Capture the Flag: Meet the Boss

In the previous CTF...

— Hey buddy, — my Chief welcomed me into his smoky, dimly lit office. — Do you remember that drug case a few weeks ago?

— You bet! A case like that is hard to forget! — I was still trying to catch up on sleep from that case.

The Chief made a dramatic pause and lit another cigarette. I was politely waiting for him to break the silence.

— You did a great job with the IMEI thing there towards the end of that case. It gave us the evidence we needed to catch the supplier who was working directly with the Boss.

— Go on… — I thought, excited to hear what was to follow.

— Don't ask how we convinced him, — the Chief gave me a wink, — But he agreed to collaborate with us. We wired the guy and sent him into a meeting with the Boss. We had a team ready to take him down when the moment was right. The Boss was arrested before he even said a word.

I was puzzled. — Didn’t you arrest him twice already? This guy is too sly to keep him for more than a couple of days. And his super expensive lawyers are just as effective.

The Chief looked at me with excitement in his eyes. — Sometimes sonny I regret it’s not the 19th century anymore… but I’m hopeful this time it will be different.

— Oh really? What is the difference with previous arrests?

— Computer forensics is the difference my boy! — The Chief kept his serious face but I deeply suspected that was post-irony. — This time, we captured not only the Boss, but also his laptop.

Things were becoming more and more interesting.

— That's one of my greatest skills, indeed. — Now I was confident we had a much greater chance at taking this guy down! — Ok, what do we have and how much time?

The Chief locked his eyes onto mine, took the last puff of his cigarette and slowly blew the smoke into the air. — Sonny, we have a single laptop… and only two days before we have to release our guy back into the streets, this may be our last chance. Get your Belkalabs or… what was it… Belkasoft ready!

Proceed to “Meet the Boss” CTF →