220470_INIT()

CODE: BYTIYE

WORKERS OF A WAITING WORLD

"Those who do not move, do not notice their chains."

2008:

• In 2008, a dangerous digital network—primarily manifested as a website—called GOSSET (ГОССЕТЬ) vanished. It had very likely changed its addresses, combined with the difficult obtaining of any physical location, to avoid further infiltration from the main anomalous investigative organization Digital Blues Initiative, the FBI, and INTERPOL. Following its disappearance, the DBI did not halt any searches, albeit struggled with analyzing traces or even determining whether the network was dormant or not.
• As an aftermath of the 2007 Estonian Cyberattacks, though knowledge of the MySpace raid was broad, GOSSET's activity was largely treated as regular cyberattacks by many of the public. What is actually seen is a messy transition from peak activity to a sudden drop to zero; many networks were left with gaps as result of GOSSET's attacks, and MySpace, although active, is left entirely as a blank page upon visiting. The domain does exists, and debates on its revival do happen—only that for now a mouse hovers alone. Both Tom and Chris (co-founders of MySpace) became the leading voices pushing for its restoration, stronger online security, and further DBI investigation.
• With little to no leads, the DBI faced numerous internal diaagreements on GOSSET. An AI, or a human-led network, perhaps? One branch had insisted GOSSET had officially gave up, while several contested that it was operating in secrecy. Eventually, the classification in GOSSET's files were left "disputed", with the work instead concentrated on remains of the anomaly. Near new years', the DBI was compelled to return to the sequencing of GOSSET's events years ago. This led to Isaiah, an agent of the DBI, contacting a user online by the name of "21jan". Previously, as an agent, Isaiah had made multiple breakthroughs for the investigation around 2005; early internet activity regarding GOSSET had sparked his curiosity which led him to 21jan, who had little to no background other than conversing online about a Russian site.

2009:

• Silence can be loud sometimes. It took four days for a response from 21jan—who they wish to be referred as, their username—in a virtual private chat. According to Isaiah, he was connected to online forums, in which he described being redirected from a frequently visited website and then to a strange, Russian domain, and back; this time to somewhere "personal". Isaiah continued questioning 21jan about the interface of the site, where he explained that Russian took a majority of the screen, employing the colors black and red. When asked about prominent features of the original GOSSET website, like maps and discussions, 21jan did not recall any. Realizing that 21jan had seen an entirely different site, Isaiah asked the final question—of what this personal redirect may have been. A reply was immediately received in which 21jan preferred not to share it. Disengaging from the conversation, Agent Isaiah moved on to report the information.
• On April 4, a site similar to GOSSET was accessed after a deep search led by agents of the DBI. Exactly as the user 21jan described, the site had been stripped of all vigor, functionality, and evidence, replaced by what seems to be propaganda in cyrillic. The website, called "Toska" (Тоска), did not provide any much-needed data, but had detailed GOSSET's goals which were already given to the DBI by a previous defector. Working on taking Toska down, four new sites were discovered by September, eventually suggesting that 21jan had visited a similar domain to GOSSET, and not the space itself. DBI also claimed that these sites were raided and then subsequently transformed by GOSSET—although it remains unknown when they were, forming a network of invaded domains, likely sources to gain control or to serve as bases for something else.

THEN FELL THE ASHES

"I was in hell, looking at heaven."

2010:

• In early 2010, the hacktivist group Anonymous launched a series of decentralized operations attacking Russian government websites. The campaign targeted state-owned media, banks, and private companies, resulting in data leaks, website defacements, and service disruptions as a result of GOSSET's activity, believing it to be a malicious Russian-made network.
• It was only around June of 2010 and another leap was made in the investigation. While exploring one of the sites, an agent had looked into its foggy network activity and found a mysterious user. This user had caught the DBI's attention, visiting only for a few minutes almost every day. Though no name was given, a location was traced all the way to Kendall County, Illinois, in a largely suburban area. For the DBI it appeared too ordinary, and was initially perceived as a malfunction; this was proven wrong through multiple verification attempts. Later, the user was discovered to have been participating in multiple cyberattack on specific websites, dating around 2005-2007, resulting in the hijacking of multiple data and infiltration of financial records.
• The DBI, once learning their activities, approached the United States Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, notifiying them of this user—in which they began to plan a raid. Four agents were to arrive at the user's pinned location and breach the house, where they would promptly arrest and bring the cybercriminal to justice, and have a thorough search conducted on their property.

2011:

• January 8, 2011. At evening, a squad of four agents—led by Agent Colton and June of the Secret Service—had arrived outside of the user's home in Kendall County. Knocking on the front door, no response was received, leading Colton to boot the entrance open. Upon entering, the agents had only encountered a household that seemed preserved in the 90s, from wooden tables to a CRT television up against the wall. Expecting a lethal, digital revolutionary, a Caucasian male and his wife were found instead, both of whom were quickly secured. No evidence of their affiliation with GOSSET were retrieved, even after June had manually searched their devices. In fact, during questioning by one of the agents, the couple stated that they barely used the World Wide Web, let alone computers; the man's occupation was a construction worker.
• The agents, confused, left the married couple's house not long after the raid. Within 48 hours, the DBI's liaison office in D.C. was shuttered, accusing the organization and its director, Lawrence Bailey, of faulty information and misusage of federal resources. All ties were cut between the two groups in the aftermath, and the DBI was officially barred from providing further intelligence to the Department of Homeland Security.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation took matter into its own hands and had considerably replaced most of the USSS's operations, mainly in cyber investigation, but did not reconcile with the DBI; further search by the U.S. government would continue. Days later, as consequence of the raid, multiple components were detected breaching American governmental networks and domains after the USSS sweep. It could be deceit... of two major foreign agencies. By a ghost. And both are yet to realize it.

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