Motif of The Work of Penetration “Pen” Tester

Ware incorporates a description of the work of a penetration “pen” tester as a motif in her novel Zero Days. Jack and Gabe are freelancers who own their own pen-testing company. Jack describes how a security guard who caught her shoplifting suggested to her that she look into getting a job as a pen tester, a legal way to use her skills. In their partnership, Jack looks for physical vulnerabilities in a building while Gabe tests out how secure the business's computer systems are.

Jack tells her reader that her career as a pen tester grew from a stint of shoplifting episodes after her parents were killed in a car crash when she was still a teenager. Jack generally was not caught when she shoplifted and added that she often returned the things she stole, but there was one...