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#### Chapter 14: Beyond the Known

Previously: The investigation which started with the disappearance of Mr. Wright culminated in the expose of a cyber crime group who was spreading and operating a ransomware to financially damage thousands of people. Mr. Wright was also found alleged in this crime, but when an investigator tried to seek him at his house, a dramatic mystery baffled all.
This is where the story will end. The Mystery will end.
22 May, 2009.
The day before yesterday, you completed your internship at Agil. It was indeed a rare experience. But the unsolved mystery is still haunting you.
What happened to Mr. Wright? Where did Mrs. Wright went? How and why did those incidents lead to COATIS? How is it all connected?
You don't know any of this. And you fear that you may never know.
You started searching the Internet with all possible keywords related with this case - "Wright", "COATIS", "Agil", "Foma", etc. - in the hope that you will find some clue related to the mystery; but in vain.
After a continued attempt of two hours, you came across a very low indexed, but recent blogpost. It was dated 21 May, 2009. It read on top - "The Confession".
21 May, 2009. Around the time of sunset.
In a remote Inn in the urban area of Spellborough, ...
... a person stares outside the room window and watches the sun gradually vanishing below the distant horizon.
After a long thoughtful gaze at the darkening sky, the person turns towards a letter, a letter that the person has written few minutes ago. It says on top - "The Confession."
THE CONFESSION.
Hello,
I am a cryptographer. And this is my confession letter.
I am known in the Deep Web by the pseudonym *************. Around February, I was contacted by a startup who claimed to be dedicated to digital security. They were looking for some ingenious way of safeguarding private files of users - something like unbreakable file locks. I was thrilled by the idea of having the files completely secure from the prying eyes of hackers. If such security could have been served in a usable way to the users, it would have been a wonder indeed. That is why I provided them consultancy about how this could be done, especially on a large scale and fastly.
As time passed, I realized that their motives were not as noble as they were claiming. They were misusing my advice, and using the foolproof encryption mechanism to spread the ransomware called CryptoRansom. That startup was none other than the COATIS.
They were maintaining perfect anonymity using my own advice. Their address was unknown. Their contact was volatile. And there were no evidences against them. People were troubled by the ransomware CryptoRansom; but no one knew the people behind that; no one knew COATIS. They were as shadowy as possible. And catching them was impossible.
All I had was one of their volatile contact. Handing it to the Police was not a good option as it was an unstable contact, and they could've destroyed it anytime. So, instead I decided to contact them myself; and take some hard but essential steps.
I joined their organization in March, and continued to work there. They were a very weird people as they didn't care about names. All the employees working there used their pseudonyms only. Their real identity was never asked. Maybe COATIS had a crazy respect for the anonymity which they themselves craved for.
But, also, During that time, I realized the grave threat I have stepped myself into. They were a very dangerous organization, and had strong connections with the underworld too. Although, I tried my best to keep myself away, I was tasked multiple times to make indirect digital contacts with the gangs of the underworld. In one close digital encounter with them, I also met Earle Smith on an encrypted Internet Chat Room. I introduced myself to him by the alias name - ****.
By mid May, I was one of their favorite employee as I had the most technical expertise in the whole COATIS, and they appointed me as their Chief Cryptographer. I also maintained their server room for which I set the password to "Warthog_Smith" which is an anagram of "Thomas_Wright". I did this in the hope that maybe, someone who may crack it, could notice it. It was meant to be a signal that any seeker can find more clues and uncover a greater truth. I don't know if anyone realized that!
Anyway, now it was time to expose them. But it was not possible to directly leak their address or name; as it could have put me into grave peril. That's when I decided to frame a grand plan - a plan that involved leaving a trail of cryptography riddles and clues. I hoped it would warn, wake and progress the investigation against this organization; and I am glad that it finally succeeded as well.
At one point of time, people of Agil contacted me, and demanded the info on COATIS. My plan was working perfectly. Then, I asked the people at COATIS to grant me a leave for a week. I was sure that investigators and the police will catch them within this time. People at COATIS were too strict and suspicious on my request, and it took me two days to convince them. This also caused some delay in my reply to Agil. Anyway, as soon as I got the leave, I went on disguise and have been living in a remote and inconspicuous address for the past one week.
The recent news of the expose and catch of the COATIS, has been a big sign of relief and triumph for me. Thousands of people are safer now than they were one week ago. And also, after the media buzz that has been created, now, they will be more aware and careful while using the Internet.
Athough I accept that I myself participated in helping COATIS, but my acts were solely devoted to the task of uncovering their secrets. It was imperative to expose and catch the participants of this hazardous cyber crime group, otherwise the criminals would have continued to defraud and extort funds from victims worldwide using the ransomware schemes, and the future would have seen a cyber disaster. Really, their ransomware was so foolproof that once executed on victim's machine, it was impossible to relieve victim of its harms. But now everyone can feel more secured.
This was the story about my intention, and my work.
Now, About my true identity, about who I really am, I have tried in this case to remain as anonymous as I could; but in reality, now I have become confused myself. People know me but also don't know me.
People at COATIS - they know me as a cryptographer by the pseudonym Thomas Wright who helped them built their ransomware system. But did they know my true identity? No, they were so confident about not being caught, that they never cared for it.
People at Agil - This is how they know me - actually they know three characters - they know a crazy contractor from underworld called Foma, they have heard of a never-actually-seen Mr. Thomas Wright who was possibly the Chief Cryptographer at COATIS and maybe also their whistle-blower, and, Oh Yes! they have seen my real face, the face of ******************. But do they know my true identity? No. They don't even know that all these characters were one!
And the common people, the general public - well, they know me simply where I professionaly work as a common citizen, they know me by my registered name. But they don't know the stories above.
Those who know one story don't know the another. And so, everyone know me, but also know me not.
Someone has rightly said said: No matter how much reality you think you know, you always know just a fraction, just the tip of the iceberg. Think it carefully, and you will find that everyone is known but also simultaneously unknown.
"You may know my fame, you may know my glory
You may know me bad, and details all gory
Work a little hard, and you may know some more,
But you will never get to know; Never the Whole Story."
Bye.
-Anonymous

##### The End.

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Music Track ("Tuesday Morning by Ryan Litt")