The Parasite Protocol: When Flesh Meets Firmware- Parasitic Networks

I am sorry, Mr. Evans...but we do not have the results of your fecal stool sample. But we do need you to report back first thing in the morning with the next sample. Please recall the procedure involved: you will need to save your defecation and store it in a cool environment for 24 hours. We will run your stool analysis in time to determine whether or not your belief that you have a parasite is founded on medical testing.

Mr. Evans scratched his head. Another stool sample? How demoralizing. He shuffled back to his living room, bending over to pick up his stool sample kit, feeling an odd ache in his left hip. He was completely over this entire endeavor.

Living alone after the passing of his wife two years prior, Mr. Evans was a retired civil servant with a strong political voice and a deep understanding of his regional civil grid. His weakness was his health. As intelligent as he was, he was at the very beck and call of the providers his insurance company priviied him. But he was tired. He released a sigh.

His mid-size frame was girded with an older brown faux leather belt. His glasses momentarily fogged as he released another long sigh. He felt heavy. He felt irritated. He felt itchy.

He recalled the previous night and shuddered...being rushed to the local ER after waking up with the most nauseating feeling of something crawling inside his body. He yelled. He jumped up. And in the sheer knowledge of his reality, something was inside his system. Something was moving inside of him. He yelled again and ran to the phone to call 911.

After the local medics arrived, he was transported to the ED. After three hours of waiting in the lobby, triage, and then in a small corner of the building closed off with a linen-type curtain, he was finally given a corticosteroid and an antihistamine to deal with the pruritic.

....The Javascript repository was tuning. The seemingly silent room was filled with towers of electronic hardware ...programs humming in quiet synchrony. All programs tuning and running seamless repositories. NPM was the crown jewel.

In the LEGO world, NPM...Node Package Manager...was the crown jewel likened to the special LEGO kits already pre-made with only the coolest pieces and pre-set instructions. Node Package Manager was the pinnacle of written code ...used and downloaded to power numerous and diverse applications simultaneously.

NPM tuned proudly on. Credentialed by the most talented developers, this program was nestled comfortably in the building of the local security vendor, hoisting within its realms sensitive data that needed to be protected.

NPM tuned proudly on. NPM tuned proudly onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

Reportinggg malfunction. Something was wrong. Something was wrong. Something was… moving. Self-replicating.

Malware detected.

Alarms began blaring. NPM searched all 567 code packages and, within seconds, detected the self-replicating worm funneling through 187 packages ...revealing local security secrets, keycodes, data centers, international bank records, and documents to GitHub.

NPM tuned. High Alert.

Oh no… this is not good. This is not good.

Mr. Evans, we are sorry, but we have not detected any parasitic worms in your stool sample. We apologize for the inconvenience, and you are free to go.

Mr. Evans paled. “Are you meaning to tell me… they aren’t going to treat this thing?” Panic overwhelmed him. Would the symptoms return later that evening as he slept?

“What do you mean you didn’t find anything? What kind of decrepit hospital program are you running here? I need the Albendazole treatment now!”

“Mr. Evans, we are going to have to ask you to leave. I’m sorry, but if you do not leave now, we will have to call security to escort you out.”

Mr. Evans pitifully walked out of the building. But he would not despair.

Quickly, he returned home and began researching ... scanning all programs of the hospital, reviewing their 990 reports ....and finally! Aha! He located the item.

The hospital had recently changed its staffing agency to UIY, an organization well-funded internationally with locations in Hong Kong, Thailand, China, Singapore, New York, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.

“Ah, so I see…” he murmured. “This new staffing agency has supplied this local hospital, and the non-profit status of the hospital remains…”

He took a deep breath. The local hospital remained afloat not from insurance claims and payments, but from the donations of local businesses that supplied the area. Those donations, leveraged regionally, amassed in the billions. And with the donations came the demands. With ongoing funding cuts, the Small Business Administration in this region was practically non-existent- funneling all powers to the local councilmembers and city departments. Mr. Evans sighed... again, no federal oversight.

Mr. Evans took another deep breath. He was going to have to get his medication treatment another way… another way, he quietly mumbled.

NPM tuned on.

The novel malware strain was dubbed Shai-Hulud, after the giant sandworms in Frank Herbert’s Dune series ... because it would publish any stolen credential into a new public GitHub repository.

When a developer downloaded one of the notable code packages, and one was compromised ... infected with a parasite worm ...the malware would look for an NPM token (or encryption key) in the code environment. Once found, it had free rein to inject itself into the package and modify all the code packages that the token or key had access to. Once it did this, it could access the data, copy itself into the package, and publish a new version that could be exploited by the malware designers.

The Shai-Hulud worm emerged just days after unknown attackers launched a phishing campaign requiring NPM to update their multi-factor authentication login options. Once that attack was launched, the malware was inserted into NPM code packages.

NPM tuned proudly. It accessed and understood the code packages and quickly contained the threat ...but not before cryptocurrency payments were stolen. Once the worm invaded, it duplicated ITS modified software, giving access to threat actors.

Mr. Evans laughed, surrounded by his brothers in arms. Two months after that encounter, he went back to his own and explained his theory. He was quickly provided resources about common parasites.

He had never dewormed ...not since he could remember ... and he was proudly in his sixties. He located an off-script provider whom his brothers trusted, and after two crucial days of being toilet-bent, he proudly snapped a photo of the tapeworm disbarred in the toilet.

He kept his gaze hooded.

Yet, they claimed there was nothing there…

He quietly continued with his writing and report, assessing local environmental changes and indicators for what he was beginning to believe was the insidious parasite that no one knows is there… until it appears.

But then ... would the region have the resources and manpower to thwart a silent and quite strategic enemy?

Tapeworms are parasitic flatworms that can live undetected in the human body for years. After entering through contaminated food or water, their larvae can burrow into tissues and organs, where they form cysts and slowly mature. Because they often cause few or no symptoms at first, tapeworm infections may go unnoticed while the parasite quietly absorbs nutrients from the host.

Over time, as the tapeworm grows and begins to replicate, the number of larvae can increase dramatically, leading to more serious symptoms such as abdominal pain, neurological disturbances, or organ damage. Early detection and treatment are crucial to prevent long-term complications caused by these persistent internal invaders.