The Midnight Hack

I know who did it
CASE NO. 63 · LEVEL 2 · HACKING

THE MIDNIGHT
HACK

CLUE
1
OF 6
SCAN TO ANSWER
At Brightloop, a small app company in Copenhagen, someone logged into CEO Nadia Berg's account one November night and copied the code for the new app to a USB stick. Find all 6 clues, compare the statements and the evidence, and work out who did it.
Nadia Berg
CEO
”I left the office at half past five and spent the evening at a dinner party across town. Somebody used my account – I have never even sat at PC-07.”
WITNESS STATEMENT · NADIA BERG
EVIDENCE #1 · IT INCIDENT REPORT
IT incident report – Thursday night
Account used
n.berg (CEO)
Login
22:47 UTC from PC-07 (2nd floor, window desk)
Files copied
brightloop-app-v2 → USB stick, 22:51 UTC
Password
Not typed – login made with admin rights
Server clock
All servers use UTC
Copenhagen is one hour ahead of UTC in winter.
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6
Find all 6 clues, then scan the code to name the culprit.
NEXT CLUE IS HIDDEN …
Read the clues as plain text
Clue 1 of 6

Nadia Berg CEO

”I left the office at half past five and spent the evening at a dinner party across town. Somebody used my account – I have never even sat at PC-07.”

Evidence #1 · IT INCIDENT REPORT

IT incident report – Thursday night
Account used
n.berg (CEO)
Login
22:47 UTC from PC-07 (2nd floor, window desk)
Files copied
brightloop-app-v2 → USB stick, 22:51 UTC
Password
Not typed – login made with admin rights
Server clock
All servers use UTC
Copenhagen is one hour ahead of UTC in winter.
Clue 2 of 6

Felix Moreau Junior developer

”PC-07 is my desk, yes. I stayed late fixing a bug and left just after eleven. I logged off properly – I'd never touch Nadia's account.”

Evidence #2 · DOOR LOG

Main door · Badge log (Copenhagen time)
TimeBadgeDirection
17:30N. BergOut
18:10I. HolmOut
23:02F. MoreauOut
23:20L. QuintIn
23:58T. ShawOut
00:35L. QuintOut
Clue 3 of 6

Ingrid Holm Office manager

”Only one person here can open somebody else's account without the password. I gave him those rights myself when he started.”

Evidence #3 · ACCESS RIGHTS

Brightloop · System access
PersonRoleAdmin rights
Nadia BergCEONo
Toby ShawIT adminYes
Felix MoreauDeveloperNo
Ingrid HolmOffice managerNo
Lara QuintCleanerNo
Clue 4 of 6

Lara Quint Cleaner

”At about a quarter to twelve I saw someone at the window desk on the second floor, typing in the dark. I thought it was just one of the developers working late.”

Evidence #4 · CLEANING ROUND

Cleaning round · Thursday
TimeFloor
23:20Ground floor – kitchen
23:402nd floor – desks
00:101st floor – meeting rooms
Lara saw the light on at the window desk during her 2nd-floor round.
Clue 5 of 6

Toby Shaw IT admin

”I left around half past ten and was home playing games online by eleven. Felix was the last one in – it's his computer, isn't it?”

Evidence #5 · PRINTER TRAY

PRINTOUT – 2nd floor printer, 23:52 (user: t.shaw)
From: Marcus at Nimbus Apps
Bring the v2 code on Friday and
the lead developer job is yours.
Double your salary, as promised.
– M.
Clue 6 of 6

Marcus Vale Founder of rival Nimbus Apps

”I talk to lots of developers – that's business. I was on stage at a conference in Berlin that night, so I couldn't have been in Copenhagen.”

Evidence #6 · CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

BERLIN TECH NIGHTS
Thursday · Main stage
22:00
Keynote: Apps of Tomorrow
23:00
Panel: Startups that Win – Marcus Vale
00:15
Networking drinks
Berlin and Copenhagen use the same time zone.