November 2009
4 posts
Going Fishing
The time has come for decisive action. My cover has been conclusively blown, my identity established by those I would have hidden it from, and I don’t want to spend the next few years running. We’ve uncovered plenty of data, and now it’s time to apply it.
I’m going on a bit of a fishing expedition. I’ll let you know how it pans out as soon as I can.
Pandora’s Box is Open
I was approached by someone from the human resources department this morning. She told me that she’d been asked to begin my termination paperwork, but due to the length and strength of our friendship, she thought I deserve a bit of a warning to brace myself for the news. I’m more grateful to her for telling me than she’ll ever know.
I’m sure if I had waited for the official notice to come, I’d...
Hunted
I have the final decrypted document here, and it’s not good news for us. Particularly for me.
RE: Project Naaczaal Status Briefing, October 29
We have become aware of a very serious internal security breach. We are working around the clock to identify the culprit. If you see any suspicious behavior in your team, report it immediately.
The breach may be part of an organized conspiracy...
Tick Tock, Tick Tock
I was right. I haven’t been able to get any new information. Worse, the hallways at work have been filled with serious-looking men in dark suits and earpieces having quiet conversations. They look over us like they’re wolves and we’re lambs, and I don’t doubt that I’m the one they plan on having to dinner. I think I have one more thing I can do, but it will take some careful planning, and there’d...
October 2009
10 posts
Pushing the Envelope
My suspicions from earlier in the week are correct. Yesterday I attended a mandatory all-day training session on internal security. I’m concerned that the sloppy procedures I’ve been exploiting to get our information won’t last much longer. I may have already done all that I can. That said, I’ve abandoned any idea of protecting my career. This is much too big and much too important for my cozy...
Cultural Artifacts
First, tremendous thanks to Rowan for decrypting the document from San Francisco. Apparently it was a much more difficult process this time. Here’s the plaintext document: Re: Project Naaczaal Status Briefing, October 20 We have encountered some significant challenges regarding site location, and we are bringing our allies to table to negotiate on our behalf. We are examining a number of fallback...
A New Code
Here’s the deciphered document from Atlanta, thanks to David:
RE: Project Naaczaal
Status Briefing, October 18
Some green passholders are demanding an upgrade in accommodation as a matter of value for money. They indicate that more funds and passes may be purchased if these demands are fully met, but that failure to meet this demand might result in withholding of the balance of funds...
From Atlanta
Yet another successful interception. Your persistence and loyalty are nothing short of miraculous. The decryption from last week is here: RE: Project Naaczaal Status Briefing, October 14 As per previous notice, due to a critical breach we are performing an immediate Level 3 security sweep. As a result, your access information for our secure file system has been changed. Your new password for the...
Animals?
If you had told me a year ago that I’d be investigating my employer for widespread fraud in connection with the construction of some form of escape vehicle in preparation for the end of the world in 2012, I think you know exactly what I would have thought. And yet it seems that is precisely what it’s come to. This is a bigger game than mere taxpayer fraud, and the stakes are higher yet. But...
Post from the Road
I have to make this quick, I think I’m being observed. The document from Friday, in plaintext:
RE: PROJECT NAACZAAL
STATUS BRIEFING OCTOBER TEN
SMALL SCALE PROTOTYPING AND COMPLETE TESTING OF PROPULSION SYSTEM HAVE BEEN PERFORMED AND ARE A COMPLETE SUCCESS.
ORIGINAL DESIGNS HAVE OVERPERFORMED PREDICTIONS SIGNIFICANTLY, AND AS A RESULT THE FULL SCALE BUILD BLUEPRINTS WILL BE ADJUSTED TO...
Gears That Grind
I understand some of you have received a message indicating that our activities have not gone undetected. “Level 3 security sweep,” indeed. My access to information at work has indeed been somewhat curtailed, but the particular method I’ve been using still works for me. I’ll keep going if you will.
On Friday, another of you retrieved information from Chicago. Here is the cipher text it...
Curiouser and Curiouser
Thanks to quick work on the part of Ricardo and Rowan, we now know what the encrypted file from Los Angeles on Monday said:
RE: PROJECT NAACZAAL
STATUS BRIEFING, OCTOBER SECOND
WE ARE ACTIVELY SEEKING A LOCATION NOW FOR FULL SCALE CONSTRUCTION.
REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE:
1. SECURITY IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE. LOCAL GOVERNMENT MUST BE ABLE TO CONTROL INFORMATION INTO AND OUT OF THE...
The Taste of Success
It’s a big relief that some of you were able to intercept the Naaczaal information in Los Angeles. As I understand, the packages contained a few pages of schematics and another encrypted document. From this little information, I can’t get a firm grasp on what it is that they’re building, though. Take a look for yourself.
185: 171916116421 1633523314
...
Encryption: Zero, Readers: One
It’s nice to know there are some brainy types out there reading this. Thanks to Dave, Rowan, and Dustin, among others, for emailing me a decrypted version. It just makes me wonder even more what this Project Naaczaal is, and what it’s for. The equipment that has gone missing already isn’t exactly cheap… and yet it isn’t enough?
The full decrypted text is as follows.
RE: PROJECT ...
September 2009
7 posts
To Be Lifted
Many of you have written to tell me or to tell Soren Ulfert that Naaczaal is a Mayan word meaning “to be lifted.” What is being lifted and to where are left in question. I have my theories, but I prefer to keep my hypotheses private until I have accumulated more data.
And on the topic of more data, that brings me to today’s urgent communiqué. Thanks to a continuing slackard security ...
Project Naaczaal
One of my readers emailed me saying that one Soren Ulfert has a connection to Project Naaczaal at the Institute for Human Continuity. Thanks for that, it looks like an intriguing lead.
I’d never heard of this Institute before, and I have no idea what it has to do with my own employer, but Naaczaal isn’t exactly a common word, is it? I’ve reached out to Dr. Ulfert to see if he has any more...
What’s past is prologue
I was concerned that my hunt would be effectively ended when I was reassigned. I have no question that was the intent. But I’ve found that this new group has lax security standards. Think along the lines of passwords left on stick-it notes on monitors, or secure terminals left logged in and unattended.
It’s shameful. If I weren’t taking advantage of it, I’d be reporting it.
I won’t go into...
Reassigned
Apparently I am not enough of a team player, as they say in manager-land. All of my meticulous work has had a definite, immediate result.
I’ve been reassigned to another group. It’s not precisely a demotion, but it’s not far from it. I don’t know if I’ll be in a position to continue searching from my new role, but I certainly won’t give up. I have learned one important lesson, though: Management...
The Extent of the Problem
Knowledge is power, so I’ve spent the last few days making myself as powerful as possible. I stayed long after hours through the holiday weekend to take a complete inventory and see if I could thoroughly identify all of the resources that we should have… but don’t.
There should have been some hint of a pattern; high-value shipments, low-security equipment. Or perhaps a pattern of escalation...
The Final Straw
Where to begin…have you ever found yourself sailing along, minding your own business - nose to the grindstone - and then out of nowhere, you hit a rock and you look up and suddenly realize you don’t know where you are or how you got so far? After that moment, you can’t look at anything the same way again.
That’s me. I was focused on my job, meeting my deadlines, and then last week I hit a rock. ...
Who Am I For the moment, I think it’s best for me not to reveal my identity. All you need to know is that I work for a government agency, and the information to which I have access is legitimate. Whether I am male or female, young or old or employed as a secretary, executive, janitor, book-keeper or simple mover of boxes doesn’t matter. I have worked in government long enough to have...