Hacker in Combat Options

[godboyimmaculate]

Hi,

Long time SR player, been away for a few years, just starting up a SR4 campaign.

Very green on the new system, especially the wireless world. I've been scanning the forums and reading the book, but Im trying to figure out exactly how a hacker is run during combat.

It seems that a Hacker can shut down or command devices in combat, but how is it done by the rules? Opposed to standard combat, i.e. shooting a gun, it appears to be pretty complicated.

1) Find the node (According to the node's mode, this could take a while. hacking a hidden PAN requires 16 hits? Mind you, not everything is hidden, but most runners PAN's will be)

2) Hack access rights

3) Spoof a command or crash the device through cybercombat

Is this more or less correct?

Alternatively, if a hacker finds your PAN, can he simply just attack it via cybercombat and crash it? If possible, what are the effects of it?

Basically, Im trying to figure out if the Hacker has his own niche in a combat or if he's stuck being a hybrid st sam like in previous editions.