#sergeant platt

Officers shake their heads in disbelief and get going. Voigt turns to his unit, “That goes for us too. Team up, suit up and get going. Mouse, you head over to dispatch. See what you can do to mitigate this attack. If you find something call me or Jay.”

“Well, this is going to be fun. Please, get these servers back up fast, Mouse,” Jay sighs and lays a hand on Mouse’s shoulder.

Mouse gives him a tight smile, “I’ll do my best, Jay.”

A short drive later Mouse walks into the CECC (Chicago Emergency Communications Centre). As he enters the command room, the shift supervisor exits it. After being assigned a work station, he sets up his laptop and gets to work.

15 minutes later the server goes down under the sustained Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The focus is on redirecting the traffic to keep at least the phone lines online. It becomes clear the incoming lines are not the target. The attacks focus on the dispatch infrastructure itself. The part of the infrastructure that handles call logs and dispatches.

“Well, that’s strange. Now, why would someone do that?” Mouse mumbles and starts a log file to catalogue spikes in the traffic. Once that’s done, he gets his backtrace programs running and picks up his cell.

“Hey Jay, this DDoS attack is strange. They are targeting the dispatch specifically. I set up a log file. As soon as that’s complete, I’ll check for patterns.”

“When will the servers be up again, man? It’s chaos out here. We just had three units assigned to the same traffic accident.”

“I’m on it. The backtrace is running. Once it’s donne we start blocking their access. Currently the server is still getting too many pings at once.”

“Pft. Okay, just make it fast, please?”

“As fast as possible, Jay. You know me.”

Mouse has barely returned to his work when he is hugged from behind.

“I’ve missed you like hell! It’s sooo good you’re here!” the woman with a 911-Operator badge greets him. Then she kisses him on the cheek.

“Hey, there. I’ve missed you too.” He takes a quick look around. “Are you on break?”

“Of course, or I wouldn’t be here,” she answers little offended.

He turns to her: “I have a backtrace program running, so I can take a few moments.”

“Come on then!” Grabbing his hand she practically drags him out of his chair, towards the hallway.

Half an hour later Mouse is back at his station, a slight rose tint on his cheeks. Checking the progress of his automated programs he nods.

“That’s what I thought. The traffic spikes when coverage shifts. But which area are they trying to expose?” he taps his fingers on the desk and brings up the patrol grids. After overlaying them with traffic surges he smiles.

“Hey, Jay. They are targeting the Art Institute. They’re spicing traffic to expose the patrol grid there.”

“The Art Institute? That makes sense. Any idea who is behind this?”

“Someone with plenty of money. The equipment for an attack like this isn’t cheap. That rules out the colleague kid from last week.”

“The one with the credit card scam?”

“Yeah.”

“He lawyered up fast and expensive. Got off cheap. If you think it could be him, look into it some more for me.”

“Well, the coding is almost an exact match. I’m on it.”

As Mouse detects the next traffic spike, he calls the Sergeant.

“Voight, we have another spike.”

“Copy that. We’re gonna check the Art Institute.”

Some minutes later Jay calls, “Mouse, are there any venues at the Institute today? We’ve got a catering van idling here.”

“Checking...that’s a negative, Jay.”

“Understood. Olinsky says they’ve got a police scanner. That’s got to be our guys.”

“Shit, hold on, Jay. Seems this DDoS attack is coming from our college kid. At least the signal bounces from an apartment near campus.”

“Uff, we’re stretched thin here,” Jay sounds tired. “Sergeant, Mouse narrowed the attackers signal down to an apartment near campus?”

“Alright, take Lindsey and arrest this kid. Getting 911 back up is a priority. We’ve got these two.”

“Yes, Sergeant. Mouse we’re on our way over there.”

“I’ve heard. I’ll keep you in the loop if anything changes.”

“Hey man, we got the kid. What shall we do with his laptop?”

“Close it, unplug it and put it in an RFD-bag. I’ll check it later.”

 “Copy. We’ll transport him over to the precinct.”

“Yeah, now that he’s out, we should be back online in about an hour.”

Close to an hour later, Mouse shuts his own laptop and moves to the call centre. Scanning the room full of exhausted but relieved Operators bringing their systems back online.

He stops behind the chair of the Operator from earlier and puts his arms around her. She jolts.

“Hey! Mouse?” She jumps up and hugs him tight.

“Thank, you. Thank, you! You brought our servers back!”

He hugs her back, “You’re welcome, Spot. It wasn’t just me. Jay actually arrested the hacker.”

“Yeah, fine. I’ll thank him later. And who caused this whole mess,” she leans back to look at him.

“The colleague kid from a week ago.”

“A colleague kid? But why?”

“Attention. Showing off.”

She shakes her head, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Her line rings and both separate, “See you later, Mouse.”

“See you at home, Spot.”

Header and Line Divider by the author

Writen as part of the Warmanjuary fic action

Masterlist Warmanjuary

Officers shake their heads in disbelief and get going. Voigt turns to his unit, “That goes for us too. Team up, suit up and get going. Mouse, you head over to dispatch. See what you can do to mitigate this attack. If you find something call me or Jay.”

“Well, this is going to be fun. Please, get these servers back up fast, Mouse,” Jay sighs and lays a hand on Mouse’s shoulder.

Mouse gives him a tight smile, “I’ll do my best, Jay.”

A short drive later Mouse walks into the CECC (Chicago Emergency Communications Centre). As he enters the command room, the shift supervisor exits it. After being assigned a work station, he sets up his laptop and gets to work.

15 minutes later the server goes down under the sustained Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The focus is on redirecting the traffic to keep at least the phone lines online. It becomes clear the incoming lines are not the target. The attacks focus on the dispatch infrastructure itself. The part of the infrastructure that handles call logs and dispatches.

“Well, that’s strange. Now, why would someone do that?” Mouse mumbles and starts a log file to catalogue spikes in the traffic. Once that’s done, he gets his backtrace programs running and picks up his cell.

“Hey Jay, this DDoS attack is strange. They are targeting the dispatch specifically. I set up a log file. As soon as that’s complete, I’ll check for patterns.”

“When will the servers be up again, man? It’s chaos out here. We just had three units assigned to the same traffic accident.”

“I’m on it. The backtrace is running. Once it’s donne we start blocking their access. Currently the server is still getting too many pings at once.”

“Pft. Okay, just make it fast, please?”

“As fast as possible, Jay. You know me.”

Mouse has barely returned to his work when he is hugged from behind.

“I’ve missed you like hell! It’s sooo good you’re here!” the woman with a 911-Operator badge greets him. Then she kisses him on the cheek.

“Hey, there. I’ve missed you too.” He takes a quick look around. “Are you on break?”

“Of course, or I wouldn’t be here,” she answers little offended.

He turns to her: “I have a backtrace program running, so I can take a few moments.”

“Come on then!” Grabbing his hand she practically drags him out of his chair, towards the hallway.

Half an hour later Mouse is back at his station, a slight rose tint on his cheeks. Checking the progress of his automated programs he nods.

“That’s what I thought. The traffic spikes when coverage shifts. But which area are they trying to expose?” he taps his fingers on the desk and brings up the patrol grids. After overlaying them with traffic surges he smiles.

“Hey, Jay. They are targeting the Art Institute. They’re spicing traffic to expose the patrol grid there.”

“The Art Institute? That makes sense. Any idea who is behind this?”

“Someone with plenty of money. The equipment for an attack like this isn’t cheap. That rules out the colleague kid from last week.”

“The one with the credit card scam?”

“Yeah.”

“He lawyered up fast and expensive. Got off cheap. If you think it could be him, look into it some more for me.”

“Well, the coding is almost an exact match. I’m on it.”

As Mouse detects the next traffic spike, he calls the Sergeant.

“Voight, we have another spike.”

“Copy that. We’re gonna check the Art Institute.”

Some minutes later Jay calls, “Mouse, are there any venues at the Institute today? We’ve got a catering van idling here.”

“Checking...that’s a negative, Jay.”

“Understood. Olinsky says they’ve got a police scanner. That’s got to be our guys.”

“Shit, hold on, Jay. Seems this DDoS attack is coming from our college kid. At least the signal bounces from an apartment near campus.”

“Uff, we’re stretched thin here,” Jay sounds tired. “Sergeant, Mouse narrowed the attackers signal down to an apartment near campus?”

“Alright, take Lindsey and arrest this kid. Getting 911 back up is a priority. We’ve got these two.”

“Yes, Sergeant. Mouse we’re on our way over there.”

“I’ve heard. I’ll keep you in the loop if anything changes.”

“Hey man, we got the kid. What shall we do with his laptop?”

“Close it, unplug it and put it in an RFD-bag. I’ll check it later.”

 “Copy. We’ll transport him over to the precinct.”

“Yeah, now that he’s out, we should be back online in about an hour.”

Close to an hour later, Mouse shuts his own laptop and moves to the call centre. Scanning the room full of exhausted but relieved Operators bringing their systems back online.

He stops behind the chair of the Operator from earlier and puts his arms around her. She jolts.

“Hey! Mouse?” She jumps up and hugs him tight.

“Thank, you. Thank, you! You brought our servers back!”

He hugs her back, “You’re welcome, Spot. It wasn’t just me. Jay actually arrested the hacker.”

“Yeah, fine. I’ll thank him later. And who caused this whole mess,” she leans back to look at him.

“The colleague kid from a week ago.”

“A colleague kid? But why?”

“Attention. Showing off.”

She shakes her head, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Her line rings and both separate, “See you later, Mouse.”

“See you at home, Spot.”

Header and Line Divider by the author

Writen as part of the Warmanjuary fic action Masterlist Warmanjuary