A computer hacking/virus/whatever element to the story

[Guest]

[I'm SexyAl2K, but I'm having problems with the whole login thing]

I've tried long and hard to find an erotic story that's got the computer element as I described as a big part of the story... Even better is if you make one of your stories target the geek audience, using technical terminology and stuff, including a glossary either before or after the story itself. And this sort of story, I'd absolutely love it if I can find one.

Here are some ideas:

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A incredibly shy computer nerd in high school comes to the aid of a girl who just lost her big report on the school lab computer. She has no backup copy of it anywhere else, so the nice nerd helps her recover the file.

To add more drama to the story, make it so that the nerd has to do far more than run a file recovery program that he bought somewhere -

* Some virus came along and encrypted her file [essentially convert it into undecipherable garbage], so he has to take it apart to figure out its encrypt/decrypt algorithm and then put together a little program to decrypt her file

* I need to give a little background info on this one before I present the idea (For those who are familiar with PC file system theory, you can skip this and the next paragraph). Essentially, whenever you delete a file on a PC, it's never really deleted [yeah, deleting it in the Windows recycle bin doesn't do it either!]. Instead, the operating system is made to think that the file doesn't exist anymore. But the contents of the file are still on the disk. This stuff will remain on the disk until it is eventually overwritten by another file allocated on the disk. Now with forensic level equipment, you could actually peer down several generations of overwrites, but most people aren't going to have this sort of equipment, much less knowledge. For those that are interested in this, Peter Guttman's highly technical paper has everything you need to know: http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/sec96/full_papers/gutmann/

For those who ever feel a need to securely delete a file:
http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/

[Technical detail alert: Essentially, there is an area of the disk, at the very beginning that holds what is called the FAT (File Allocation Table) This is a database of entries that provide a map to all the files currently on disk. When you delete a file, the first letter of its filename as listed in the FAT is replaced with a 0. And no, you can't just go rename your file and type in a '0' as the beginning of the filename and expect to suddenly disappear. Instead, you have to use a program that puts in the numeral 0, as opposed to the textual '0' that you see on your screen]

++++++++++ The Idea +++++++++++++

Basically, what if the file did actually get overwritten and the girl really wants it back. Then, because this nerd probably won't have access to heavy duty data recovery equipment, he could search the Windows Swap File [this is where your Windows virtual memory is located. If you ever run out of space in your machine's memory chips, this file then gets treated as if its one of those memory chips].

Temporary files [I remember at least with Word 7.0, that I wrote some sci-fi story back in 1996. Get this, by 1998, years after I last touched the file containing that story, I find bits and pieces of that story in files temporarily created by Windows to temporarily dump data into].

Cluster tips [yeah, when you allocate a file on disk, the measurement of how much space it gets on the disk is, at the system level, measured in what are called clusters. The size of each cluster is defineable. The problem is though, what if the file content itself doesn't exactly take up all the clusters it has been given. Then any previous data beyond the file data is still preserved in the cluster that's not completely occupied].

Examining floppy disks [the best way anybody would do this in real life would be to insert the disk and make a disk image, essentially being a complete electronic photocopy of the disk, onto the hard drive. It's much more efficient and faster to examine a disk image than the floppy disk itself].


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A computer nerd is a lonely kid who likes to check out the girls in his school and one day he becomes acquainted with a hottie and she requests him to change her grades.

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Some computer virus writer decides he a likes a girl so much that he writes a fast spreading virus that hails her as a hot girl

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Some computer geek decides that one particular hot chick has been so nice to him that why not make a demo for her [a demo is a program that spashes way cool graphics onto the screen possibly with sound. Yes, 'demo' is commonly associated with one of those time limited shareware programs, but trust me on this one. For those who are real curious, check out: www.hugi.de]

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The guy's into hacking the goverment or some corporate computers and you could weave a huge plot based on that and have him laying some chick he knows in between his hacking expeditions. Hell, you could even detail his involvement with co-conspirators. Whatever you can think of

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Now what would be really interesting is if you ever cast a female(s) into the computer hacker/virus writer/whatever role. Even more, if you really want to make a story that stands out, is to have them do hacking from say, an Apple II, Atari ST or whatever old machine you can think of.

Well, that's all I can think of for now, good luck!

 

[SexyAl2K]

I'm the author of this computer post

Great, I don't have problems with the logging into my account anymore. Awesome, anyways I hope that lengthy post of mine generates some great feedback, not to mention a unique new generation of erotica.

 

[openassguy]

This is a story I'd love to read too! Can't really put forward any other comment than that though.

 

[Chicklet]

could he put something into her computer that would allow him to spy on her? that could be cool

 

[SexyAl2K]

Glad to get good feedback so far. As far as Chicklet's idea goes [btw, you look cute ], yeah our nerd here could definitely do a recon mission on the girl's computer. I hope you won't mind my technical explanations.

The most obvious idea of course is to put a remote controlled trojan (referred to as RAT) into use. He gives the girl the server part [a nice little program that when run covertly digs its
elf into the system and opens up the computer for attack] and then the nerd himself uses the client part [which communicates via the internet or a network (technically known as a Local Area Network)].

Now I shall detail some more exotic methods of spying:

1) Packet Sniffing (not drug related!) - The idea is that whether you send data across a computer network or the internet, the data is not sent all in one chunk. Instead it is sent in parts, one after another. The technical term is packet.

A packet sniffer is either a piece of hardware or software that captures packets as they go by on a network. The reason this can be done is when you've got a bunch of computers interconnected to each other [as opposed to going through one computer], any given computer that sends out a packet will essentially broadcast it to the whole network. Each computer's network hardware will check it out and if the packet is not destined to it, it ignores it and lets it go on its way to the next computer.

Now when you use a packet sniffer, the network hardware will be switched into a mode known as 'promiscous' mode. Why they chose that term I don't know! Anyways, once its in that mode, it will no longer ingore any packet that goes by it.

+++++++++ The Idea +++++++

Suppose the nerd and the girl both worked with computers in a classroom network. Well, he could go at this way:

Run a packet sniffer on his machine and let it selectively capture the data from the girl's machine.

2) Get her computer's IP address [analogous to a street address] and when she leaves an account on the web open without signing out and shuts down her machine, he can take on that IP himself and go visit the web account and do whatever he wants.

3) Rig up some hardware level plan that essentially consists of him taking a piece of ethernet sniffer hardware or whatever and sticking into say, the main machine in the lab that all the computers connect through in order to hit the internet or along the network cabling hidden from sight.

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These are not real time spy methods, but they do comprise ideas of subversion:

4) Retrieve a floppy disk of her's that she accidentally dropped somewhere which has been deleted. Well, not really anyways [see my PC file system theory in my first post on the thread] so he does some technical analysis on it. He finds a really personal document that she deleted using the usual way in Windows or DOS. Depending on how feels about this girl, he could either return the disk to her [and get a nice erotic reward he won't forget] or keep it to get revenge on her and leave her wondering how it got recovered.

5) Retrieves one of her magnetic strip cards [be it credit card, library card, etc] and makes a duplicate of it using homebuilt equipment and commits fraud.

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Aside from the hacking stuff, he could also do phone phreaking and software cracking.

Phone phreaking is when you hack not with a computer, but with a telephone. It can range from playing the correct tones into a payphone to make it think you stuck change into it to, if this takes place in a country with a real outdated phone system, blue boxing. This allows you a level of control over the phone system that normally only phone operators get.

Been a long long time since I've researched the phone system to any depth. So I can't really say anymore.

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Software cracking is when you take a piece of software that has limitations imposed on it and overcoming them:

1) 30 day time limits
2) Features taken out of the shareware version
3) Time delays [most notably the initial startup screen before you get into the main program]
4) Nagging reminder messages to pay for it

The methods and approaches for overcoming these and any other number of limitations varies from software and limitation to another.

The most simplest route is examing the code in the program [yeah, in assembly ,one level up from binary code. Not nice C++ code or whatever] and finding the area of the program that makes a decision as to whether the program's expired or not or whether you registered it or not. Then from there, through alot of trial and error, you'll need to find just the right computer code or a number of them to change in order to get it to think that it's registered. It can be compared to a train going down a railroad track and then hitting that switch that sends it in one direction or another.

The next one I can recall which is far more sophisticated involves algorithmic key generation. Essentially, you know those companies that you pay money to and then they send you this uniquely generated key that you punch into a program? Well, essentially when you punch this into such a program, it runs a mathematical algorithm that checks whether there's an actual mathematical relationship between it and the number you punched in.

If the relationship isn't exactly there, then it will say you entered in the wrong key.

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Anyways, I hope I fascinated somebody here

 

[Chicklet]

I have to admit that I don't understand the technical stuff at all. I wouldn't write this story but I'm more than willing to brainstorm about it with you.

Is this going to be more of a spy/stalker/voyeur story or is it going to get intimate at some point? what is the nerd gaining by this?

Suggestion: it could be started out as a game he's playing, spying on the girl from school that he likes so much. he gets all sorts of info from her computer, her diary, her ideas, her dreams. he really learns about her. he gets to know her like no one else can.

then what? is it going to be a romantic thing where she's dumped by the jock she's dating and he makes a very quiet comment in the corner of the room and somehow she hears him? is he going to find something to blackmail her into being his sex slave?


Chicklet

 

[SexyAl2K]

Hmmm, well I was so excited and deep into explaining the technical aspect of the stunts that could be used in a story, that I didn't really concentrate on giving actual plot ideas.

When I think of some good ones, I'll post em

 

[Guest]

or he she could use the fact that the required info must be recovered and ask for sex as payment. make it her geeky younger brother and you've got a winner.

 

[Chicklet]

or he she could use the fact that the required info must be recovered and ask for sex as payment. make it her geeky younger brother and you've got a winner.

sigh.

yeah, you *could* make it go that way.

or you could sell yourself on the streets.

Chicklet

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

Okay, I have a confession; I came to this thread because I am stalking Chicklet! No - not really - well kind of? Some explanation; I noticed her sexy Av on the GB, realized this was someone I had not run into before on the GB, and noticed that her location is where I grew up. So, as I usually do I looked at her profile to see what she has posted, and ran across this thread.

Don't worry Chicklet - I will just admire you from afar.

Originally posted by SexyAl2K

* Some virus came along and encrypted her file [essentially convert it into undecipherable garbage], so he has to take it apart to figure out its encrypt/decrypt algorithm and then put together a little program to decrypt her file[/B]

I would keep it simpler than that for several reasons:

1) Most virus writers do not have the knowledge to use encryption in their malicious garbage, and it is hard enough when to recover files when they are just deleted.

2) A lot of encryption is very hard to break, unless it is a simple crude method. You could go this route and have it be believable - the encryption could just be a simple letter substitution cipher. That way the nerd would still have to write a program to decrypt the results, but you wouldn't get him into something that requires a supercomputer. Additionally, if the person is running an NT version

3) Do not load stories down with too much tech stuff - Tom Clancy does that to a degree, and some people like it, but get bored with it real quick, and some people hate it. My advice, use the tech stuff, make it believeable, but don't get too far into it.

[Technical detail alert: Essentially, there is an area of the disk, at the very beginning that holds what is called the FAT (File Allocation Table) This is a database of entries that provide a map to all the files currently on disk. When you delete a file, the first letter of its filename as listed in the FAT is replaced with a 0. And no, you can't just go rename your file and type in a '0' as the beginning of the filename and expect to suddenly disappear. Instead, you have to use a program that puts in the numeral 0, as opposed to the textual '0' that you see on your screen]

Tech alert - the newer versions of Windoze (NT, W2000, XP) by default do not use FAT - they use NTFS, which is quite different; NTFS has the Master File Table instead of the FAT. With NTFS there is the added twist that the file may have been compressed and/or compressed. You can setup an Win NT computer to use FAT, but most people do not as they would be missing out on the advantages of NTFS.

he could search the Windows Swap File [this is where your Windows virtual memory is located. If you ever run out of space in your machine's memory chips, this file then gets treated as if its one of those memory chips].

Unlikely that he would find anything of use here - if you were doing a forensic search you wouldn't want to ignore the swap file, but depending on its size, how much physical memory you have, etc. - any data recovery from it would be unlikely.

Cluster tips [yeah, when you allocate a file on disk, the measurement of how much space it gets on the disk is, at the system level, measured in what are called clusters. The size of each cluster is defineable. The problem is though, what if the file content itself doesn't exactly take up all the clusters it has been given. Then any previous data beyond the file data is still preserved in the cluster that's not completely occupied].

At a certain point, especially when dealing with Word files, it is just easier to recreate the document. At this point I think you may be adding too much detail, and again, if it is NTFS there is the issue of how NTFS uses compression (I think, but I don't know or remember for sure, that it may mix files in the same clusters to optimize space when you compress the whole drive, or even folders - anything over compressing just the individual files). Same goes for compression on older versions of Win - some schemes put the files into one big file and compress them together, making recovery very difficult if not impossible - if the one big file goes bad (DAMHIK )

Examining floppy disks [the best way anybody would do this in real life would be to insert the disk and make a disk image, essentially being a complete electronic photocopy of the disk, onto the hard drive. It's much more efficient and faster to examine a disk image than the floppy disk itself].

If the girl used a floppy to store her files - which would be likely in college since she could then use the floppies in the computer lab, or to give to her teacher - then this simplifies the boy's task greatly.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

The most obvious idea of course is to put a remote controlled trojan (referred to as RAT) into use. He gives the girl the server part [a nice little program that when run covertly digs its
elf into the system and opens up the computer for attack] and then the nerd himself uses the client part [which communicates via the internet or a network (technically known as a Local Area Network)].

With newer version of windoze this is not necessary if the guy has physical access to the computer; he can just set it up for remote access or VPN - built right into the OS for the most part.

Now when you use a packet sniffer, the network hardware will be switched into a mode known as 'promiscous' mode. Why they chose that term I don't know! Anyways, once its in that mode, it will no longer ingore any packet that goes by it.

Packet sniffing would require that the person using the sniffer have physical access to the network - which is possible if the guy worked in the college's network center, but most such centers have strict policies about such stuff. Moreover, it really isn't necessary. Now if you wanted to add in an element where some other person was stalking the girl, and harassing her with email, viruses, hacking, etc. - having the boy come to the rescue with a packet sniffer on the network to help trace the culprit down would be okay, and it would further endear the boy to the girl.

+++++++++ The Idea +++++++

Suppose the nerd and the girl both worked with computers in a classroom network. Well, he could go at this way:

Run a packet sniffer on his machine and let it selectively capture the data from the girl's machine.

If you want people to identify with the hero and heroine of the story, then do not make him spy on her or a hacker. Many of us had suffered at the hands of hackers, have the boy take the high moral ground. You can still incorporate much of what you mentioned, but have the bad guy do it instead of the hero. There are all kinds of twists and paths you can go down this way.