The Leak of Technical Data
"Of course. I will immediately have the staff work on the product design for satellite internet. As for the internet equipment, we will refine the prototypes to improve their usability."
"President Ryu, it seems you've been waiting for me to start an internet business."
"Absolutely. After seeing how satellite phones were selling at Thuraya Telecommunications, I’ve long thought that the satellite internet market in the Middle East and North America would be economically viable."
"We should also consider the shipping and aviation markets. The market there is significant enough that it cannot be ignored."
"Ah! I hadn't thought about cruise ships."
President Ryu Kwang-soo left Taesik’s office, feeling he had finally grasped an opportunity to reverse his declining sales. He immediately summoned the staff responsible for product planning and the development of the satellite internet ground kits.
"Everyone, is the product planning team here?"
"Yes, we're here."
"And the internet ground kit design team?"
"Yes."
"The CEO has finally declared the launch of our ground internet service. The product planning team needs to establish internet pricing and a promotional plan, and the kit design team is to restart the design of the current antennas and routers."
"President! What is our target marketing region?"
"Obviously, the regions where our satellites are currently positioned!"
"Then we should target the U.S. and the Middle East. Also, you need to provide us with data on internet speeds by country so we can plan accordingly."
"Okay. I'll tell the satellite team to hand over that data... Any other requests?"
At President Ryu’s prompt, the head of the kit design team raised a hand.
"President, what should we set as the price ceiling for the kits?"
"I don't know that either. Draft up expected price points for a few different design types! Let's decide after having the staff evaluate them based on design and price... Any other questions?"
"......."
"Okay. Let's get to work with a launch goal for next month......."
As President Ryu gave his staff their new assignments, he felt a surge of anticipation, believing he could finally create the first commercial product using his dream—the artificial satellite.
While Taesik was reviewing the report on the internet business, Park Kyung-hoon, the president of Starlink Security, entered Taesik’s office with a grave expression, accompanied by President Cha Young-jin.
"What brings you two here together?"
"CEO, we have an urgent matter to report."
"What is it?"
"Technical data regarding Starlink Aerospace’s medium-altitude UAVs is leaking to the outside."
"What...? Starlink prohibits the removal of technical data without approval... Is that even possible? Aren't the internal network and the internet network separated?"
"Yes, that's correct. It appears one employee received approval by claiming they were distributing blueprints necessary for production by a partner company. After taking out blueprints unrelated to that partner, they claimed they had sent the wrong data, and it appears they are separately collecting UAV blueprints."
"How did you discover this?"
"The amount of data being transmitted was higher than others, so it was identified by the monitoring program developed by President Cha Young-jin."
"Does President Jo Yoon-je of Starlink Aerospace know about this?"
"We haven't informed him yet."
"How much data has leaked?"
"About 100MB, which is roughly 120 pages of blueprints. We’ve identified them as medium-altitude UAV airframe blueprints and interface-related documents."
"Have you gathered detailed information on the employee?"
"It’s Choi Ho-jin, a deputy general manager on the UAV airframe design team. He is 45 years old, his family is currently staying in the Philippines, and he appears to have recently fallen into gambling. He’s been taking out high-interest loans in the nearby Jinju area and is being pressured for repayment. Also, given his frequent contact with arms dealers associated with Starlink Aerospace, we presume an arms dealer requested that he steal the information."
"Since you said 'presume,' it seems it’s not clear if an arms dealer is the mastermind behind this."
"Yes. We are limited because we have no way to wiretap his personal mobile phone."
"What about requesting help from the National Intelligence Service (NIS)?"
"Are you sure? If the NIS gets involved, there is a possibility that the fact that UAV-related data was leaked from Starlink Aerospace will become public."
During their conversation, President Cha Young-jin stepped forward.
"CEO, I checked Deputy General Manager Choi Ho-jin’s internal internet search history, and he has a record of searching for luxury homes in the Philippines. He likely intends to move to the Philippines once the technical data sale is completed. If you allow it, I will modify the security app distributed by Starlink Aerospace to enable wiretapping of his mobile phone."
"Is that possible?"
"Yes. It’s possible if we install a program disguised as a security app only on his phone, rather than on all employees' phones."
"Proceed with it for now."
President Cha Young-jin stated that the hacking program was ready and delivered the file to President Park Kyung-hoon, who then headed to Sacheon with his security team.
Upon arriving in Sacheon, Park Kyung-hoon monitored Choi Ho-jin’s movements while tracking his phone’s location. He felt frustrated as Choi remained at his desk in the office.
"Is there no way to separate that guy from his phone?"
"Instead of that, can't we send him a text message with a link to a site connected to the hacking program and make him install it himself?"
To the security team leader’s suggestion, Park Kyung-hoon replied:
"His colleagues next to him are using the same app, so would that be possible? He might tell his colleagues to install the new security app as well... You know his phone’s password pattern, right?"
"Yes. It was a simple L-shaped pattern."
At that moment, as Choi Ho-jin left his seat, a security team member went to his desk to check if his phone was there, then shook his head to signal it was gone. The team member passed by Choi’s desk, avoiding the gaze of other employees, who failed to notice the team member’s presence. Another team member who followed Choi reported via radio that he was working at the UAV assembly site. Park Kyung-hoon waited at the scene for Choi to return to his desk.
An hour later, Choi returned to his seat, placed his phone on the desk, and began working. A team member disguised as an IT technician, who was fixing a computer in a corner, observed Choi’s movements. A short while later, when Choi stood up, left his phone on the desk, and walked away, Park Kyung-hoon immediately issued an order.
"Move to Choi’s seat right now, and have another person stick behind him."
The security team member disguised as an IT technician carried a box to Choi’s desk and asked, "Where is Deputy General Manager Choi Ho-jin’s seat?" The employee drawing blueprints next to him pointed it out. The security team member placed the box next to the phone, quickly drew the password pattern, installed the hacking program sent by the team leader via text, and deleted the message. Then, he picked up his own phone and said, "It’s not Deputy General Manager Choi Ho-jin of the airframe design team, but Section Chief Choi Ho-jin of the process team...?"
The security team member whispered to the employees sitting nearby, "I’m sorry. I came to the wrong place." The employees ignored him with a smirk, and the team member walked out of the office with the box.
As soon as the team member exited, President Park Kyung-hoon checked the cloned phone in his hand and connected it to his laptop.
"I’m sending the text contents and communication records, so please analyze them!"
In Seoul, President Cha Young-jin received the contact from Park, opened the email, and immediately began the analysis. Finding nothing unusual in the call logs, he checked the text messages. Since there were so many, he searched using keywords. When Cha entered words like 'money,' 'deposit,' 'technical data,' and 'UAV,' the search results appeared immediately, and he clicked on the relevant message.
"If I send the interface blueprints and electro-optical camera design blueprints by the end of this month... 2 billion won......."
Thinking he had found the information, he immediately searched the phone number written in the text.
"Director Jang Min-ki of Jinkwang Trading...?"
President Cha Young-jin picked up the phone and called President Park Kyung-hoon immediately.
"I found it. Director Jang Min-ki of Jinkwang Trading requested the technical data. The record is left in the text message."
President Park thanked him while checking the contents of the text message with the number Cha had provided. Park immediately called Section Chief Choi Jae-ho of the NIS, gave him the name and phone number of Director Jang Min-ki of Jinkwang Trading, and requested information on him.
"I'm sorry! Please help me out. I have some work at the company, and I need information on this person."
After waiting a moment, Park checked the information coming in via text and wore a puzzled expression.
"President, why are you like that?"
"The main areas of activity for this person called Director Jang Min-ki are the U.S. and Korea... but I know that the U.S. has no interest in Starlink UAVs."
After answering the security team leader’s question, Park picked up the phone again.
"President Cha Young-jin! Can you hide a hacking program in a PDF file of the blueprints?"
"That’s right. I don’t know who Director Jang Min-ki’s backer is."
A while later, after President Cha Young-jin sent the PDF file with the hidden hacking program, President Park Kyung-hoon immediately began drafting a text message.
"Director Jang Min-ki, I am sending you the UAV blueprints as a sample. Is the data you requested the internal UAV interface blueprints and the electro-optical camera blueprints? If the attached blueprints are correct, I will prepare the materials within the promised date."
After drafting the text on the cloned phone and attaching the blueprints, Park waited for a response. A moment later, hearing the text notification, he saw that a message had arrived from Director Jang Min-ki and turned his head toward the security team leader.
"Did Director Jang Min-ki open the PDF file attached to the text?"
"Yes. The cloned phone is executing."
The reply sent by Director Jang Min-ki stated that the materials were correct and that he would have the money ready by the promised date. Park immediately deleted the message so that Choi Ho-jin could not see it.
"Is there anything worth getting from Director Jang Min-ki’s cloned phone?"
"He is on a call right now, and it’s in English. Just a moment."
"......."
"He is asking for 5 billion won to be delivered to the other party, saying he can send the requested technical data by this month. The other party’s name is Wishian."
"Did you record the call?"
"Yes. It is set to record automatically."
Lost in thought for a moment, Park Kyung-hoon picked up the phone and called Taesik.
"CEO. First, we have confirmed that Director Jang Min-ki of Jinkwang Trading is behind Deputy General Manager Choi Ho-jin. The problem is who Director Jang Min-ki’s backer is. A person presumed to be Chinese has appeared, but there is no way to investigate that far."
"[Then, do you need the NIS’s help to investigate the Chinese person?]"
"Yes. We can stop here, or we can get help from the NIS to go further. You have to choose, CEO."
"[If that fact is made public, Starlink might face a barrage of criticism from the media.]"
"Yes. That’s correct."
"[Let’s do it with the NIS. It seems more important to make it known that Starlink is under the protection of the NIS.]"