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> Hackers and comlinks, How many and where?
Dancer
post Oct 30 2005, 10:05 AM
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It seems to me that a Hacker really has use for 3 comlinks

#1 Secure. This one has the wireless functionality physically ripped out of it, and is used for storing and processing data you really don't want other people to be able to get at (like the recording of your meet with Mr. Johnson). Implant, obviously.

#2 Hacking. An ultra-high-spec custom-built unit, used for your extra-legal escapades. Left with wireless off whenever you're not using it to hack, so no-one can hack into it. Preferably external so you can fiddle with the guts whenever it takes your fancy.

#3 Public. An off-the-shelf generic comlink used for ordinary everyday things, so you don't leave the digital fingerprints of your ULTRA-LEET 12000 all over the grocery shop. Also has light security and some faked up boring files so people don't wonder "Why does this guy have an unhackable comlink? Is he a criminal?". Can be used as an emergency hacking tool if for some reason you lose access to #2 (download the hacking and security programs off #1 via datachip). Could be implant or external.

(And obviously #4, a clone of #2 stored in a safehouse somewhere as a backup, but that's not relevant right now).

Now if you implant #3 and carry #2, then people will wonder why you're carrying around a comlink you're not using (since you use #3 for everything you admit to). Same problem with carrying both. If you carry #3 and implant #2, you're now unable to upgrade your main hacking machine without someone cracking your skull open, dooming you to be 6 months or more behind the technology curve. Ditto for implanting all three.

Thoughts?

Edit: Note that 'people' may be 'the Lone Star cops at the checkpoint', so what people think certainly does matter.
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Eyeless Blond
post Oct 30 2005, 10:10 AM
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#2 usually would have the power turned off if you're not using it. That way people won't wonder about it at all; you just say you're hanging onto it for someone else if anyone asks about it. Of course if you're caught with it you're screwed, but that's true no matter what.
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Gothic Rose
post Oct 30 2005, 10:18 AM
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QUOTE (Eyeless Blond)
#2 usually would have the power turned off if you're not using it. That way people won't wonder about it at all; you just say you're hanging onto it for someone else if anyone asks about it. Of course if you're caught with it you're screwed, but that's true no matter what.

Or, with #2, you just have the personal data of #3 stored on it as well as your Ninjasecret stuff, and just have it turned off. If asked about it, just say you're in the middle of transferring data from your old model to your new one that you and your significant other are putting together as a fun and happy project. Proceed with a nice little anecdotal story about it all, and then politely ask your GM to let you roll your Charisma + Con.

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SMDVogrin
post Oct 30 2005, 03:51 PM
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QUOTE
Now if you implant #3 and carry #2, then people will wonder why you're carrying around a comlink you're not using (since you use #3 for everything you admit to). Same problem with carrying both. If you carry #3 and implant #2, you're now unable to upgrade your main hacking machine without someone cracking your skull open, dooming you to be 6 months or more behind the technology curve. Ditto for implanting all three.


Option: Implant in Cyberlimb. All the unobtrusiveness, none of the skull cracking! :)
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Shadowmeet
post Oct 30 2005, 05:01 PM
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QUOTE (Dancer @ Oct 30 2005 @ 04:05 AM)

#1 Secure. This one has the wireless functionality physically ripped out of it, and is used for storing and processing data you really don't want other people to be able to get at (like the recording of your meet with Mr. Johnson). Implant, obviously.


So, you hardwire #1 to a datajack for contact transfers/copy? Not too bad an idea. It's what a lot of corps do today. They have networks with access to the outside, and networks with only internal access, and rarely the twain shall meet, save by third party transfer materials.
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Teulisch
post Oct 30 2005, 05:29 PM
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i can actualy see a reason to run more than 3...

get a #4 commlink with an agent, and load him up. If you have response 5/system 5, then your agenst has 3 programs to use, all at rating 5. remember, you can network a bunch of these things together. if you have the funding for it, you can get a lot more agents helping you this way.
same for #'s 5, 6, and 7.
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Wolfsinger
post Oct 30 2005, 08:44 PM
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While it's not exactly core, some slight modifications to the commlink can go a long ways without extra price. A 3-way "Public/Secure/Admin" switch to the 2070 equivalent of 3 hard drives:

Public holds ones SIN, licenses, and any other information needed in normal day to day business.

Secure is for information you don't want to be sending 24/7, but might need to either give others access to or use on the net yourself. From credit reports to hacking programs.

Admin is files you don't want others to ever see, and won't be using while online yourself. For personal commlinks, turning the admin switch on also turns the wireless router off.


As the more secure hard drives are off in public mode, this makes breaking into personal commlinks very difficult. If you can get an Agent onto their system though, it's just a matter of waiting for a flip of the switch. For servers or other mass-user systems, generally the admin files are accessible, and use standard rules for breaking in.
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RunnerPaul
post Oct 30 2005, 09:10 PM
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With skinlinking, it's easier than ever to go the route of concealed electronics. Have too many commlinks? Take the one you don't want people to know about out of its casing, and build those circuit boards into something else, like say, the control box on a motorized skateboard, or into the walls of a briefcase.

Now depending on your choice of hiding place, you may or may not stand up to the scrutiny of a millimeter wave scan, but if you know you're going to go under one of those, you plan ahead and choose your hiding place appropriately.

As for implanted commlinks, I imagine that it'd be possible to try to disguise an implanted commlink as some other kind of implant. It's almost a given that there's a lot more cyberware that never gets listed in the rule books because all it does is solve boring medical problems and wouldn't be the sort of thing that would catch a runner's attention. A good streetdoc could take the guts out of a commlink implant, and put it in the shell of a dyslexia prosthesis, for example.
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NightRain
post Oct 30 2005, 09:34 PM
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QUOTE (Dancer)
It seems to me that a Hacker really has use for 3 comlinks

#1 Secure. This one has the wireless functionality physically ripped out of it, and is used for storing and processing data you really don't want other people to be able to get at (like the recording of your meet with Mr. Johnson). Implant, obviously.

The thing is, how do you transfer your data to this commlink? If it's linked to your cybereyes so it can record data from them, then you've just done the equivalent of keeping its wireless functionality, because someone can hack your cheapo commlink which is also linked to your cybereyes (otherwise no AR for you) and use the link to get to your secure one.

You can replace cybereyes in the above example with any kind of data capturing/displaying device
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RunnerPaul
post Oct 30 2005, 09:48 PM
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QUOTE (NightRain)
If it's linked to your cybereyes so it can record data from them, then you've just done the equivalent of keeping its wireless functionality, because someone can hack your cheapo commlink which is also linked to your cybereyes (otherwise no AR for you) and use the link to get to your secure one.

Or you can just pipe the AR Feed from your Cheapo comlink to a pair of display goggles instead of to your image link.
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Aku
post Oct 30 2005, 09:59 PM
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if the commlink is implanted, then cant all transfers be done with DNI internally?
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RunnerPaul
post Oct 30 2005, 10:14 PM
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QUOTE (Aku)
if the commlink is implanted, then cant all transfers be done with DNI internally?

It's not a matter of how the transfers get done, it's a matter of whether or not there's a transfer path from your cheapo hack-bait external commlink to your "I store all my dirty secrets here" internal commlink. If they're both connected to the same common piece of equipment, like cybereyes, then in theory, it's possible that someone who's hacked the cheapo commlink can get to your secret commlink.

Which is why you maintain segregation between units. Secret commlink connects to the data recorder on your cybereyes, via direct connection? Don't hook up your cheapo to them at the same time (or if you're really smart about it, not at all). Find a different way for your cheapo to give you AR feeds: display goggles, or sim-module.

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Dancer
post Oct 31 2005, 12:54 AM
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QUOTE (NightRain)
QUOTE (Dancer @ Oct 30 2005, 08:05 PM)

#1 Secure. This one has the wireless functionality physically ripped out of it, and is used for storing and processing data you really don't want other people to be able to get at (like the recording of your meet with Mr. Johnson). Implant, obviously.

The thing is, how do you transfer your data to this commlink? If it's linked to your cybereyes so it can record data from them, then you've just done the equivalent of keeping its wireless functionality, because someone can hack your cheapo commlink which is also linked to your cybereyes (otherwise no AR for you) and use the link to get to your secure one.

You can replace cybereyes in the above example with any kind of data capturing/displaying device

It should be pretty easy to rig the secure comlink so it can only ever accept data from the cybereyes/cyberears, never send. Have a physical fibreoptic connection between the two, and only put a sensor at the comlink end. Meaning the hacker will be attacking blind, and even if he succeeds he'll need to get a chip into my chipjack to download anything.

The cyberlimb suggestion is a good one (a hand or foot is all you'd need), though I can't see too many hackers deliberately chopping off a part just to have a hiding place. If you've already got one you're in good shape. The reason I don't want to have a software switch between my Public and Hacking comlinks is because when in Public mode it'll still be crammed full of non-factory-standard high performance chips, which may be leaving their serial numbers whenever I handshake (I want the grocery server to see an off-the-shelf Renraku Sensei, not some custom monstrosity running Ichi). I wonder if it'd be possible to get a cheap, bulky comlink and squeeze the guts of your hacking comlink in the spaces?
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Feshy
post Nov 3 2005, 03:05 PM
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You can replace Commlink #1 with a datalock and a kink bomb (pay the surgeon well) and you'll have a safe data storage that can be 'erased' in an emergency.

But with a bit of creativity, there's no need to spend quite that much money.

Buy some optical chips. Rig them with "Skinlink." Implant them in your "storage tooth compartment." Rig up a "Breakable Tooth" to activate / deactivate the skinlink. Turn the link on and off as needed. Store your "super extra sensitive data" on this chip. Back it up regularly, and bury the backup underneath a ghoul nest in the barrens (left as an exercise for the reader).

The downside is you can't automatically destroy it like with the kink bomb. However, if you ever ARE caught, before they find the chip, yank out your tooth and crush it under your boots. Whatever you do, DON'T swallow it -- that won't dissuade the corps in the slightest. If you are tied up, talk your GM into letting you make a "tongue agility" test (didn't you take the agile tongue quality?) to remove it and spit it into something destructive. Knowing this crowd, I'll hope and pray it's the only tongue agility roll you'll ever make.

Then keep #2 and #3; #2 implanted and either "off" or "hidden"; #3 in "spam my stupid self" mode.

Or, be a technomancer; that'll cover #2. And with my tooth solution, you won't loose any resonance (I origionally developed that idea for my 'mancer) This will also fix your upgrade problem, and allow you to bind a courier sprite and have it hash the sensitive data.
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RunnerPaul
post Nov 4 2005, 02:56 AM
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QUOTE (Feshy)
Knowing this crowd, I'll hope and pray it's the only tongue agility roll you'll ever make.

Because knotting cherry stems and unwrapping the wax paper off of a starburst candy aren't really complex enough to require a roll.
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Feshy
post Nov 4 2005, 06:33 AM
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QUOTE (RunnerPaul)
QUOTE (Feshy @ Nov 3 2005, 10:05 AM)
Knowing this crowd, I'll  hope and pray it's the only tongue agility roll you'll ever make.

Because knotting cherry stems and unwrapping the wax paper off of a starburst candy aren't really complex enough to require a roll.

More because if you're already rich enough to afford real, honest-to-god grown cherries in 2070, you've already impressed him / her, and the knot is redundant.
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RunnerPaul
post Nov 4 2005, 06:54 AM
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That too.
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blakkie
post Nov 4 2005, 04:36 PM
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I thought you were suppose to be tonguing the other persons cherry, not your own?

Hrrrm, there's something about that sentence that just doesn't seem quite right? But what could it be? Anyone?
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Jaid
post Nov 5 2005, 12:42 AM
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QUOTE (blakkie @ Nov 4 2005, 11:36 AM)
I thought you were suppose to be tonguing the other persons cherry, not your own?

Hrrrm, there's something about that sentence that just doesn't seem quite right? But what could it be? Anyone?

i think tonguing might not be a word :P

[edit] nope, scratch that, it's a real word. i have to say, it has some rather esoteric uses though... anyone else want to take a guess? ;) [/edit]

This post has been edited by Jaid: Nov 5 2005, 12:44 AM
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RunnerPaul
post Nov 5 2005, 09:56 AM
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Tonguing your own cherry is impressive whether it it's 2005 or 2070. Wealth and the scarcity of fresh produce don't negate it, whether it's contemporary or SR's timeframe.
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