A Dangerous Hacker

Keith smiles. And their food comes. They remain quiet until the girl leaves them alone. And then Keith speaks again:

"I want you find a dangerous but genius computer hacker. But, to find him. You must find his girlfriend first."

"Wow, wow, wow. Back up. Rewind. What and what?" Jack is surprised by what Keith just said within a minute. Kidnap a man. Get ransom. Kill the man. But find his girlfriend first. What the hell? Keith sounds completely insane.

Keith lowers his voice and leans closer to the table, "This guy, no one even knows his real name. He has two nicknames that he uses from time to time. One is Waterfalls, meaning he can hack into any system like strong force of water in the nature and penetrate anything. And he is unstoppable. There's no shutting down or turning off when it comes to Waterfalls, is there?"

Jack thinks about it. Probably not. But Jack thinks of something:

"Well, Keith, you can blow up something to stop Waterfalls. Blow up the landscape. Let the rocks fall which will then naturally put a plug on the Waterfalls."

Keith laughs lightly, but Keith seems to be happy that Jack mentions that.

"Yeah! Blow up the landscape completely, so, that's why he has the nickname Waterfalls, because if you want to stop him from doing what he's doing, you have to destroy yourself. Not just destroy your own system. Destroy everything that's not even related to the things he hacks into. It's like chemo therapy for cancer patients. You use harmful chemicals to try to kill the cancerous cells, you also hurt yourself."

Jack takes a sip of water and forks into some shrimp. Jack doesn't even feel hungry anymore. He finds it horrifying that there's a hacker like that out there.

"Is the hacker friendly to our country? Or he's just hacking stuff that has nothing to do with national security."

"Jack, you need stop thinking like this. So narrow minded. Not everything is about national security for the U.S.A. That is so dumb. That is so stupid. Please don't say something like that again."

Jack is a little dumbfounded. After all, Keith was the Green Beret who served the country. If anything, Jack thought Keith would be the patriotic type. Jack honestly doesn't care. Jack is only speaking of that because he thought that's why Keith wants to kill this genius hacker.

"OK, Whatever. I don't care. So what does this hacker do? Stealing video games secret?"

"Well, let me finish with his second nickname, then I'll give you the full scope." Keith then takes a big bite and his mouth is now full.

Jack almost wants to laugh. Why does he eat a mouth full of food before he's about to say something.

Keith finally chews and swallows down the food, "Sorry, bad timing. I am hungry. Didn't eat a damn thing last night."

"That's alright. I'm all ears."

"So. This guy's second nickname is Snow Blind."

"Like everything is white and the sun hits the white snow and it blinds you?"

"Yeah. Good, you have obviously experience enough snow to know that."

"So what is this nickname about?" Jack then takes a bite as well. He's not hungry, but he doesn't want to waste food.

"So, if anyone tries to track him on the internet, in the virtual world, you will literally go blind, at least for a day or so."

"Ha!" Jack laughs out loud and he shakes his head. "Keith, this sounds too much like a made-up anecdote from some young silly teenagers who worship him. This hacker probably made up this stupid story himself. So that his followers and fans would not try to find him and bother him. I think that is just that. There's no way he can make people blind. What? He throws daggers from the other side of the computer screen and pokes the person sitting in front of the computer so the person who tries to find him would go blind?"

Jack laughs some more, almost chocking.

"Listen, I did not hear this Snow Blind story from his fans. I don't even know if he has any fans, but now that you mention it, maybe there are some young idiots who worship hackers like that. But listen, you haven't let me finish the story."

"OK, go on." Jack makes a gesture at Keith, encouraging him to continue.

"So, this hacker is a nuisance, a cockroach, because he knows how to hack into the hardware as well. He doesn't just hack into the software and data. He can make the web cam turned on. He can make the screen backlight turned all the way up to the highest level. He can also turn people's TV on. Any electronic devices that are connected to the internet, he can manipulate."

Keith pauses to let Jack think. Jack does find this interesting.

Keith continues, "So, once he knows someone is trying to track him, he times the right timing to turn everything to the fullest brightness, the computer screen, the TV, the webcam lighting, and, he can make people's cellphone or iPad or any mobile device flash all at once. Most people have their phones or mobile tablets nearby. So they would suddenly get bright lights shining on them when they least expect it, especially when they are looking at the device."

"So, kind of like celebrities walking down the red carpet where bunch of cameras flashing at them? Is that enough to make someone blind?"

Keith chews, and his face shows a disapproving look, "Don't compare that to that. A lot of the celebrities wear sunglasses, that's one thing. And, the celebrities walking down the red carpet have anticipated the flashes. But when this hacker attacks, he picks the time when you are looking at your device closely and paying full attention to what you are reading."

"OK, fine. People at home don't expect to see flashes."

"Yeah, so then you are really, really opening yourself to the device, and then you get super bright flashes all of a sudden. It creates a Pocket Monster effect."

"What? Did you just say Pocket Monster?"

"Yeah."

"What's Pocket Monster effect?" Jack tilts his head curiously.

Keith sighs, and takes a sip of his drink, "Long, long time ago, maybe before you were even born, the newest Pocket Monster anime episode was airing on TV in Japan. Every child was so excited and gathered in front of the TV to watch Pocket Monster. And then suddenly, there's one bright flash during the second half of the episode. There were a total of 10 flashes within a few seconds, causing children to be in shock, in seizures, and temporarily blind. A lot of them had to be hospitalized. That's the Pocket Monster effect. The cartoon series creator, animators, and the TV executives all apologized later. They didn't expect that to happen."

"WHA! Seriously?!!" Jack's mouth is open out of shock. That definitely happened before he was born. At least, he's never heard of it. But again, it didn't happen inside his country, that's probably why Jack never knew.

"Yeah. So, your eyes would be blinded and you'd be in a shock or in seizure, like those children who were watching TV, in the comfort of their own homes."

It is a good point: Getting attacked when there's no attack to be expected.

"And after every flash attack this hacker makes, he leaves a name 'Snow Blind' on your screen. One cocky son of a bitch." Keith scowls.

"OK. I get it now. So. If you want me to catch him, I cannot try to track him on the internet or in the virtual world, because he will attack me back." Jack raises his both hands temporarily near his face to show that he understands and accepts what Keith says.

"Yeah."

"But, Mr. Waterfalls or Snow Blind obviously only work on the internet and in the virtual world. No one knows who he is in the real world. It's going to be almost impossible to find him without using the internet." Jack laughs. He thinks this is an impossible assignment.

Keith laughs as well, "It is difficult to do anything without the internet. But you must. Unless you don't care getting attack. I mean, you won't really be blind forever. And you won't die."

"No thank you. Just thinking of that makes me not want to look at my phone now."

"Well, I've done you a favor. I just told you. Go find his girlfriend. His girlfriend is the only one knows who he is in the real world."

"Good point. Thanks for the help. But who the hell is his girlfriend?" Jack scoffs.

Jack actually thinks it's a little ridiculous. Even a nerd hiding behind the computer has a girlfriend. Jack has never had a girlfriend. And Jack goes out and do so many things in the real world? What is wrong with the real world!

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What I wrote is inspired by a true incident. An anime episode on TV caused audience shock and discomfort, resulting audience to be sent to a hospital. The cause is said to be the flashing lights in that episode. People were simply watching TV. That episode is forever banned. True story.

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