Ransomware was a type of computer virus that took its name from the words ransom and software. Once it infected a device, all the data was automatically encrypted and became totally unusable. If you wanted to decrypt it, you had to pay a ransom to the virus’s creators.
“Saotome. Have you gotten any suspicious e-mails lately?” Keigo asked. There were lots of ways for ransomware to infect a device, but e-mail attachments were the most common.
“E-mail…,” she mumbled, fishing through her memory in a panic. Suddenly, she seemed to remember something. “Now that you mention it, last week I got an e-mail from a company I’d never heard of. There was an attachment titled ‘Invoice,’ and…”
“You opened it?”
“…I did…,” she said, her voice barely audible as she nodded. That was most likely the culprit. Although most people knew about viruses, the criminals were typically a step ahead of their victims. They competed night and day to find new ways of spreading malware. Avoiding them completely was near-impossible. It was no wonder Saotome had fallen for it.
“But ransomware…,” he muttered, a bad feeling welling up in the pit of his stomach as he accessed the shared server from Saotome’s computer.
Ransomware didn’t just encrypt the files of the device it had infected. In some cases, it also encrypted connected storage locations.
“…You’re kidding me,” Keigo whispered.
“What…?” said Nagi, sounding terrified.
“This is bad. It’s not just Saotome’s local file. The shared server has been affected, too.”
“The shared server? …Wait, that’s…”
Panic crept over her face as she realized what was happening.
“Yeah. The source code has been encrypted, too.”
Nagi was dumbfounded. The development team that Keigo and the others belonged to kept their source code on the server so everyone could access it. A quick check revealed that the majority had been encrypted and was now unusable.
“No…that can’t be…”
Saotome was so pale Keigo worried she might actually faint.
“Mr. Yuuki! Can we try one of the decryption tools available online?” Saiga suggested. He must have been looking into it while they were talking. He was right that free decryption tools could be found on the internet. But not all ransomware used the same encryption algorithm. New algorithms were being developed, decoded, and redeveloped every day. It was a real cat-and-mouse game. Of course, it would be nice if a decryption tool conveniently existed for the virus they’d been infected with, but…
“…No luck,” Keigo said with a sigh after a quick search. Unfortunately, the right tool didn’t appear to exist yet. Everything was going against them, and no one had anything to say.
“…I’m sorry!”
Saotome’s voice broke the silence.
“This is my fault. I’m so sorry! I apologize!”
“Saotome, it’s all right…!” Nagi said, trying to soothe her, but the other woman kept on apologizing desperately.
“Listen, the first thing we need to do is get the work that’s due tomorrow completed. If we extract whatever source code is still okay and work together to rewrite the rest, I’m sure we’ll make our deadline…!”
“That’s impossible! It took us a month to write that code… How can we redo it all in a day?!” Saotome wailed tearfully. Nagi tried to calm her, but it seemed she could no longer hear Nagi’s words.
“How can I ever make this up to you…?! I’m so sorry for causing all this trouble…!”
“Stop crying and pull yourself together!” Keigo shouted.
The whole office fell silent. Nagi, Saiga, and the teary-eyed Saotome all stared at him in shock.
“Just calm down. We don’t know yet if all the data is permanently lost. I’ve heard that encrypted files can be restored from the registry. I don’t remember the details, though, and I’d say our chances are only fifty-fifty,” he continued.
He’d read an online article about it once. They might not be able to fully restore the data, but even if they could only save the source code, they’d be in decent shape.
“You’re the lead on this project, right?” he said sternly to Saotome, who was standing next to him in a daze. “I want you to direct Nagi and Saiga on how to prepare to rewrite the source code. I’ll try to do something about the data on the shared server.”
He couldn’t just “try”; he needed to make this work. Otherwise, he didn’t think Saotome would ever be able to recover. They were still on bad terms, and he knew she hated him. But this was a special situation. He didn’t fully understand her, but he did know she’d worked extremely hard to learn her job.
“It’s going to be tough, but keep at it,” he said.
“Mr. Yuuki…,” Saotome mumbled in a daze.
“Saotome! Tell us what to do!” Nagi said eagerly.
“Yeah, I’ll do whatever you say,” Saiga added.
“…Sniff.”
For a second, Saotome seemed about to cry again, but she didn’t. She violently wiped her eyes, and when she lifted her face, it was calm.
“All right! Let’s do this!”
Nagi and Saiga responded to her firm declaration with stiff nods.
“I can’t believe it…”
“You recovered the data…”
Nagi and Saotome stared at the monitor in astonishment.
“I knew you could do it, Mr. Yuuki. Nice one,” Saiga said as he delivered a cup of coffee to Keigo, who was sprawled, exhausted, on his desk.
“Hey… Thanks,” Keigo said, drinking it down in a single gulp.
It was already eleven at night. More than six hours had passed since they detected the ransomware. Keigo had fumbled his way toward decrypting the shared server, then used the same strategy to recover Saotome’s local files. Fortunately, there was no sign of other damage, and it seemed they had escaped with just those two locations being infected.
“Do you think we can make our deadline?” he asked. Saotome nodded.
“Yes, definitely!”
“That’s a relief.”
He stood sluggishly and left the office, saying he wanted to wash his face. He sighed in relief as he headed to the bathroom. He was mentally and physically exhausted, but he was also truly grateful they’d averted disaster. He rolled his shoulders, trying to undo the knots that had formed from concentrating so hard on his work.
“—Mr. Yuuki!”
Saotome was running after him down the hall.
“Thank you so much for today!” she said loudly, bowing her head.
“Don’t worry about it. I learned a lot myself,” he said, waving dismissively. But she stayed where she was, looking troubled.
“That’s not all I wanted to thank you for… I’m also grateful you snapped me back to reality when I was panicking.”
“Oh, that…”
She might be grateful, but he wondered how the others would view his yelling at a female coworker in the office.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” he said. “I feel like I apologized for the same thing earlier today… Geez, I haven’t learned anything… I really am sorry.”
He scratched his head guiltily, but she quietly shook her head.
“No, thanks to you I was able to calm down. If anyone gets on your case about it, I’ll give them a piece of my mind!”
She sounded so determined, he couldn’t help smiling.
“Seriously, though, you did good work today,” he said. “It was amazing how you got back on track so quickly.”
While he was recovering the data, Saotome had directed Nagi and Saiga, efficiently and without complaint. He was truly impressed by her about-face.
“You were surprisingly manly. It was pretty cool,” he said, then blinked in surprise. Saotome was bowing deeply to him.
“…I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you,” she said to his complete shock. “I’ll tell Ms. Yoroizuka that you’re not the one I’m interested in. And I’ll explain to the president that the episode with the love hotel was all a misunderstanding on my part.”
“Really, are you sure?”
Keigo was bewildered. Admitting that it had all been a misunderstanding was equivalent to throwing away her trump card. There was clearly no gain in it for her. As he tried to figure out her motivation, she frowned slightly.
“…You’re kind of odd, aren’t you, Mr. Yuuki?”
Now she was insulting him? He was speechless. Then Saotome stretched as if to collect herself.
“Let the best man win. And no grudges!” she said defiantly. He offered her a wry smile.
“I won’t hold it against you, but I might take a week or so off work,” he replied.
“Nope, not allowed. Ms. Yoroizuka and I would have to pull your weight.”
“You’re merciless.”
He smiled again, and she couldn’t help smiling back.