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"it's a pain in my ass to leave my work for half a week to have some hush-hush pow-wow with Nick and V.G., but it's an INSULT to have to deal with morons like the concierge at this dump you guys put me up in. I'm serious, I DON'T want to see his face again."
― Excerpt from one of Phillip Masse's emails.

Philip Frankel Masse (August 21, 1972 – January 19, 2005), was a prodigal computer genius who worked for Georgian President Kombayn Nikoladze during the Georgian Information Crisis in 2004. His innovations in the area of information warfare had a lasting impact on international security, and is known for creating the "Masse Kernels".

Biography[]

2004: Georgian Information Crisis[]

Working for Georgian President Kombayn Nikoladze, Masse hacked into the CIA mainframe, and was the cause of many cyber-terrorist attacks in the U.S. He was 'the' man personally responsible for causing the Georgian Information Crisis through his extensive knowledge of algorithms and computer programs. Masse provided his skills and expertise in the field of computers to disrupt information networks to allow Georgian commandos to invade their neighbouring country of Azerbaijan, while remaining completely undetected on an international level.

After NATO discovered Nikoladze's military activities, Masse launched a wide-scale information warfare attack against several U.S. military targets, resulting in numerous deaths and widespread infrastructural destruction. This was achieved through Masse's extraordinary computational techniques and strategies alongside his thorough knowledge of computer hacking. 512-bit encryption was one such complex technique he employed. In 2006, the United Nations launched a project that was to be responsible for reverse engineering the Masse Kernels. The 'Masse Kernels' were weaponized algorithms he developed. These algorithms were considered revolutionary methods of information warfare, so much so that they were considered on par with the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb. Nonetheless, even though he was considered a genius, he was recognized as a terrorist whose work was responsible for the deaths of innocent people.

Death[]

Philip Masse was assassinated by Sam Fisher on January 19, 2005, in the Kola Peninsula, in a factory just outside Severomorsk, Russia. The end of the Georgian Information Crisis was marked by the confirmation of his death.

Aftermath and Legacy[]

SplinterCell 2013-03-09 21-53-48-52

Third Echelon's picture of Philip Masse

After the death of President Nikoladze, the United Nations came to realize the enormous threat posed by information warfare, having witnessed the carnage created by Masse's revolutionary techniques. Shortly after the crisis ended, the U.N. initiated "Project Watson", which was aimed at understanding the techniques mastered by Masse and the infamous Masse Kernels, the algorithms responsible for initiating the various information warfare attacks against the U.S. This project was headed by famed computational theorists Abrahim Zherkezhi and Bruce Morgenholt. By 2006, the two gentlemen had successfully reverse-engineered the Masse Kernels, revealing the dangers faced in the world where information warfare was seeing increased usage.

2007: Cyber Attacks/East Asian Crisis[]

Although deceased, Masse's impact on information warfare remained evident through the catastrophic events of 2007. During that year, Displace International, a corrupt American PMC seeking to further provoke the growing tensions in Far East Asia, kidnapped computer engineer Morgenholt in the hopes of acquiring the Masse Kernels. After acquiring the Kernels from Morgenholt, who was tortured to death, Displace and their corrupt contacts in the Japanese Information Self-Defense Force tricked Zherkezhi to use the Kernels to launch IW attacks against China and North Korea, as well as Japan and the U.S. while painting each side as an aggressor to the other. This also resulted in Zherkezhi's death. The use of the Masse Kernels nearly caused the eruption of World War III in the East Asia theater before Third Echelon managed to kill or capture the conspirators. Masse's innovative techniques continued to wreak havoc across the globe long after his death. After the East Asian Crisis, Third Echelon and other agencies stopped the spread of the Masse Kernels and Philip Masse is not heard of since.

Trivia[]

  • According to a data stick that lists his information in Splinter Cell, it was claimed that he had achieved a successful hack into the CIA database for 90 seconds before being detected.
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