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"Chisom! Chisom! Chisom!" She heard her mom's voice in her dream as she constantly tapped her on the shoulder.
She was a deep sleeper and it took grace to get her up.
"You will be late for your first day at work. Do you want to forfeit your position?" her mum asked.
"Mom, what is the time?" she responded, struggling to keep her eyes open.
"Why does it matter?" she snapped back almost immediately. "As an intern student you need to arrive early, which implies waking up on time.
You would need to eat, and we both know you take hours to dress. Plus your makeup and stuff. So get up now before you arrive late.
I will start preparing something for you to eat," she continued talking as she disappeared down the hallway.
As her mom's only child, she constantly ensured she did her best in raising her right.
Chisom lazily rolled out of bed to take a shower, with her eyes still shut close.
They only opened when she needed to make sure she had scraped her tongue properly, before she went ahead to moisturise herself while looking for what to wear.
"The worst part of a woman's life," she whispered.
She picked through her clothes one by one, holding each piece up briefly before tossing it aside.
She had just bought those dresses but still found it hard to pick the best fit for her first day as an intern.
Chisom had left school two years prior with a Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, but she never got an opening for an internship.
She decided to do hands on practical using LetsDefend and TryHackMe.
This way she didn't stay idle.
She also sat her CompTIA Security+ exams and added new certifications to her Bachelor's degree, hoping that would boost her chances of getting a position. Finally finding one felt like her dream coming true.
"Chisom! Are you done putting that 'potty' on your face?" her mum screamed from the kitchen.
"No ma'am, I am still indecisive about what to wear!" she screamed back.
"Why are you two yelling? That's very ill-mannered behaviour which you both refuse to drop."
Her father appeared in the doorway with a wide
"Good morning, my princess."
"Good morning, Dad," she responded, grinning too.
"Can I help pick out your dress?"
Chisom rolled her eyes.
"I am the best fashion designer that never got a chance to explore my talents," they said together in unison as he said this words repeatedly.
"But I am now," he said softly.
"I didn't argue that, sir."
"Fine, I will let you dress me today," she added.
He became as goofy as possible, smiling so brightly like he had earned a gold trophy.
Chisom proceeded to style her hair, begging her edges to lay down as she brushed them with edge control, while her Dad picked what he wanted her to wear.
She applied a little bit of makeup today as she didn't want to appear as too much.
She surprisingly loved the way her Dad had styled her, which made him go on and on about his hidden talent as they found their way to the kitchen to eat.
"You look beautiful," her mom commended.
"You just need to wear your confidence and a smile when you get there. Now please eat."
After she gulped a few spoonfuls down, she got up to leave as she already had her things arranged.
"Is that all you are eating?" her mom inquired.
"Yes ma'am, I don't want to feel sleepy and tired."
"I understand. Just stay safe out there, my Chisom."
She gave her a huge hug while kissing her face playfully.
She arrived seven minutes early but the company already seemed very busy.
Factosecure was exactly what Chisom had envisioned — rows of monitors, the steady hum of air conditioning and people who seemed to know exactly what they were doing.
This made the confidence she had worn earlier begin to wear off.
She calmly asked the security guard where her desk was located as an intern.
He pointed her in a direction that led her to her supervisor.
She approached him, scared but brave. She greeted him warmly with a smile, introducing herself.
"Oh, you are the intern that got admitted. You got lucky."
Lucky?. She nearly replied but decided to keep her cool.
"Yes, lucky," he echoed one more time.
"That's your desk over there." She turned but he signalled her to wait.
"Here is a list of tasks — password resets, system log reviews, spreadsheet updates. There are also some emails that were logged into various systems. You need to log them out and reset the passwords there too."
She turned away with a mix of emotions, replaying his statement.
Lucky? After all the work I put in just to get here — and I am still stuck with this bare minimum job.
She nearly called her mom but decided against it and got to work with an optimistic spirit. The rest of the team barely made eye contact as they all appeared to be busy.
What none of them new including Chisom was that Factosecure had been compromised
Until Chisom sat down at her desk on that slow Monday Morning afternoon and opened the email log.
She started with the email logs, as that was the least boring task available. She scrolled slowly, her eyes moving down the list without much enthusiasm.
Sender. Recipient. Timestamp. Sender. Recipient. Timestamp.
Then she stopped.
She scrolled back up. Looked again.
She opened another window and checked the company directory.
[email protected]
One letter. Just one.
" Spear Phishing," she whispered.
She took careful notes. The same address had appeared twice, always on a Friday afternoon.
On each occasion money had been wired out. The confirmation receipts existed but had never been reviewed.
It like a pattern carefully planned and executed
in a way that it didn't raise an alarm,
If this happens every Friday it will happen again this Friday. At least I am here to stop it.
She headed to her supervisor's office.
"Are you already done?" he asked without looking up.
"No sir, but I found something in the logs I think you should see."
"So you think you can identify a problem on your first day?" He sighed and rolled his eyes the only moment he actually looked at her. "Go and finish your tasks, Chisom.
"We are all busy here."
She walked back to her desk quietly and waited for patiently Friday, and praying her instinct was right.
Friday arrived faster than she thought; and the evening fastest.
At 4:51 the email appeared again.
From: Gerald Eze — CEO
Subject: Urgent Transfer — End of Day.
She cross referenced the sender address immediately.
[email protected]
She grabbed her notes and walked directly to the finance department by, passing her supervisor entirely.
Mr. Adebayo the finance officer was already on his computer, the email open on his screen.
She walked in,introduced herself briefly and proceeded to speak about the attack;
"That email is not from the CEO. The sender address is wrong by one letter. This same address has triggered two transfers on previous Fridays. Nobody reviewed the receipts. I have documented everything."
Mr Adebayo paused and finally looked up properly; his face wore a curious look.
Do you have documentation for this; he asked.
Yes she answered; flipping through the files she was holding before handing it over to him.
He stared at them. Then at her. Then back at them.
He picked up his phone.
"How many persons are aware of this?"
None just you. she responded
Then let's keep it that way, I will handle it from here.
Within the hour the fraudulent domain was traced with their IP address and blocked.
The CEO was notified which called for an emergency meeting,
Chisom sat at her corner desk through all of it the raised voices, the urgent phone calls, the senior staff moving quickly through corridors.
She said nothing. She simply waited.
Then she heard it.
"Chisom."
Mr. Gerald Eze stood at the entrance of the open office, his eyes moving across the room until they settled on her.
She stood.
"My office please," he said quietly.
He listened to everything without interrupting. When she finished he leaned forward slightly.
"We lost money on two of those transfers. Your documentation has given us enough to begin recovery proceedings.
The one you stopped today was the largest of all three."
He looked at her directly.
"We have a position opening on our cybersecurity response team. I do not think finding the right candidate is a problem we have anymore."
