System Failure

Orson worked as a contract coder for multiple medical software companies. Freelancing let him make his own hours, live where he wanted, and be his own boss. He avoided petty office politics and usually made more than the 9-5ers. The downside was there were no benefits. Medical and life insurance, along with retirement plans, were his responsibility. It seemed a fair trade for his freedom.

Up to now, life had been a pleasant journey. Orson met and eventually married Olivia, and they had one child named Oscar, making names starting with O a quirky tradition. Unfortunately for the young couple, their unrestricted lifestyle came to an abrupt halt when Oscar developed a rare muscular disease.

Orson called on every contact he had in the medical field, looking for a way to save his son. Bills soon grew to an astronomical amount as doctors tried varied treatments. Their insurance company, Compassionate Healthcare, denied coverage for Oscar, claiming that all treatments for the child’s illness were experimental. The company that Orson had paid promptly every month canceled his policy. Orson’s and Olivia’s emotions ranged from frustration to anger to a deep foreboding. Within several months, Oscar’s young life was over. What wasn’t over were the bills.

It started with past due notices in the mail followed by never ending phone calls from debt collectors representing multiple doctors, hospitals and care providers. Next came court summonses and fines levied for missing payments. The relentless pressure drove Olivia into a deep depression. She filed for divorce and left. Orson was alone once again.

As Orson sunk deeper into the past due debt quagmire, he reached out for additional work. Companies that just six months ago were piling on the projects now had nothing for him. It seemed suspicious, but there was nothing he could prove. Orson started driving for Lyft to pay for living expenses. He had had enough. It was payback time.

System Failure warnings flashed on every Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connected device on every floor of Compassionate Healthcare’s corporate building. Every phone linked to the company’s central switching station went dead. The company could no longer communicate. Wave upon wave of data systematically evaporated from the central processing servers. Nothing was spared. Computers received instructions to retrieve data from the cloud; information was wiped as soon as it arrived. When the attack was complete, only paper documents remained. That was only the beginning.

Before the destruction began, malware was sent to every hospital and doctor’s office in Compassionate Healthcare’s online network. The worm carefully worked its way into accounts receivable databases and wiped them clean. The attack was unexpected and unbelievably effective. There were no ransom demands, it simply happened and then evaporated into thin air.

Orson’s next target was the court computer, where all the collection and liens against assets were stored. Once inside, Orson eliminated all civil lawsuits pertaining to medical payments. There was nothing he could do about paper records, but knowing how long it would take for the system to recover, it was never a major concern of his. The next day, he launched an attack on the remaining large medical insurers, crippling the industry. Fortunes were lost in a matter of days as investors bailed out of the medical insurance markets. The government was forced to intervene and establish a healthcare for all system mirroring those used in the rest of the world’s industrialized countries. Try as they might, no trail ever led back to Orson.

One chilly autumn afternoon, a solitary man stood next to a headstone. He was deep in thought and never felt the cool wind swirling the fallen leaves around his ankles. The inscription chiseled into the headstone read, “Oscar, the victim of a failed system. Your sacrifice was not in vain.”