Popping into Trouble

[Zach Harris]

"I did it! I hacked the FBI!" Not even four seconds into the conversation with his mom and Aunt Tiffany and Zach was already spilling his guts. Absolutely no willpower whatsoever, but at least he'd been able to come clean with someone. It felt like a great weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. And, if everything said in this bedroom fell under attorney client privilege and couldn't be admitted into court, what better place to do so? Either way, when the FBI inevitably discovered the truth, and they would, Zach certainly wouldn't hold up to their interrogation. He couldn't even hide things from his mom! Those few foolish times he even considered it, the guilt got to be too much, and he caved before she had to do any digging.

"It was stupid, I know, but I did it. Am I going to jail? I've seen enough movies. I won't last long in prison." Zach's worried rambling would be hard to stop, but for someone that had a long history of making good decisions, it was this one bad decision that was going to stick with him for the rest of his life. His eyes darted between the two adults. Clearing out of the common room, stuffed to the brim with investigators, made it easier to talk to family. "I'm not that tough. What do we do? What do I do?"

Xiao "Tiffany" Vukovic

[Xiao "Tiffany" Vukovic]

[attr="class","Tiffanyner"]

[attr="class","Tiffanyner1"]

[attr="class","Tiffanyback"]

[attr="class","Tiffanynert"]Well at least that was something to go off on. They would be dealing with a minor and not an adult. That would be a little more difficult on the feds, especially if nothing else malicious had done. Knowing her nephew he did it just to show it could be done. They would care little for circumstances. “Stephanie, do I have your permission to talk with Zach? Make legal decisions to the best of my ability on his behalf.” All that legal stuff she had to get out of the way at some point. Before they could even go any further Tiffany had to get everything out of the way. Stephanie gave Tiffany her verbal permission with a simple and perfectly legal "yes".

“Hacking isn’t something they take lightly. But I need to know what exactly you did with their system. Walk me through what happened? What you were doing, why you did it that sort of thing. Anything you tell me will help and they will only know what I need to tell them to protect you.” She slid paperwork in Stephanie direction. She was highly certain the feds would just love dealing with a minor.

“We sit here and talk about it, quietly.” She knew that the room couldn’t legally be recording anything and she also knew it couldn’t be bugged either. Tiffany would most certain have a field day if the feds broke attorney/client privilege. She looked over to Stephanie who was reading paperwork and signing it. Stephanie had her hands on her nose pinching the sinus cavity, Tiffany knew it was a sign that she was trying to keep herself from turning over a table or something. What she didn’t know was that Stephanie blamed herself for this. She was the one who taught Zach how to do just that.

∵ Zach Harris ∵

[attr="class","Tiffanyner2"]

[attr="class","Tiffanynerlyric"]你知道捲土重來的樣子嗎
我沒有從哪裡出來

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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[Zach Harris]

[attr="class","Zachnah"]

[attr="class","Zachleft"] [attr="class","Zachleft2"]

[attr="class","Zachright"] Somehow, through all of this, Tiffany managed to remain the voice of reason; perhaps because she needed to be a calming presence for her clients. Zach found it strange to be thinking of himself in that category, but his newfound status meant telling his side of the story. The only problem? There wasn't much of a story to tell. "I didn't really do anything once I got inside," Zach explained to his aunt. It wasn't a lie to protect himself either. His actions had been legitimate curiosity in a moment of weakness. "I just wanted to see if I could hack their system. I thought there might be a backdoor flaw in its design and what fourteen-year-old kid could resist the temptation to try?" Zach knew his mom had to be blaming herself for this now that the truth was out in the open: most of what he knew he'd learned from her. The mistake had been his, not hers, but he doubted he could get her to see that. "So on a scale of one to ten, with ten being cataclysmically bad, how screwed does that make me? Sorry mom." Stephanie probably wouldn't think twice about that word, since she used far worse more often. Ben, on the other hand, wouldn't let him get away with that kind of language. Zach didn't understand why. Screwed didn't count as a curse word. Somewhere along the way, Zach had stopped fidgeting. Getting the truth off his chest had helped; having his aunt here more. It wasn't that he didn't trust his mom, because he absolutely did, but Tiffany did this sort of thing for a living. He was still in a potential situation where he could either sink or swim, but he could at least rely on a lifeguard. No doubt she was figuring out now what strategy to use going forward. Xiao "Tiffany" Vukovic [attr="class","Zachright2"]

deltra of gangnam style

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[Xiao "Tiffany" Vukovic]

[attr="class","Tiffanyner"]

[attr="class","Tiffanyner1"]

[attr="class","Tiffanyback"]

[attr="class","Tiffanynert"]In some sort of strange twist of events, Tiffany found herself in a situation where she was having to defend someone with no real legal ground to stand on. He wasn’t insane, he knew exactly what he was doing, and she was fairly certain he knew it was illegal. Coming clean with things might be a better option but maybe not on the basis of letting them get the upper hand in a court room. Bringing them a plea deal might be a better option. Tiffany rubbed the inside of her nose brow with her index finger.

“Just to be clear, you didn’t open any files?” She was pretty certain that if he opened a file any plea deal option she could reasonably put on the table would be gone as he’d be landing his next 15 years in jail. If she could show this is a federal misdemeanor crime, then she could keep Zach of out too much trouble. The problem is she had to know exactly what was touched once he’d breached the firewall. Computer crimes weren’t really her area of expertise, she was a criminal defense attorney for people who were being court marshalled but she knew she had to do something. Even if it involved picking her colleagues brains.

Why must teenagers take everything as a challenge? “The honest answer is I don’t know. There is no simple answer to this. But there isn’t a defense to this, just a long shot justification of the crime. Right now all I can do is bury them in paperwork.” She knew that wouldn’t last long. In the meantime, Zach would be sent for an arraignment hearing to see if the case was even valid. Tiffany knew that coding was an art of sorts, No two people coding things alike. It was much like handwriting. There wasn’t’ a doubt in a mind she could forensically prove Stephanie DIDN’T do it since the FBI was hell bent on that, she would also have to be able to cough that up but right now that wasn’t her concern.

“Telling them the honest reason WHY you did it and being able to prove you didn’t touch any files is about the best we can do in this situation.” Sure they weren’t going to take lightly to the fact that anyone had done it but the fact that it hadn’t been done with any harmful intent might be their ONLY saving grace when it came to dealing with things. “But l don’t suggest you saying anything. Let me speak for you.” Undoubtedly, Tiffany didn’t want zach saying things with the wrong wording to end up in an even bigger mess. “I can’t promise any outcome from this. All I can do is give things the best shot I can.” She looked to the two of them. They had one shot at this and it was justifiable “white hacking” to troubleshoot flaws in a system. It was going to be hard to explain to Zach.

“White hacking.” She knew Stephanie would understand the terminology quite clearly. “Justifiable guilty plea of white hacking” She knew it was their ONLY shot at this. She turned to Zach. "You plea guilty and we go from there." She put a hand on his shoulder. "You have to trust me on this Zach, but I can't make promises." Tiffany could tell that Stephanie want to pick up something and throw it but was controlling her temper to the point she was going to burst later.

∵ Zach Harris ∵

[attr="class","Tiffanyner2"]

[attr="class","Tiffanynerlyric"]你知道捲土重來的樣子嗎
我沒有從哪裡出來

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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[Zach Harris]

[attr="class","Zachnah"]

[attr="class","Zachleft"] [attr="class","Zachleft2"]

[attr="class","Zachright"] Zach listened intently to his aunt speak – his heart might have even plummeted into his stomach. Sure, the news wasn't as disastrous as it could have been, but it wasn't exactly great either. On Tiffany's recommendation, he should plead guilty – honesty being their best defense at this point. His mind was already working in overdrive, trying to come up with a better solution out of this, when the beginnings of an idea started popping into place. Maybe his aunt or mom could fill in enough details to make this work. "I didn't open anything," Zach confirmed. So, that was a good thing, if they ended up needing to fall back on Plan B. Yes, Zach was still considering that a secondary option, mostly because the idea of pleading guilty made him feel like he was a criminal. "But the FBI really needs better security. I mean, getting hacked by a fourteen year old kid? That's embarrassing. Can't I go work for them instead? They'd want to keep their failure – and a trial – out of the news, right?" In Zach's mind, it would be a better solution for all parties involved. If he could take advantage of existing security flaws, then who else could? At least his way, some good came out of this, and without confidential data being exploited by someone with a bone to pick with an armed federal agency. Zach would still have to come clean with the FBI, but on his own terms. Hopefully, the two adults in the room didn't think it was a stupid, implausible idea. Xiao "Tiffany" Vukovic [attr="class","Zachright2"]

deltra of gangnam style

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[Xiao "Tiffany" Vukovic]

[attr="class","Tiffanyner"]

[attr="class","Tiffanyner1"]

[attr="class","Tiffanyback"]

[attr="class","Tiffanynert"]Tiffany looked to Zach and sighed. “What you just described to me is White Hacking. It’s not a defense, it’s a justification for the action itself. You have to plea guilty to justify the action.” She rubbed her eyebrows. “Not all pleas go to trial. There are ways around going to trial, and likely yes they wouldn’t want this to go to trial; but if you say something like that to them… they will bury you with every law they can throw at you.” Tiffany knew sometimes it was all about the legal approach. There was a reason she didn’t want to say anything.

Unlucky for Zach he had the same attitude as his mother at times. Tiffany watched as Stephanie decided to open up and say something. “Listen to your Aunt Zach. She’s not going to steer you wrong.” Stephanie knew it was one of those damned if you do or damned if you don’t things when it came to white hacking. As long as Zach was being honest about not touching or messing with any files. Stephanie knew that Tiffany wasn’t just making things up.

Tiffany knew they had to put the burden of proof back on the FBI. The proof that didn’t exist of Zach opening a file that hadn’t been opened. “You put the burden of proof back on them for the plea deal. White hat defenses get you out of a lot more than you’d think.” She knew even some black hats got off with that defense in front of a judge when information had been exploited so she knew things weighed in Zach’s favor but nothing was certain.

∵ Zach Harris ∵

[attr="class","Tiffanyner2"]

[attr="class","Tiffanynerlyric"]你知道捲土重來的樣子嗎
我沒有從哪裡出來

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

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[Zach Harris]

[attr="class","Zachnah"]

[attr="class","Zachleft"] [attr="class","Zachleft2"]

[attr="class","Zachright"] "Fine," Zach relented. Neither adult had managed to fully convince him that this was the best course of action, but everyone here kept pushing him in the same direction. Zach trusted Tiffany, of course, and that meant following her recommendations. He wasn't the one with a law degree on fancy paper. "But it always works on TV." There had been no need to lie about what he'd done – not when their conversation fell under the rules of attorney-client privilege. As Tiffany had explained earlier, anything the three of them discussed in this room would be inadmissible in a court of law. Even after everything Zach had heard, his still seemed like the better idea, but if this is what it took to prove his intent hadn't been malicious, then this is what Team Defense – it was as good a name as any – would go through with. To be fair, legal speak mostly went over his head. If you ever tried looking at a statute, whatever person worded those did so in a way that you couldn't possibly understand them. Not at all like computer coding or ones and zeroes. Zach plopped down on the bed, leaving behind an indent in the otherwise pristinely folded blanket, as he hugged himself. "Just... okay." Xiao "Tiffany" Vukovic [attr="class","Zachright2"]

deltra of gangnam style

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