its place is a keypad. The server room, a place off-limits, but Greg feels the excitement coursing through his body. Greg tells Eckhardt that they need the passcode to gain entry, but Eckhardt responds by letting his index finger dance on the keys before the door clicks open. Eckhardt explains that he got the password by simply looking over the shoulder of a staff member who had entered the server room previously, a technique called “shoulder surfing”.

Greg is worried about being caught in the server room, but Eckhardt reassures him that nothing bad will happen. He explains to Greg how the school network operates, before telling him that infiltrating the school network grants one access to the database, where all the personal information of both students and teachers is held. Eckhardt explains the school network was designed in such a way that prevents the students from accessing certain information, so being in the server room means that they can finally see on the other side of that barrier. He uses Greg’s network cable to connect to the switchboard and swiftly pulls up Greg’s records, where everything, even sensitive information like his parents’ bank details, can be seen. Even the result of the mathematics test he failed is visible. Greg feels tempted to tell Eckhardt to change his score; however, Eckhardt asks the pertinent question, “White hat or black hat?” This brings Greg back to his senses. Eckhardt dives into the server log files where he clears their tracks, something he does out of a sense of precaution rather than necessity.

SummariesKeroshan PillayComment