Assassination by Algorithm

I overheard it. And, I heard it in his tone. He was concerned that he was targeted by his own invention, the virus that his team of elite programmers made. His accent made it difficult to understand, but him being in America makes it obvious that we know about ABA (Assassination by Algorithm), and are probably using it now!

It's always been uncanny to me how certain apps hang at the worst times. I've often felt as if my phone was trying to give me heart attack, or at least drive me nuts with added stress at critical junctures in life. Like while driving, the kids yelling in the back seat. I'm pressed for time, and my map suddenly stops working. Meanwhile, my Fit-Bit transmits my vitals in near real time.

They've tried deploying the virus at the operating system level, but it gets the boot with certain updates. Deploying it with certain apps like maps is fairly reliable for the longest period of time.

The virus was initially developed for use against foreign leaders, but you know how mission-creep is. I'm never wearing a Fit Bit again. Our phones already take in bio-metric data, but health monitoring apps are over the top! Depending on the individual, their health, blood pressure, heart-rate, and any known preexisting conditions. The algorithm takes into account text messages, calendar events, and travel data as well, and it deploys them at crucial intervals where it's most effective at shortening the lifespan of its target through stress.

"D", we'll call him, described the technology to those in the room like one of Nikola Tesla's wild inventions. Where Tesla almost caused buildings to crumble by simply attaching a device that would ping the frame of the building at a specific interval for its geometry, causing something akin to an earthquake in the building. This ABA algorithm works similarly in the human body, raising blood pressure and stress hormones to maximum harmfulness.