Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 803 - 808: Still Valuable

Chapter 803: Chapter 808: Still Valuable

Yang Yi was furious, and his anger was uncontrollable.

"P Ukraine is a major power in Eastern Europe! A major power! How can the highest military institution of this country be so irresponsible!"

Schultz whispered from the side, "Actually, this is normal. Everyone talks about cybersecurity, but..."

"But what!"

"How can you possibly monitor all day without anyone invading? It’s exhausting; we can’t do it. So, we rely on firewalls, on software, the system’s inherent protection, or simply physical isolation. But there was a problem this time."

Yang Yi took a deep breath, "What problem?"

"The tool I used was too advanced; uh, I wrote this software myself, exploiting vulnerabilities only Tang Guo and I know about. But boss, I didn’t use the latest tools. I used a hacker toolkit from two years ago, thinking they would’ve detected it."

Schultz, who successfully infiltrated the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, increasingly lowered his voice as if he had done something wrong; Yang Yi, face filled with helplessness, said, "Alright, tell me what you found."

Schultz leaned closer to the computer and said, "It seems there’s nothing of particular value here. Let me check. There are lots of things, but they’re all relatively low in confidentiality level, oh, there are meeting alerts."

Yang Yi inhaled, "Meeting alerts? Tell me about the meeting arrangements."

"There are two today, um, one tomorrow. All from the Ministry of Defense day-to-day arrangements; I don’t know the specific content, uh, there are minutes here..."

Yang Yi was shocked. He exclaimed, "No way, they put that online?"

Schultz urgently said, "No, no, I can’t see the content yet; it needs decryption. But it’s just a matter of time. Besides, these meetings are all routine operations of the Ministry of Defense and don’t involve military secrets, of little value."

Yang Yi smiled as if he’d found money on the ground. With a helpless expression he stated, "Of little value? Do you not realize the massive value of this intelligence? I’m telling you, what you consider worthless is a gold mine for a spy."

Not just moving a division somewhere or what missions to undertake; intelligence that records the minor affairs of the Ministry of Defense is indeed valuable, and it can reveal a lot through day-to-day trivialities, sometimes no less than what a top-secret intelligence alone may yield.

Yang Yi couldn’t be bothered to check the specific contents of the messages anymore. He waved his hand, "Download it, copy, copy all these materials again. We’ll stop when we get caught."

Schultz said, "I’ll need Tang Guo’s cooperation for this; with a supercomputer, the download speed would of course be much faster."

Yang Yi shook his head, "No need, these intelligence won’t sell for much. Just download it. I want people to catch your download, but if no one notices, I don’t mind doing a full sweep."

Schultz began the download. Yang Yi did not want to disturb him, so an hour passed, then two, Rodriguez had fallen asleep.

Schultz looked at Yang Yi with an embarrassed face, "Boss, the download is complete."

"Haven’t they detected it yet?"

"No..."

Yang Yi took a deep breath, "The Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of Defense is a completely independent subsidiary unit, right? The intrusion just now was in the internal system of the Ministry of Defense, correct?"

"Yes."

"Break into the Ministry of Defense’s Security Bureau."

Schultz resumed his task, and after half an hour of busy work, he looked embarrassingly at Yang Yi.

Yang Yi felt helpless and asked, "Can it be that you succeeded again?"

Schultz replied in a low voice, "This hacker toolkit became ineffective for penetrating the Pentagon last year, but here, it still appears to be of a nuclear level; they can’t defend against it..."

"Then switch to lower technology. No no, first download a packet of the data."

Schultz replied in a low voice, "Already started downloading, but there’s something I need to tell you. I don’t have lower quality toolkits anymore. I thought about how to succeed, never about failing. But I can operate manually, even though it’s cumbersome."

Yang Yi waved his hand, "Forget it, just continue."

Schultz, while watching the computer, puzzledly said, "Boss, why can’t these intelligence materials sell for money? If you say these data are very valuable, they should fetch a decent price, like selling to the Russians."

Yang Yi chuckled bitterly, "Think about it, if we can break in so easily and unintentionally expose without being discovered, wouldn’t the Russians know and think of going in for a stroll? Don’t forget, the Russians’ cyber intelligence capabilities are strong, even if... wait a second!"

Yang Yi’s eyes suddenly began to shine, then with a look of realization, he exclaimed, "Yes! We can sell it to the Russians!"

Schultz was stunned for a moment. "But didn’t you say the Russians could get this intelligence themselves?"

Yang Yi hurriedly commanded, "No! Immediately notify Tang Guo; let her help you to quickly package and download all these materials. It needs to be fast and discreet; absolutely no one can discover it!"

Schultz still didn’t understand, but Yang Yi was extremely excited, for he had already thought of a way to bring Mark Schappo back.

The Russians very likely already had access to this intelligence, so selling it to them was not an option, but the problem was that the Russians having got hold of the intelligence would surely remain silent. They would definitely keep infiltrating this vast treasury if needed; hence the Ukrainians are oblivious to their intelligence being leaked.

Although it wasn’t classified intelligence or even data that needed encryption, any spy knew the potential value hidden in these daily trivialities.

Therefore, Yang Yi merely needed to obtain the intelligence, then let everyone know the vulnerability in the internal network defenses of the Ministry of Defense. It was just that simple.

Whether it was the Ministry of Defense or its Intelligence Bureau, once Schultz’s intrusion was discovered, they would at most check internally and bolster their defenses. But definitely, they would not publicize it widely. It was even very normal for some individuals to directly cover it up.

But if Yang Yi were to unveil this lid, it would be a different story. A reorganization of the Ministry of Defense would be necessary, and an internal investigation by the Intelligence Bureau would be apt. At least the source of the leak had to be clarified. So, leaking this incident would be major news; as a bureau chief, would Mark Schappo not have to come back?

Having suddenly understood these connections, Yang Yi knew he didn’t need to do anything more. He just needed to secure the intelligence, and Mark Schappo would have to come back to handle it, no choice about it.

Only, doing this would probably infuriate the Russians, guarding such a reciprocal repository of intelligence and allowing the Organization of Water to blow it wide open.