Invasion of Privacy: A Deep Web Thriller #1 (Deep Web Thriller Series) Read Free Page B

different locations around the world. 
    As they read through the offending material, Brody flipped back to Crooner42’s request. He was tempted by the job, but hesitant to put himself forward until he reviewed the site in question. It was the reference to it receiving unwarranted attention from law agencies that intrigued him. 
    Incredulity rang in the voices from the screen as they absorbed the material Brody had just emailed them. 
    He checked Crooner42’s profile. He presented himself as more of a coder than a hacker, someone who spent far more time programming than trying to identify exploits in systems. He’d been active on CrackerHack for three years. Satisfied, Brody clicked on the hyperlink to the so-called ‘experimental’ site. It was called www.SecretlyWatchingYou.com. It seemed to be a random collection of network camera and webcam feeds. Brody clicked on one, making sure his computer’s speakers were muted. It showed some people working in an office, layers of desks and desktop computers. Another feed showed some fish swimming around in a fish tank. Not particularly interesting. 
    The Internet was full of webcam sites, the majority of which were either for viewing public places from afar in real time or for pornographic purposes. But this site claimed to have hacked into private network cameras in peoples’ homes and workplaces. It was certainly unusual. It charged fees for access beyond the free taster webcam feeds on the front page. Brody couldn’t really see why anyone would want to pay or what all the fuss about law agencies was about. 
    Surely Crooner42 was over-egging the protection the site needed to have? Who would bother to attack it? And publicly requesting help like this on CrackerHack was definitely out of the ordinary. But then Brody remembered that after this meeting, his diary was looking concerningly clear. If Crooner42 selected Brody over other forum members for the job, his elite status in the hacking community would intensify — doubly so if he quickly broke through the website’s security countermeasures. 
    Ah, what the hell! 
    He returned to the original email and pressed the link Crooner42 had provided. In the blink of an eye, he had registered his interest in carrying out the pentest on SecretlyWatchingYou. Now it was down to whether Crooner42 chose him over another offer.
    Brody returned his attention to the video conference.
    “Looks like I’m done here,” said Tim Welland, getting to his feet in Munich. 
    “That’s the understatement of the day,” commented Chu. 
    “You’ll have my resignation in your inbox within the hour, Mr Lamont.” They all waited while Welland gathered his belongings and left the room in Germany.
    “Well, Mr Taylor,” said Lamont. “A bit unorthodox, but I’d like to thank you for saving our company from a very embarrassing predicament, not to mention the potential law suits.”
    “Just doing my job.”
    “I think we should delay the presentation of your findings report until I’m back in the UK, which will be Monday week. I’d also like to personally shake your hand. And if everything is as insecure as you describe, it looks as though Chu will see a lot more budget going his way.”
    “Sounds good to me,” said Brody.
    “And me,” said Chu, his relief evident.
    Ten minutes later, Brody drove out of the Atlas Brands car park in his metallic orange and black, custom-designed Smart Fortwo coupe. It would take a good few hours to get back to London. His phone vibrated. He slowed, looked down and glanced at the message header. It was from Crooner42 and entitled ‘Pentest Outcome . . .’
    Brody stopped the car and clicked on the message, fully expecting to see his name in lights.
    He couldn’t believe what he read.
    * * *
    Breathlessly, DI Jenny Price lowered her umbrella and flashed her warrant card at the police constable blocking the entrance to the tall, glass-clad office building. The PC acknowledged her as “Ma’am”, a