Tang OptiWorks Retinal Virus Incident

The Tang OptiWorks Retinal Virus Incident, also known as the Hyperion Cybervirus Outbreak and by the name of the malware, x3, was an act of cyberterrorism targeting users of Tang OptiWorks retinal augmentations. Operating as a worm propagated through the update drivers of Tang OptiWorks software, x3 would overload the memory and processing units of the affected augmentation, effectively blinding the user. The incident culminated in over one hundred thousand users being spontaneously blinded after the update, with an ensuing two million following throughout the month as the virus proliferated both through both the update and data transfers.

The initial chaos of the incident culminated in thousands of driving accidents, airplane crashes, and other assorted accidental deaths as users were stripped of their ability to see. It took almost an entire month for the spread of the cyber-aug virus to be contained, with Tang OptiWorks releasing a patch to both its devices and its security systems.

The incident culminated in a total of 27,161 deaths and 2,781,234 injuries and blindings. The ensuing moral hysteria of the incident led to severe repercussions to Tang OptiWorks stocks, along with an official SIN investigation. The investigation found Dr. Andrew Meng, the company's head of Research and Development, responsible for both programming and deploying the aug-virus. Dr. Meng was found culpable in the case due to his access to system-wide update deployment, to which he was alleged to have deployed the virus exclusively to Hyperion through the false 'TangOS 11.15b' update, which required no user consent to be implemented, so long as the 'automatic patches and updates' feature was enabled on a user's device.

The high-profile trial found Dr. Meng to have colluded with the Front for the Liberation of Human Purity, an anti-aug terrorist group, and had thus deemed his motive to be a general discontentment with Tang OptiWorks and a soured opinion of augmentations. Refusing to name his collaborators, he utilized a hidden weaponized hand augmentation to commit suicide by gunshot. He was posthumously found guilty.

Many critics of the investigation point to the fact that leaked InfoLink usage records indicate Andrew Meng had been nowhere near Tang OptiWorks headquarters on Hera, an alibi that was entirely ignored by the media and the jury in the trial. The FLHP terrorist Dr. Meng allegedly met with in audiologs was never identified or caught, and evidence that Dr. Meng intended to leave his post at Tang OptiWorks to join the Chen Wu Corporation were wholly ignored.

The Tang OptiWorks Retinal Virus Incident is regarded by most as an example of a large-scale cyberterror attack targeting the general population, while conspiracy-minded groups refer to it as a demonstration of the sheer power and influence of the Chen Wu Corporation. Alternative theories posit that cyberterrorist group and SlimeBBS hacker circle NigAnon Security was responsible for deploying the cybervirus as a protest against Tang OptiWorks' allegedly unethical business practices, especially pertaining to worker unionization, and that Dr. Meng was used by a scapegoat to avoid collective embarassment on the behalf of Tang OptiWorks and the SIN in their inability to find the culprit. NigAnon Security maintains its stance that it was not responsible for the incident, with security cameras at Tang OptiWorks headquarters having been suspiciously disabled on the day of the incident.

As it stands, it is officially maintained that the FLHP was responsible for the Tang OptiWorks Retinal Virus Incident, the group not denying responsibility for the extent of the attack.