Testing & Finding out
And soon enough, the program had already started testing every exploit that could be used to breach the University's system's defences, rendering the firewall it was supposed to be protected with as ineffective as a tofu, just a touch it couldn't even stand for more at all.
While the University has invested a significant amount of money for the security of their system, when it was in the eyes of Aron's program, it looked like nothing more than a kid trying to fight against a tank.
It was effortlessly ripped through, identifying and detailing every weakness, providing instructions on how even a beginner-level programmer could exploit the system.
With the passing of the seventh hour since the system started going through the University's System, Aron's program still continued on exposing more and more vulnerabilities.
There were several reasons why this process was taking such a long time to complete.
Firstly, it was because Aron's computer was cheap since his family couldn't afford a better one that would be quite expensive without leaving a hole in their finances.
Currently, his cheap computer would even be able to cook an omelette from the heat that it had been generating. And to mitigate the issue, Aron had to set up an impromptu cooling system by using his household fan.
Secondly, since the program was developed in the 2100s. This meant that it had a compiled list of weaknesses from all the years before and after its development. However, during that time, many of these weaknesses were widely known by almost everyone and thus were consequently removed during the development phase.
But in this particular universe, since Aron is years before that, it means that most of these weaknesses have not even been discovered yet. And as a result of which, the program was busy finding a butload amount of them, which resulted in making his computer a kind of stove.
On the third day after Aron's program had started scanning the University's System's weaknesses, the program finally completed its job and started compiling a comprehensive report on how they could be used to exploit the system and provide solutions on how to address them.
However, since the numerous inefficiencies in the system were also considered to be its weaknesses, the program also listed them in the report, along with ways on how to solve them, this gave Aron hope on how he could potentially use the program to also optimize other people's programs for earning money. But first, he wanted to know as to who was so hellbent on making his life living hell.
The final PDF document spanned 1200 pages and about 400 of them were solely devoted to the weaknesses and how to exploit them, providing intricate details on how such an attack could be done.
The rest of the pages discussed its optimization and how to solve the 400 pages of aforementioned weaknesses.
So, Aron took his time, thoroughly reading the whole document while enjoying every second of this as he knew that once he learned everything about it and implemented it later on, he will easily be able to identify who was fucking with his life.
It took him 5 hours to complete reading the entire document and also comprehend everything mentioned in it.
....
Now, here is a lesson if you aspire to hack something, there are 5 steps that you will need to follow:
The first step is Reconnaissance: During this step, all you have to do is gather information about your target. This may include identifying the target, finding the target's IP address range, network details, and DNS records.
The second step is Scanning: This phase includes the usage of tools such as dialers, port scanners, network mappers, sweepers and vulnerability scanners to scan and gather the data.
The third step is Gaining Access: In this phase, the hacker designs a blueprint of the target's network with the help of data that was collected during the previous two steps. Thus, the hacker has now finished enumerating and scanning the network and can access from the available options to gain access to the target network.
The fourth step is maintaining the access: Once a hacker has gained access, their goal is to maintain that access for future exploitation and attacks. Now that the hacker owns the system, they can use it as a base to launch additional attacks.
The fifth and final step is covering the tracks: After the access is gained and privileges have been escalated, the hacker should cover their tracks. This includes clearing the emails sent, erasing the server logs, deleting the temp files, and much more. The hacker also has to look for any indications that the email provider may have tried to alert the user of the possible unauthorised logins under their account.
However, since Aron's program had already done most of the steps, he now only needs to focus on doing one step– the third step, as for the steps 4 & 5, he doesn't need to do them because the method with which he was going to gain the access to the University's System would not leave behind any traces. This was the most effective attack his program had discovered among the many others when it had been testing the University System's weakness.
…..
Aron sat in front of his computer, his whole body shaking due to anger. If one looked at what he was reading right now, they would find that he was reading the emails that were sent by Professor Eli Yehudah Rotem Rothschild to someone on the disciplinary committee.
The other email was from the same professor, this time it was sent to someone in the scholarship department. God knew how foolish they were to communicate using university-provided email accounts.
[
Subject: Request for Disciplinary Hearing for a Student
Dear Members of the Disciplinary Committee,
I am writing this letter to request a disciplinary hearing for a student whose conduct has come to my attention as a faculty member. I believe that this student has violated the university's code of conduct and may have engaged in academic misconduct, which has serious implications for the academic integrity of our institution and the trust that we place in our students.
Based on my interactions with this student and my assessment of the evidence, I am convinced that this matter warrants a formal investigation and disciplinary action. I would like to request that the student be summoned to a hearing where they can present their case and respond to the allegations against them.
I am willing to provide any evidence and testimony that I have gathered in support of my position, and I am open to answering any questions that the committee may have for me regarding this matter.
Thank you for your attention on this matter, and I look forward to working with you to ensure that our academic standards are upheld and that justice is rightly served.
Sincerely,
Professor Eli Yehudah Rotem Rothschild
]
This revealed that it was Professor Rothschild who had fabricated the evidence and even reported Aron to the disciplinary committee. That was when everything clicked into place as Aron remembered that his professor had taken a vacation immediately after the failure of his thesis presentation. It became clear that he had been preparing for Aron's downfall for the embarrassment Aron had caused him.
The other email was directed to the scholarship department:
[
Subject: Request for Aron's Repayment Plan to be made at the Maximum Allowable Interest Rate
Dear Scholarship Department,
I am writing this to request a repayment plan for Aron, a former scholarship recipient who was recently expelled from our institution for thesis theft. While I cannot adequately express my disappointment in his actions, I believe that it is important for us to set an example and establish a precedent with him as we move forward and make him an example for the consequences of his mistakes.
Given the circumstances, I would like to request a modification to the terms of the scholarship agreement.
Specifically, I am requesting that the interest rate on Aron's loan be modified to the maximum allowable rate of annual 15 %. While this modification may result in a lower overall return for the scholarship fund, I believe that it is reasonable as it will set him as an example.
Thank you for your consideration of this request. Please let me know if you require any additional information or documentation.
Sincerely,
Professor Eli Yehudah Rotem Rothschild
]
Damn, the dude even wrote a letter to the scholarship department, for fuck sake. Aron realized that he could potentially use this information to his advantage to sue both the professor and the university. However, he will need to reveal where he got these private emails from. So, this evidence might as well backfire on him.
Furthermore, since he still didn't know how the professor fabricated the thesis used as evidence against him during the hearing, Aron knew that it was better for him to continue digging for more evidence. Despite that, this had brought him some relief, albeit it was just a bit.
As some smart dude in the past once said, the first step to solving a problem is knowing what caused it in the first place.
And now that he finally found out who was the instigator, and the veil of mysteriousness had been removed, the fear of the unknown was also removed from his heart. This meant that now he won't have nightmares of some faceless dude trying to destroy his future and make his life miserable.
Although he didn't understand why the professor decided to ruin his life solely because he had embarrassed him, Aron's head was spinning thinking about how to take revenge from this professor.
But before that, he needed to know the context or the reason as to why the professor had gone this far because embarrassing someone once again wouldn't be enough to ruin their life.
And once he acquired this information, Aron would decide how brutal his revenge should be.
But even within all of this, he was also relieved with the fact that his program was proven to be remarkably good at doing its job. This will mean that his money-making plan has finally taken its first step into his bright future.