Copying encrypted Nanoschematics Options

[Elfenlied]

My players have gotten their hands on a nanofax and an encrypted codecard with schematics for common police gear (nothing fancy, just standard Ares Predators and armor vests). The codecard is encrypted with a standard similar to the one used by credsticks, and their nanofax can only produce gear with a codecard inserted (it cannot store schematics). The players need to turn the codecard in to the Johnson, and they still have about 1 week till the agreed exchange.

The players wish to make a copy of the card. What are appropriate and fair rules for such an action?

[Koekepan]

My players have gotten their hands on a nanofax and an encrypted codecard with schematics for common police gear (nothing fancy, just standard Ares Predators and armor vests). The codecard is encrypted with a standard similar to the one used by credsticks, and their nanofax can only produce gear with a codecard inserted (it cannot store schematics). The players need to turn the codecard in to the Johnson, and they still have about 1 week till the agreed exchange.

The players wish to make a copy of the card. What are appropriate and fair rules for such an action?

It should just be data - materials and dimensional specifications. Two questions: can they read the encrypted data off the card? Can they decrypt it? If they can, with the equipment at their disposal, then they're in.

Alternatively, if they can hook it up to a reader which emulates a nanofax, and just read off the unencrypted data as it comes off, that's the easiest. No fiddling around with electronics or anit-tampering or any of that stuff. Shouldn't be hard. A reader hardware interface, a commlink plugged into it, and a smart hacker doing the protocol work. There's your answer.

[ShadowDragon8685]

My players have gotten their hands on a nanofax and an encrypted codecard with schematics for common police gear (nothing fancy, just standard Ares Predators and armor vests). The codecard is encrypted with a standard similar to the one used by credsticks, and their nanofax can only produce gear with a codecard inserted (it cannot store schematics). The players need to turn the codecard in to the Johnson, and they still have about 1 week till the agreed exchange.

The players wish to make a copy of the card. What are appropriate and fair rules for such an action?

Copying encrypted data is very, very easy, as long as it doesn't have a data-bomb attached. Make a Computer + Command (1; 1 IP) test, and bam, you've got a copy of some encrypted data.

The kicker is probably gonna be the card: the nanofax is probably keyed not to accept the data, even if it's the right data, if it's on the wrong card. At the very least, you're likely looking at a proprietary format datacard with an RFID chip baked into it to match the data. To set yourself up so you can use it, you'd need to either copy the datacard at the atomic level, or decrypt the schematics and reverse-engineer the datacard format to make your own with a new RFID number.


Decrypting it on the other hand, is gonna be a pain. Look at the rules for Strong Encryption. I wouldn't say it's out of the question to imagine that the data formatting was encrypted with Rating 12 strong encryption running for a week - so they'd be looking at an Electronic Warfare + Decrypt (24; 1 week) test.

Not an impossible hurdle, just gonna take a lot of time.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Decrypting it on the other hand, is gonna be a pain.
Look at the rules for Strong Encryption.
I wouldn't say it's out of the question to imagine that the data formatting was encrypted with Rating 12 strong encryption running for a week - so they'd be looking at an Electronic Warfare + Decrypt (24; 1 week) test.

Not an impossible hurdle, just gonna take a lot of time.

Does nobody read the rules anymore... Strong Encryption only allows a Maximum of 1 Day Interval, not a week.

Strong Encryption
While cryptanalysis is far stronger than encryption these days, it is possible to slow down an attacker more than standard encryption can. Doing so takes a large amount of processing power and time, and is considered by some hackers to be not worth the extra effort.
When using strong encryption, the user needs the Encrypt program, as with normal encryption. The amount of time taken to perform the strong encryption then becomes the interval for an attacker’s Decryption Extended Test (p. 225, SR4). The longest period to which the interval may be increased is one day; beyond twenty-four hours, the encryption suffers from dramatic diminishing returns.
Strong encryption may not be used for signals encryption.

[ShadowDragon8685]

Does nobody read the rules anymore... Strong Encryption only allows a Maximum of 1 Day Interval, not a week.

Diminishing returns is not the same as no returns, and this is Ares Macrotech we're talking about. They have plenty of processing power to throw at this.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Diminishing returns is not the same as no returns, and this is Ares Macrotech we're talking about. They have plenty of processing power to throw at this.

In this case, the rules are specific... The LONGEST timeframe you may use, as an interval, is 1 day. *shrug*

[Sengir]

Well, there are rules for copying credsticks in UW, but the the thresholds are insane (R* 20-ish). Basically just like SINs a more elaborate way of saying "leave it to the specialists with resources players never have". Since that is about as boring as watching a Decrypt program running, I'd suggest going with ShadowDragon's suggestion and make "acquiring" a new card the focus.

Also, beware of the can of worms nanofaxes may open... http://imgur.com/FsfK0Vk

[ShadowDragon8685]

In this case, the rules are specific... The LONGEST timeframe you may use, as an interval, is 1 day. *shrug*

Funnily enough, while I get very, very angry when GMs arbitrary change the rules as they are written on me, I have no problem with bending this particular rule: Decrypting heavily-encrypted nano-industrial blueprints or whatever, is a dramatic goal, not an immediate one. Hence, making this into a goal that will takes weeks or even months to complete gives the players a longer-term objective beyond "make rent for the month then try to squirrel away every extra nuyen I can find."

Or I could just say that decrypting it reveals an entirely different, equally-encrypted file, like an extradimensional matroyska doll full of money.

[ShadowDragon8685]

In this case, the rules are specific... The LONGEST timeframe you may use, as an interval, is 1 day. *shrug*

Funnily enough, while I get very, very angry when GMs arbitrary change the rules as they are written on me, I have no problem with bending this particular rule: Decrypting heavily-encrypted nano-industrial blueprints or whatever, is a dramatic goal, not an immediate one. Hence, making this into a goal that will takes weeks or even months to complete gives the players a longer-term objective beyond "make rent for the month then try to squirrel away every extra nuyen I can find."

Or I could just say that decrypting it reveals an entirely different, equally-encrypted file, like an extradimensional matroyska doll full of money.