Hack on the fly, Marks and You, Is it really that easy to spot a mark? |
Hack on the fly, Marks and You, Is it really that easy to spot a mark? |
Oct 4 2014, 08:05 AM
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#1
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 271 Joined: 5-July 11 From: Firebase Zulu Member No.: 32,769 |
Looking over the matrix rules there are three ways to apply a mark, get invite, Brute Force and Hack on the Fly. If you are using Hack on the Fly you make an opposed test and if you are successful you can apply 1 or more Marks on the target. From reading the Matrix Perception action it seems like anything that is doing a Matrix Perception action (program your commlink/cyberdeck to run it on continuous action with a dice pool of DevRatingx2?) and getting 2 hits will let you know that you are marked (one to know that there is something out there and the second to actually get the mark count).
Is it really that easy for a host or icon with an active spider or Patrol IC to determine that his system has some unauthorized marks on it? |
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Oct 4 2014, 05:47 PM
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#2
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Prime Runner Ascendant Group: Members Posts: 17,568 Joined: 26-March 09 From: Aurora, Colorado Member No.: 17,022 |
Looking over the matrix rules there are three ways to apply a mark, get invite, Brute Force and Hack on the Fly. If you are using Hack on the Fly you make an opposed test and if you are successful you can apply 1 or more Marks on the target. From reading the Matrix Perception action it seems like anything that is doing a Matrix Perception action (program your commlink/cyberdeck to run it on continuous action with a dice pool of DevRatingx2?) and getting 2 hits will let you know that you are marked (one to know that there is something out there and the second to actually get the mark count). Is it really that easy for a host or icon with an active spider or Patrol IC to determine that his system has some unauthorized marks on it? Yes, it is that easy. |
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Oct 4 2014, 07:09 PM
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#3
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,116 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,449 |
Even the best security is not omnipresent, though. They might not be checking that particular icon until you have finished your hacking, which seems to usually happen in a comparatively narrow time frame.
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Oct 5 2014, 02:47 AM
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#4
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 482 Joined: 27-May 09 From: Ann Arbor, MI Member No.: 17,213 |
Is it really that easy for a host or icon with an active spider or Patrol IC to determine that his system has some unauthorized marks on it? Nope. It's that easy to know you have marks, but not if they are unauthorized. The rules are a bit unclear on legal vs illegal marks, but it seems like you can't tell with a simple matrix perception test. Now if it's your personal cyberdeck, and it's mark count jumps for no reason, you can get suspicious... but a host system's active marks will likely fluctuate a lot. Remember that any time a system reboots or is turned off, the marks it's user has placed vanish, so legitimate mark counts will change all the time on large systems. |
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Oct 14 2014, 03:01 PM
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#5
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 151 Joined: 28-August 08 From: Berlin, Germany Member No.: 16,285 |
To be even more specific: There is no such thing as an "unauthorized" mark, as the mark IS the authorization!
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Oct 14 2014, 03:39 PM
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#6
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The back-up plan Group: Retired Admins Posts: 8,423 Joined: 15-January 03 From: San Diego Member No.: 3,910 |
Raben-AAS -- I know what you mean by that sentence, but given that hackers can mark things that don't want to be marked, that statement is an awful lot like holding up a gun and saying "I don't need a badge, THIS is my badge."
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Oct 14 2014, 07:11 PM
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#7
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Skillwire Savant Group: Members Posts: 3,154 Joined: 5-April 13 From: Aurora Warrens, UCAS Sector of the FRFZ Member No.: 88,139 |
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Oct 15 2014, 12:46 AM
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#8
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 865 Joined: 31-December 03 From: Shadows of Britain Member No.: 5,944 |
Well thats where the balance between the two factors comes in. If the Host or Device is expecting Marks then it may not be concerned, if it isn't (IE Cyberdeck, single user server) then it might be. Also Marks are distinctive to the Persona that places them, which means a more suspicious system may notice that a Mark doesn't tally with the list of "anticipated Marks".
So a publically accessible Host won't look twice at a random Mark. A closed but massively accessed Host again is unlikely to take note of a Mark unless it's paranoid enough to check a database of regular or anticipated Marks. The smaller the user base the more it's likely to attract attention. On a closed and limited access host it'll either flag an unexpected Mark or run it against a database. |
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