Say I want to get past a receptionist, so I hack his datajack/internal commlink/'trode net and subscribe my (hotsim equipped) commlink. I then run a personafix that makes him very trusting and gullible, sell him a story about forgetting my ID code, and cover my electronic traces as I walk away.

In other situations I use other 'fixes. If I'm intimidating someone I make them a spineless coward. If I need to get information out of someone I turn them into a garrolous sot.

1) Is this possible?
2) Could a Personafix include a prohibition against noticing the fact that you've been fixed?
3) What sort of bonus would be applied to social tests after installing a suitable moodchip/personafix on somebody?

1) It's possible through datajack and trode net but not internal commlink (except if this internal commlink is equipped with a hotsim module).
But most of the time the trode net/datajack will have a signal reduced to the minimum (if they are not directly plugged in the commlink through wires or skinlink). So except if you stand right next to the victim, you won't be able to send the signal directly from your hotsim module to the DNI of the victim. If you hack the victim's commlink first and use it as a relay, the signals will go through the victim's sim module (which may not be hotsim enabled), which will limit the strength of the signal.
You might affect the victim but not as much as with a true BTL signal.

Furthermore the RAS might trigger (I don't know which element take care of that).

2) It was already possible two decades ago, according to the 2XS novel.

3) I guess it'd depends on the quality of the programming of the P-Fix and how it is related to the situation. But I think that with a good P-Fix you can just skip social test and have the guy do and believe what you want him to.

Some people might complain that it's too powerful and game-breaking, but that's just a technological Mindcontrol spell.

With the Sim Module now a seperate box, it does not matter where it is.

So once you took control of his brain interface, whatever that may be, you are free to feed any simsense you like.

I like it! Where's unwired when I need it!!

Cheers,

Evil-minded Max

As I said, it matters a bit because you need to send the data out from the sim module directly to the DNI of the victim without going through another sim module which would limit the signal.
And connecting directly to a DNI is not so easy.

Well we know who's been watching ghost in a shell stand alone complex now don't we

they wonder what effect a cold-sim (the default) module will have on any potential personafix attack, as thats a BTL, and requires hot-sim.

still, there is a fluff notice in emergence about some people doing a cold-sim tour of the matrix and being killed by a TM attacker. now if thats scaremongering or "truth" thats a different story...

You do need a hot/illegal sim module to play BTLs but that sim module can be sitting in your lap at home since sim modules can be connected remotely to the target's neural interface such as their datajack, trodes, even their cybereyes. (that's assuming you can route a BTL stream thru the matrix)

I guess you can route a BTL stream through the Matrix because if you couldn't, Black Hammer and other such attacks wouldn't have the same effect on hackers in hotsim.
EDIT : Actually, the BTL signal sent on the Matrix will basically look like "Send (255,255,255) on brain input #3. The Sim module will do the translation in "brain signal")

I guess the only thing that could filter the BTL signal is the unmoded simmodule. That's why I suggest that you have to send the signal directly to the user's DNI because if you route it through his simmodule, it'll filter it.

@Dancer: Maybe I wasn't clear enough, or my English isn't good enough, but that's exactly my point.

Basically you have :
BTL -> Matrix -> Commlink -> Sim Module -> DNI -> Brain

The signal is only modified by the Sim Module which will convert it to signal the DNI can feed to the brain. If it's a hotsim module, the module will convert all the signal. If it's a coldsim module, it will filter the signal.

So if you want to send a BTL signal to the brain of a user of a coldsim module, you'll have to do it that way :
Hacker's commlink -> Hackers hotsim module -> Victim's DNI -> Victim's Brain
The problem is that it's hard to get close enough to the victim's DNI signal (using a drone or a RFID tag might be the best solution).

You could do like they do in GitS and plug your own commlink into the user's datajack, then fry his brain.

Or another really cool way is the Handshake of Death, if both the aggressor and the victim use skinlink (which is likely). Make skin contact, lightning-fast hack yourself into his PAN, have your hotsim-commlink access his DNI device (trode/datajack) and fry his brain.

I don't think you can fry someone's brain from 100km away because, for that trick, you need to have the DNI device receive input from YOUR commlink, not the users. So unsubscribing the DNI from the commlink in order to have it subscribe to yours would instantly cause it to be unable to transmit it's signal over the matrix.

This is going on the assumption that DNI devices only accept 1 source of input. It doesn't state that anywhere, but it makes sense for me (and also acts as a brain-fry limiter, so sounds good to me).

hmm, handshake upload of agent...

I think I could fry someone's brain from 100km away, if there was a commlink with a modified sim module in direct wireless range of their DNI device. I connect to their commlink via the matrix, and from there to their datajack. After owning the datajack I subscribe the hot commlink to it. I now have a hot-sim enabled commlink directly connected to their DNI, and can commence brainhacking.

An implanted commlink with an unmodified sim module is probably proof against brainhacking though, there's no way to get an unfiltered signal (unless I can deactivate their sim module in software, then subscribe the modified sim module I planted nearby to their internal commlink. Not sure if this is possible.)

Here's a thought - is a hotsim a software or hardware modifications...? If it's software, you could modify it on the fly, turning the user's benign sim module into a lethal hotsim modified sim module. That would solve the distance problem.

It's hardware. See the sim module description on BBB pg318 (use the Hardware skill to modify a sim module).

Intra Pan. It doesn't make sense to have it accessible from more than 6m (and 3m should be enough).

Maybe you can get the DNI to connect to the victim's commlink directly without having a simmodule in between and then have your sim module send its data to the victim's commlink, but I don't think that'd work : the messages sent by your simmodule are "brain signal" which the commlink won't understand and will simply drop.

It takes time and Hardware Skill.

In my game, I would rule (for sanity's sake) that the hot-sim module (it doesn't matter whose) has to be in direct contact with the DNI device. Low signal range on their DNI device, skinlink, no wi-fi could all apply varying degrees of protection.
I want tricks like this to be possible, but not trivial. If you allow the hot-sim module to communicate with the DNI through any intermediate device you can do this trick from anywhere on virtually anyone with any kind of DNI, and that's bad, IMO.
So as long as your hot-sim module is talking directly to their DNI, this works. Again, this is my interpretation for my game, not a statement of universal truth.

Combining this with the prevalence of skinlink, plus a bit of '80s japanaphilia, and I would conclude that the threat of skinlink hacking would result in handshakes and any other form of physical contact being quite taboo in the business world, with people bowing instead of shaking hands. It's paranoid. It's japanese. What more could you want?

Well, there's a few issues. First of all, a Persona Fix of "More gullible guy" is a bit hard to manage. It's one thing to have it broadcast an emotion, such as happyness, which requires a Sim module, or to crank up brain chemsitry (Again, via Sim Module) to give more confidence, but "More gullible" is a pretty nebulous thing. Trying to get someone geared up to record such a track is going to be awfully tricky and it won't really have a market.

Now "Screaming Terror" as a dreamchip, where the person gets drug through roller coatsers, skydiving, shark attacks, whatever, then given a chance to submit or be put back in there? Yeah, there you have a shot. Finding out that Manager Bob has a fear of stinging insects, so you track down a copy of Euphoria's "Against the Hive"? Valid. But "Turn guy into a sucker" is a real challenge.

From there, it's just a matter of getting the program running via a sim, directly contacting the target. If they don't have a mental link, for example a datajack or onboard commlink, you're kind of screwed, since you'll need "The Chair" and a set of trodes to hook him up and run him through for a while ... not really that subtle.

Note that even Psychotropic IC needs this kind of a link ... if you're in AR, sans Sim Module, they can't re-write your brain. In contrast, if you're HotSimming, you could be in for a world of hurt.

Friends don't let friends HotSim.

What you say is true for moodchips. But a P-Fix can instill far more subtle and far reaching changes. "While under the chip's influence, the user becomes a different person."

Your reason are good and flaourful, but I think skinlink hacking between businessmen probably isn't a concern, unless there is deep suspicion between the two companies. I mean, you're here to do business, not declare war.

I think it'd be a HUGE thing in the shadows though. Anyone that touches you is probably hacking you.

If you're going to personafix a receptionist, you might as well do it with a James Bond P-Fix that has you cast as M.

New evil idea of the minute:

What if you simply got the hotsim module within communication contact of the victim (short wireless or skin contact). You could then hack the person's commlink, have it subscribe the hotsim, and then send in via matrix your lethal feed?

It could be fairly easy to disguise your hotsim module as a gift or somthing benign (household object, etc), whatever it takes to get it near the person. You then retreat to the safety of your bunker, execute the hack, subscribe the hostim, and send a lethal signal?

Just like in the A-Team: "Here take this pen, free gift from our company." with a microphone inside the pen.

Did that a couple of time when I first played SR.

I think we're going to need a developed answer to settle this completely. If all a sim module does is turn one digital signal into a different digital signal you don't really need a sim module in your commlink at all, just get the neurocompatible signal directly.

Except that the commlink will not be able to deal with the neurosignal which isn't a matrix packet.

Example :
Matrix packet: '<Neurosignal> *Encoded Neurosignal* </neurosignal>' This is encoded as a data packet.
After the Simmodule, you get a series of electric signal to be sent to the DNI. You can compare that to sending packet to the Internet through a RTC line: you need a modem to turn the analog signal to numeric signal and vice versa. You're computer won't understand if you directly plug the analog signal.

Furthermore I guess the signal is tailored to the brain of the receiver, so hacking the commlink to have it send something that'll be like the signal you need directly to the DNI with a "software modem" should be a bit tough to manage.

You wouldn't neccesarily need to be using a sim module but you would need to have some form of DNI available (Datajack, implanted commlink, 'trodes).

You can't just 'send somebody hot sim'. You need to hack his Comlink for Admin access first.