Re: Life - Business & Technology

Thanks for your patience, everyone! I\'ll be uploading more often after my finals week.

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Austin, Texas. September 6, 2013.

Summer ended only a few months prior, so the bright morning sun glowed over the continuously expanding city and its Tech Campus neighbor.

The local civil engineer firms equipped with Future Tech equipment under contract didn\'t remain idle and steadily upgraded Austin\'s facilities funded by its booming economy.

The passengers that looked out of the plane\'s windows could easily spot the first maglev train lines in the USA under construction that connected Future Tech\'s portion of the Houston Port to Austin.

Maglev trains weren\'t a new concept as foreign nations extensively utilized them, including Spain, Japan, Germany, and South Korea.

It was a vital project aimed at reducing transportation costs of raw materials arriving in the Gulf of Mexico from Afghanistan and other countries.

Jack Ma and his Alibaba executives admired the view of the City of Tomorrow while he considered proposing to build a similar tech city in China.

The Luxury 787 landed on a recently built private runway located next to the Future Security Barracks that was expanded to accommodate large aircraft and for testing the modified F-35 fighter jets.

The joint project\'s success was very important to Vince and Future Tech as it was their most significant military defense contract since the Pentagon purchased AVs and upgraded its cybersecurity suites.

There was a long list of foreign government buyers waiting for hundreds of pre-ordered fighter jets, placing the value of the joint project at hundreds of billions of dollars.

The bright sunlight covered the tarmac as the passengers disembarked the private jet while the flight attendants assisted.

It was Sunday, so the Austin Barracks were fairly empty, but some FS operators were still working the weekend shift that greeted Vince and his entourage.

Three corporate AVs ready and waiting to transport the VIP guests into the city hovered slowly and then departed towards the Dalton Manor.

Vince owned an excessively huge house, so he didn\'t mind providing lodging to his guests during their stay in Austin.

Plenty of people has seen the Dalton Manor as it was featured in Hailee\'s most popular music video, Party Pop. Still, its grandeur was on another level, experiencing the technologically advanced home first-hand.

Future Tech wasn\'t stingy with the newly developed smart home features and applied the same tech to employee apartments, houses, and the new Boxable homes available for sale in the USA and Afghanistan.

Leah Dalton graciously welcomed her family\'s guests, then Vince stated, "Feel free to enjoy the manor and your time here in Austin. I\'m sure my friends will be happy to show y\'all around. I\'ll be busy the rest of the day, but I\'ll be free for dinner."

Vince requested Jack Ma to attend the Future Tech executive meeting because of his involvement in the new bank\'s creation.

While the guests explored the manor, Jack followed Vince to his secure office and said, "Your home is quite something, Vince. It looks completely different from any mansion I\'ve seen in China."

Vince accepted the compliment and replied, "My mom\'s neo-modern design is gaining popularity, but houses like mine aren\'t too common even in the States. Future Tech can build one for you if you\'re interested."

Jack Ma considered the idea before saying, "Maybe, but I\'ll need to improve my standing with the government first, or else they\'ll assume I\'m becoming a western capitalist."

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Meanwhile, in the vast Amazon rainforests in South America, a man donning a black combat suit and skull balaclava received a notification on his Anarchy communication device.

Hades, Enigma\'s right-hand man, had been performing managerial duties for his organization\'s missions in neighboring countries like Venezuela and Colombia.

The Anarchy contracts were primarily from local warlords and criminal syndicates taking advantage of civil unrest and poor governance.

Hades unlocked the encrypted message using software provided by Enigma before reading the contents on his modified desktop computer that didn\'t run on publically available operating systems like Linux, Windows, or Infinity.Â

​ Anarchy repeatedly abused vulnerabilities within commercial software, so it was natural for them to utilize proprietary solutions to minimize the risk of exposure.

The message was from an Anarchy operative assigned to work undercover at their legitimate IT consulting business in Luxembourg.

It stated information regarding negotiations for a covert cyberwarfare operation and the client\'s vast budget of $5 billion.

Anarchy\'s business worldwide accepted contracts on a daily basis to maintain their covers and usually didn\'t contact the inner members like Hades.

The Luxembourg office decided to inform the higher-ups due to the client\'s request, a coordinated cyber offensive against Future Tech.

Anarchy had kept a safe distance from the Austin-based tech giant as the risks of getting caught by Future Security, and Interpol was too much for the organization, but $5 billion in cash was compelling enough to consider the proposal.

It was standard protocol for the organization to perform background research on every client, and this particular one had an interesting backer, JP Morgan Chase.

Hades thought to himself, "No wonder they\'re willing to pay top dollar for our services."

The Anarchy officer believed the proposal was a good opportunity for his organization, so he forwarded the information to Enigma for further deliberation.

Similar to the Assassin\'s Guild, Anarchy didn\'t take missions and contracts only to get paid but utilized the intelligence to their benefit.

A good example of this was Anarchy\'s business in Iran gaining recognition after assisting their government in containing the Stuxnet virus; the same one Anarchy unleashed for the CIA to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.

Hades waited fifteen minutes until receiving a response from Enigma, saying, "The operation the client is requesting will cost a lot more than $5 billion, including logistics. It\'s a crazy proposition considering Future Tech\'s expertise in network security, so a successful attack will require extensive planning and the assistance of a few friends."

It was a very difficult task breaking Future Tech\'s cyber defenses. Former President Lee could attest to the fact after his corporation succumbed to retaliatory attacks for his involvement in attempting to steal FT technologies from a NetServ regional access node.

Enigma was furious after learning two of Anarchy\'s outer members were arrested during the corporate espionage mission but couldn\'t deny the feasibility of their plan by hacking directly into a data access node.

They would\'ve successfully breached the NetServ defenses if they were given a few more minutes until FS operators stormed the control room.

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It was the middle of the night in Afghanistan, but Director Price joined the important executive NetServ meeting that his CEO arranged.

Price was already accustomed to unconventional meeting times from his years of experience in the US military.

Other than the FS director, the meeting included Anthony, Azuma, Dollar, Ralph, David, Marcia, and Richard. Executives involved in Future Tech\'s network infrastructure, financial, legal, and security departments.

Marcia Kemp, Future Tech\'s managing lawyer, began the session by saying, "I\'ve looked into Jamie Dimon\'s threats of changing federal legislation regarding cryptocurrencies through my political contacts. The sentiment under President Obama\'s administration is friendly toward our current methods. Still, a few powerful entities from the bank lobby groups had started negotiating with the IRS and the Department of the Treasury. They\'re arguing that Future Tech shouldn\'t hold authority over any currency."

Dollar, the Bitcash Director, chuckled before stating, "That\'s ridiculous! Bitcash isn\'t a currency based on the regulated guidelines defined by the IRS."

David, a senior partner in the law firm, calmly said, "Regulations change, Dollar. We\'ve been saving plenty of money in taxes for the past two years under the President\'s good graces, but we need to be more flexible now."

Vince agreed with his long-time legal counsel and replied, "Marcia and David will lead a team in writing a draft for new protocols in case Bitcash and Bitcoin lose commodity status. Please include Ralph and his accounting department in considering the changes. I\'ll speak with President Obama to discuss his stance and maybe a compromise. Now we can move on to the next order of business, Future Tech\'s operational vulnerabilities."

Director Price took the helm by saying, "Based on the previous corporate espionage attempt on the Taiwan Regional Data Access Node, Future Security improved and upgraded our foreign facilities with automated defenses like Future Arm\'s new AI Sentry Guns based on the Dragonfly\'s weapons systems."

Anthony, the FS Cybersecurity Director, interjected by saying, "My team had already assigned nethunters with Augmented Cyber Space qualifications to Future Tech\'s branches worldwide to monitor data transmissions actively and defend against direct denial-of-service attacks."

Future Security and its executives were very diligent in securing Future Tech\'s assets, especially considering Vince Dalton\'s suggestions based on his cyberwarfare knowledge from the future, like the Log4j vulnerability.

Azuma, the NetServ Director, honestly said, "I appreciate Anthony\'s work in guaranteeing our operations for NetServ\'s valued customers, but unfortunately, there are other practical ways of disrupting our network services. For example, suppose an enemy was adamant and had enough resources like a Wall Street bank. In that case, they could target our transmission systems like the intercontinental submarine fiber optic cables or NetServ satellites."

Director Price thought Azuma was being a bit too pessimistic and replied, "Our satellites should be secure as SpaceX had already sent orbital defense platforms in preparation for the Lunar Missions. However, you\'re right about the underwater ocean lines. Future Tech doesn\'t have the resources to patrol the vast oceans."

Vince had an idea and confidently said, "Future Tech facilitates the US military\'s secure communication lines because of our partnership with the Pentagon. I\'m sure they\'ll assist in defending it out of mutual interest."

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