 Another realitybraker, subscription rule kills wireless hacking |
  |
 Feb 22 2006, 06:44 PM
Post
#126
|
|
|
Moving Target  Group: Members Posts: 914 Joined: 26-August 05 From: Louisville, KY (Well, Memphis, IN technically but you won't know where that is.) Member No.: 7,626  |
A subscription list is a way to limit who a client device (like a coffee maker) can talk to.
Without a subscription list the device will talk to *anyone.* So you set your coffee maker's subscription list to be your and your roomie's Comms. Why? So you're punk neighbor doesn't change it from double-foam cappucino to triple shot espresso. The IRL equivalent of a subscription list is a MAC address restriction where the client will only talk to specified devices. And, like in the game, this can be spoofed IRL but you have to do a little checking (aka a matrix perception test) to get the IDs. Subscription lists aren't true security (just like MAC restrictions aren't real security) but they are an easy way to filter out the weenies and reduce traffic so the masses treat it like security. Runners should have a subscription list on every device they own. Normals... well, how often do people set the security up right on WiFi now? Yeah, that's how often they will use subscription lists; mostly never. |
 |
 
|
|
Feb 23 2006, 07:35 AM
Post
#127
|
|||
|
Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,925 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 948 |
So what's stopping me from havign my devices communicate in a strange way so that I can have a tiered network as well? If tiered network communicate "in a strange way" then I'm gonna use the same strange way to have my own tiered network to communicate. The way I understand the rules there are several options with subscriptions lists. A: Your devices have no connection to another device, they don’t communicate with each other. B: A subscription list tells what device another device can talk to. C: Devices are not communicating but one can still access a device with a legal access code, very much like a login code on a computer. With “A” you don’t have a subscription list, with “B” you have a subscription list and with “C” there is no subscription - list but you have access to the device through legal codes. No subscription list AT ALL means that they will not have any AUTOMATIC access to another device, there is still nothing stopping you from login into the node legally with a password. The device will not “talk” to another device but it can still be accessed. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Feb 23 2006, 08:35 AM
Post
#128
|
|
|
Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
Connecting to/acessing a device is called subscribing it. ;)
It's a rather bad play of words, but essentially, if there's a connection, there's a connection, which can and will be followed. |
|
|
|
|
Feb 23 2006, 08:57 AM
Post
#129
|
|||
|
Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,925 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 948 |
What about password security then? I’m not entirely against what you are saying but there are flaws in that logic. A subscription list is mostly about what devices is allowed to talk to each other, what about one way communications? Hacker Device instead of HackerDevice. Subscription list is always two-way and that’s where I see a flaw in the rules. If we take it literally then tiered network security is impossible and if we say that the network is designed in some kind of quasimystic way incomprehensible for normal people and/or players that’s limiting the game a lot. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Feb 23 2006, 10:11 AM
Post
#130
|
|||
|
Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,498 Joined: 4-August 05 From: ADL Member No.: 7,534 |
Subscribing has another meaning per SR4 rules, as I quoted in my initial post. Furthermore, in Shadowrun, you always had to hack your way through x nodes (one at a time) while a data package with the right access codes was just relayed through those nodes. So if the data went through 10 heavily protected nodes, you would have to hack your way through everyone of those. Hacking just the first and then being relayed never worked in Shadowrun. It would be interesting to find a solution for that, and tell the SR4 developers to include that change in unwired, to avaoid problems. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
Feb 23 2006, 11:36 AM
Post
#131
|
|||||||
|
Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
It is used in two ways - and that's where the confusion comes from.
What a stroke of luck that this isn't what Jopp and I are talking about. ;)
With the current set of rules, those are not specified. Keep in mind that anything interactive needs a two way communication. So any device in that chain needs to know how to find (Access ID) it's 'adjoining' devices - putting those in stealth mode may cost a hacker more time to find the chain, but once he is in the chain, he can hack his way through... he could even use part of the chain to scan for the rest and then try to use a shortcut. |
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
Feb 23 2006, 11:48 AM
Post
#132
|
|
|
Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,498 Joined: 4-August 05 From: ADL Member No.: 7,534 |
I still think that the main issue is to force the hacker to hack through a large number of nodes.
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 23 2006, 12:03 PM
Post
#133
|
|||
|
Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,925 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 948 |
Well, for simplicity I’ll go with the INTENT of the SR4 rules. No subscription= No access unless having the correct code/id/etc Subscription= Devices talks/gossip/fileshare with each other Tiered network= No subscription list, only correct ID/backdoor avoids the need for hacking. Avoiding tiered network: Only possible if within signal range of final destination node (IF it is wireless at all.) Too much reality and everything will be either too simple or too impossible. |
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 1st February 2026 - 11:34 PM |
Topps, Inc has sole ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the game Shadowrun. Topps, Inc has granted permission to the Dumpshock Forums to use such names, logos, artwork, marks and/or any proprietary materials for promotional and informational purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not affiliated with the Dumpshock Forums in any official capacity whatsoever.