Technomancers and Malware, Is there malware that can affect them? Options

[Eratosthenes]

I didn't see anything explicit, but I assume TM's are immune to malware (viruses, worms, trojans) since they infect programs and nodes, not bionodes or complex forms.

Are there variants that do affect TM's and sprites?

[Karoline]

AFAIK you are correct. It is explicitly stated that a TM's bionode can't be hacked by a hacker because the code that a hacker works with doesn't exist. It stands to reason that since that code doesn't exist, the code that malware needs to operate doesn't exist either.

There is however no reason I can think of that a TM couldn't develop a malware complex form, which would work on TMs, since they can develop a complex form of any other program they want.

[Eratosthenes]

Would a TM's malware form affect both regular programs, and TM bionodes/complex forms?

Could be a very useful complex form...and a very dangerous virus.

[Karoline]

A TM's exploit CF works on both regular systems and bionodes, so yeah, I don't see why a complex form of a virus wouldn't work on both.

Yes, very dangerous virus, and I would think that it would make TMs fairly paranoid about catching it. The only real reason I could think that this wouldn't work is that TMs don't have any storage space on their bionodes, so there may not be anything for the malware to truly infect. I suppose I'll have to read up on what exactly a bionode actually contains and why someone would want to hack one a bit more.

[Teryn180]

There's a sidebar about Technomancers and Malware in the malware section of Unwired I think, but I don't have it in front of me so I can't tell you the page.

[hermit]

There are no Resonance Malware CF. Only Dissonance can do this.

Other than that, The Resonance Difference is true for the TM and it's impregnable nodes and CFs.

[SpellBinder]

There's a sidebar about Technomancers and Malware in the malware section of Unwired I think, but I don't have it in front of me so I can't tell you the page.

Hermit is right.

As complex forms and the living persona are fueled by Resonance rather than regular code, technomancers are virtually immune to malware. Viruses usually fail to recognize complex forms as a viable host and are not able to infect them. Trojans cannot enter a technomancer’s living node, though technomancers can exploit trojan horses just like any hacker. Though worms will also fail to infect the living node of a technomancer, they can attack technomancers they encounter in a normal node.

Amazingly, no technomancer has managed (so far … ) to create or shape a complex form that has the abilities of either a virus, worm, or trojan horse, though it is rumored that the creation of malware is within the capabilities of dissonant technomancers and entropic sprites (p. 179).

[Valashar]

And the nastiness available to Dissonant technos is blood chilling, especially the echoes Pryon (cause physical, incurable diseases via Matrix contact) and Malfunction (turn that TM's sprites against them by turning them into dissonant sprites). Plus Dissonants can make complex form versions of any malware and have their own special possession in the Node Mine.

Given our current mission (locate and detain/eliminate Pax in Geneva), my TM and our TM rigger have been spending some sleepless nights trying to work out ways to counter all the dissonance and dissonant TMs/sprites wandering that city's nodes. Too bad there's not a Resonance version of the Contamination echo (which lets Dissonants create temporary dissonance pools), or a TM echo equivalent to the Filter or Cleansing metamagics. Those would be mighty handy. But, sadly, while we've had these ideas ICly, there's not anywhere near the leisure time to actually try and research them ourselves.

[Jaid]

And the nastiness available to Dissonant technos is blood chilling, especially the echoes Pryon (cause physical, incurable diseases via Matrix contact) and Malfunction (turn that TM's sprites against them by turning them into dissonant sprites). Plus Dissonants can make complex form versions of any malware and have their own special possession in the Node Mine.

Given our current mission (locate and detain/eliminate Pax in Geneva), my TM and our TM rigger have been spending some sleepless nights trying to work out ways to counter all the dissonance and dissonant TMs/sprites wandering that city's nodes. Too bad there's not a Resonance version of the Contamination echo (which lets Dissonants create temporary dissonance pools), or a TM echo equivalent to the Filter or Cleansing metamagics. Those would be mighty handy. But, sadly, while we've had these ideas ICly, there's not anywhere near the leisure time to actually try and research them ourselves.

suggestion: hack a thor shot. it will probably be easier.

[Valashar]

Our GM already had that thought. After the initial attacks that qualified Geneva as a feral city, there was a lovely orbital skirmish as killsats were taken over by the Dissonants and the satellite owners either scuttled them or sent in sat-killers to clear the problem. Right now there isn't a single intact surface attack satellite in most of European airspace. Of course the good news is that they can't use one on us, either.