Hacking Scenarios Q&A Options

[calypso]

So, you're with your team when you get up to a door with a maglock. A good one. With a proximity card reader as well as fingerprint scanner. How do you get past it?

[blakkie]

*shakes the Magic 8 ball*

Aztechnology Striker w/AV Rocket? :silly:

[JesterX]

I blast through the door with my panther assault canon.

No, seriously, I suppose I'll have to brute-force hack that lock system. As a GM, I'll probably rule out that the entire authentification system is a single host with a pretty high rating.

The character will have to make an Hacking + Exploit (Firewall, 1 initiative pass) extended test to log on the host. I'll also require the hacker to gain Admin privileges (+6 to the threshold).

After that, the hacker will have to spoof a fake authorization to the device with an opposed Hacking + Spoof vs. target Pilot + Firewall.

Of course, you can also rule that the fingerprint reader and the maglock card reader are two separate hosts (that needs to be hacked in the same time, which is perfectly legal in SR4)

[JesterX]

[Lord Ben]

First take off the maglock case, then disable the anti-tamper device, then bypass the keycard reader. That'll take less than a minute.

The fingerprints are tricky since you need the real ones or to have copied fake ones. Hopefully the party got fingerprints ahead of time before the run, or shot a guard at some point... :)

[calypso]

[Lord Ben]

Whether or not the door is matrix enabled bypassing the door using fakes or the hardware skill still works.

EDIT: And yeah, short of blowing it off it's hinges you'd need a fake or a good faker kit whether it's magpasskey or sequencer or whatever.

[Backgammon]

Here's a new take on maglock:

Card readers are a thing of the past. That's soooo 2050s.

Now all you need is a wireless detector receiving RFID signals from employee RFID tags. The door simply opens up for authorized users and does not otherwise. Why oh why would you use archaic card swiping? For extra annoyance to those who take the hardware-messing approach to opening doors, you can have the actual wireless detector on top of the door behind a few milimeters of plasteel (or somehting else if plasteel block radio signals). Talk about annoying to work on.

The big drawback is signal interception (as wireless hacking is aslo a problem for any other maglock mechanism). Since the RFID signal must travel through airwaves, a patient hacker could stick arounf the door (under an invisibility spell?) and wait for a employee to walk by. Capture signal, decrypt, and duplicate.

A counter to that are logical assessors in the door access. How can an employee open a door 2 floors up when he just opened a door in the basement?

Ah, fun for the whole family!

[Lord Ben]

Well, you don't always have to swipe it. I read in the corebook somewhere that most maglock keys are just cards you put into your comlink. Then when you walk around your comlink shows that you have the maglock key and lets you in.

[blakkie]

@JesterX: Why, once i had Admin access, would i have to do something like spoof? I'm in, and i'm master of the domain. FTW i use Command to tell the maglock to open. Might be a REALLY good idea though to first check for a Databomb and disable it before sending the Command. ;)

P.S. I'm wondering if security level access is really all that is required. That extra +3 for Hacking on the Fly is brutal.

[Cheops]

You'd only need security access--either rip off a security guard's passcode or else a manager's passcode or make your own. As long as you pick the right level of employee you should be able to authorize it without hacking.

BTW the same thing would happen with the wireless passkey reader above the door. All you have to do is hack into the main security node and then either authenticate an appropriate passcode or spoof the device.

[JesterX]

Yep, you're right... Security access should be enough... and you don't need to spoof. My error... ^_^

[NightRain]

Though you don't need spoof, you still do need to make a command object action. It probably doesn't use a roll just to to open a door, but it tie the hacker up for a complex action

[Wasabi]

You could also do like current government high security areas and have a pressure plate on the floor of an airlock style entry point that detects to make sure the weight on the pad matches up with the bearer to prevent one person letting on others...

[Eyeless Blond]

[Jaid]

as far as why a building might not be wired, it could simply be for ease of installation.

i mean, sure... if one of the Big Ten makes an arcology, then they will do at least portions (and quite possibly large portions) of the system with wired connections. presumably that would include the security, i would think.

however, consider how much easier it is to install something that is wireless. you just stick it there, flip a switch, and BAM, it's on. compare that to installing wired connections, where you have to get the wire from point A to point B, hook it up, etc.

now consider if you are moving into a new building. one that you didn't build from scratch. now, if you want to install security, you can either tear everything apart and put it in, then put everything back together. or, you can go wireless. considering you also have to keep an eye on the SOTA or your security is basically useless, i would say that almost all places would use wireless systems, simply for the reason above.

also, you can have security guards roaming around linked to the security system (AR mode) if it is wireless. you can access it from anywhere, so that if you want to have your security able to command the defenses (or even just be perfectly timed with them), you can. you can also have the system recognise people by their PAN, which means you can have a gun that will distinguish between friend and foe, for example.

now add in the fact that they would have to buy the hardware anyways (be it wireless or otherwise) and the programs are pretty darn cheap, relatively speaking, to defend your network... and you can probably copy them if you have multiple nodes you want protected (the book doesn't say, but i presume that you can buy source code legally. if not, then i would think many corps (even the smaller ones) program their own IC and such, thus being able to copy it as much as they need)

anyways, that's just how i see it.

[evil1i]