12. Iris
Chapter twelve
Iris
I arrived at the office early this morning, desperate to ask Raphael what the hackers exfiltrated, but he is nowhere to be found. His door is closed, and he hasn’t responded to my texts. His assistant hasn’t arrived yet. However, I already had a visit from the company ergonomic specialist to make sure my chair is at the right height for my desk and I have proper back and wrist support. She noted I was wearing my wrist brace. Who called them—was it Sebastian or Ernest?
Meanwhile Kevin also emailed that we shouldn’t worry about customizing the migration, just try to get everything moved over to our cloud server as soon as possible. Every week, it’s a different instruction. Last time, he insisted we take our time and demonstrate our expertise. Nonetheless, I’ve mapped out a new approach, and now I’m waiting for my New Mexico colleague to arrive at the office so I can run it by him. That unfortunately gives me plenty of time to think about Sebastian and Lily’s party last night and wander by Raphael’s door.
Lily assured me that Sebastian and Rowena have more of a brother/sister relationship. I was afraid Lily would tease me for asking. After all my talk about not being interested in Sebastian, I was suddenly very keen to hear any details about Rowena. But Lily also took pity on me and pretended it was a totally normal question on my part—one that anyone would ask about a work colleague. Right.
Because I definitely need Sebastian to tell me again that he’s not interested.
I should be the one saying I’m not interested.
A collective gasp shudders through the open desk security operations center. Jin Ae has her hand over her mouth as she says, “Raphael left.”
I click over to my email. To: Raphael Singh From: Raphael Singh Date: December 9 It’s been a pleasure working with all of you. I have left Dream Company as of today.
What? Raphael just left? I re-read the email as if I’m missing something in those two sentences. The other faces around the room mirror my stunned reaction. Why?
But Raphael was going to tell me what had been exfiltrated.
Was Raphael fired? He can’t leave.
“Should we go ask Raphael?” I ask Jin Ae. Raphael’s office is next door. And I’d like to say good-bye.
Jin Ae nods, and we walk out of the room. I open the door into the office next door. Nobody is there. It’s completely cleaned out. How is that even possible? No trace. I walk in and check the cabinet behind his desk. No books.
Raphael is gone.
This is strange.
This is very bad. I bite my nail. A pit of unease grows in my stomach. One of the reasons I love this job so much is that Raphael is a great boss.
Jin Ae and I look at each other.
“We have a team meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning,” Jin Ae says. “Wouldn’t he have said something if he was planning to quit?”
“Maybe he received a great job offer somewhere else and didn’t want to disappoint us by telling us he was leaving?” I ask. I don’t believe that. He did say maybe we should start looking for jobs. But he would have told me . I’m his second-in-command.
As we shut the door, Kevin is walking down the hallway.
“Iris, just the person I’m looking for,” he says. “Let’s meet in my office.”
He turns around. Jin Ae raises her eyebrow at me. I shrug and slip off my wrist brace and give it to her. I don’t want to show any weaknesses in front of Kevin. I follow Kevin back to his office.
The whiteboards are all wiped clean—as if we’re starting all over again.
He sits behind his desk as I take the chair in front. He steeples his hands and stares at me. Raphael often complained about this, speculating about whether this was some intimidation tactic. Raphael said he always just leaned back and waited for Kevin to talk. I follow Raphael’s advice, although if Raphael was just fired, maybe that’s not the best idea. Other than for my job interview, this is the first time I’ve been alone with Kevin in his office. I’ve been in many meetings with him but never without Raphael.
“I’m promoting you to fill the position of Deputy CISO now that Raphael has left.”
My eyes widen, but I try to control my surprise. “Thank you. Why did Raphael leave?”
“He couldn’t hack it.” Kevin huffs out a raspy laugh. “Sorry for the bad pun. We had a difference of opinion, and it seemed best that we part.”
That didn’t sound good. Was it the investigation? And why so suddenly? And I’d have the same opinion as Raphael. What did they disagree about? Could I ask? But Deputy CISO—this is a huge opportunity, especially as a woman. I won’t have to move laterally to another company for the Deputy CISO job. Raphael was the one who pushed for my hire, definitely not Kevin, as far as I could tell.
“I should let you know that Hank asked for the job.”
“Hank?” Hank is the worst—someone who pretends to know everything but in reality knows very little. And he doesn’t do the work he needs to do, which means all the other team members have to pick up his slack. “He doesn’t have the expertise. I’m second-in-command to Raphael.”
“That’s not going to stop Hank. And normally, I’m a big believer in the ability to learn on the job, but we can’t afford that. Your skills have always impressed me, and you’ve proven your loyalty.” He paused. “You know about the corporate battle going on right now. There can be no problems—but if there is an issue, I need to know. Immediately. No surprises. I don’t care how bad it is, it’s only going to get worse if I don’t know about it and can’t do damage control.” He stares at me, daring me to disagree.
“I’m happy to agree to that.” I think .
“Did you do any further work investigating the hack? Any clues? Did they take anything?”
A shiver of unease snakes through me. Kevin knows they took something.
“I was doing the damage mitigation while Raphael was figuring out if they exfiltrated any data.” And already I’m not saying that I know Raphael figured out what they took. Unless Raphael…I don’t know what to think. But I can’t analyze it now.
Best to distract.
“The hacker was very clever in how they breached our defenses," Isay. "You didn’t hire a white hat hacker to probe our defenses, did you?”
He blinks. “No. There’s no money for that.” He looks at the empty whiteboard.
Did he just lie?
“Hank was in here immediately once he heard Raphael was gone,” he says. “I’m surprised you let him beat you here. I hope your reflexes are quicker in an actual cyberattack.”
He wanted me to immediately run to his office and ask to be promoted upon hearing that Raphael left ?
No way.
But Raphael’s departure has caught me completely off-guard. Not that I can admit that.
“But I just had to take gender sensitivity training.” He stares at me. “And apparently women are less likely to ask than men. The thing I like about you is that you get things done, no drama. You’re such a go-getter that I’m not sure that applies to you, but then again, you didn’t rush here for this promotion. The thing, is if you want to be deputy CISO—”
“I do,” I interject.
“Then you have to be able to push for things and take risks. You can’t just think you’re going to get the budget you need because the CEO will see your good work and reward you. Other departments will be asking for money, and if you don’t ask for it, they’ll have an easier time cutting your budget without even having to say no to you. If you don’t ask, you’ve already got the no.”
Thank you for mansplaining that to me, Kevin. But it’s still good advice.
“I certainly pushed for our cybersecurity budget earlier this year.”
“Maybe that isn’t the best example.” He pauses. “In any event, this is an interim promotion. You’ll keep your current desk. Hank wants the chance to prove himself too. Ultimately, one of you will be promoted permanently to Deputy CISO.”
“Don’t you know our strengths and weaknesses by now?” I ask. Kevin has to know Hank would be a disaster.
“Blunt and to the point as always,” Kevin says. “I do, but he may have some hidden strengths.”
Deeply hidden.
“I’m not going to report to Hank,” I say.
Kevin stands and leans over the desk, putting his two hands at the edge next to me, like he is getting ready to do a push-up. Leaning over me.
He is a big guy.
It is so physical. I shrink back.
“Are you threatening me?” he asks.
My mouth opens. His posture is menacing, and he’s using his body like a bully.
I straighten my back. “No. I’m just stating a fact.”
“If you think that’s going to influence my decision, it won’t.”
This conversation has gone off the rails. What is happening here?
“I doubt Hank will want to report to me either,” I say. How to save this? “I’m looking forward to the challenge, and I appreciate the confidence you’ve shown in me.”
He settles back in his seat. “See that it’s warranted. How’s the phishing campaign going?”
“Good, so far. We have a high compliance rate. Very few people have clicked on the emails.” Other than Hank. He clicked on two.
“That’s great,” he says. “And are you going to the ice-skating event this afternoon?”
“I signed up, but I was going to work on the investigation.”
“The investigation is resolved. Didn’t Raphael tell you that? You should definitely go. Xavier is paying for this, and we need to show up. He takes that stuff seriously.”
“Okay.”
He gestures with his head towards the door. The meeting is over.
I leave and retreat to a stall in the bathroom, which is basically the only private place available because of the open layout of the bullpen. I lock the door and lean against the stall wall.
That was disturbing, especially when he leaned over me. So much for gender sensitivity training. What is going on here? Why did Raphael leave so suddenly? Did Kevin lie about hiring a white hat hacker?
I call Raphael’s number. Voicemail. I leave a message, asking him to call me and explain what’s going on.
Is this why Raphael said he didn’t want to tell me what he’d found ? I need to figure out whatever clues he left.
Was Kevin threatening to promote Hank if I continue the investigation?
I’m going to do what is right. My industry reputation is more important than this job, ultimately.
Let him promote Hank. I’m a way better security analyst than Hank. Did Kevin keep me because he thinks I won’t investigate and I’ll back down easier—that he can bully me? Like he tried to at our meeting this morning? He obviously doesn’t realize I used to handle drunk people at my dad’s bar.
But it’s also going to look terrible on my resume if I am only interim deputy CISO for a short period. It would look like I wasn’t competent. I rub my forehead. Have I just been played?
My temple is throbbing.
Sebastian said his boss advised him to socialize so people come to him if they’re in a tight spot. I’m in a tight spot. I text him.
Me: Raphael left. Can we meet for lunch at StuffIt? 1 p.m.