Question about Matrix Perception that I'm having trouble finding an answer for:
If a hacker is looking at a node starting to "Hack on the Fly" or "Probe the Target", what can a Matrix Perception test reveal about the target node?

Can the hacker tell what type of node it is? (Nexus? Commlink? something else?)
Can the hacker tell what Firewall the node has?
Can the hacker determine that if it is an "admin only" node?
Can the hacker see traffic going in/out (and potentially intercept)?
Anything else?

Is there a page in one of the books that addresses this?

Thanks!

I can't remember where it is off the top of my head, but there was a bit somewhere (maybe in unwired?) which details the sort of information Analyze will give you...

It worked something along the lines of each success lets you have one bit of info. I'll try find the bit I mean in the pdfs on my usb stick in a minute.

The BBB on page 217 details it pretty well. Not the box I was thinking of (which I suspect might have been on a matrix cheat sheet somewhere), but it does actually answer your question.

After re-reading my post, I should clarify the question a bit ...

I think I know what hacker can perceive once inside a node, but I'm not sure which information is available from *outside* of the node.

Surely to look at the node you need to connect to it, which means that you can then just use the normal matrix perception rules?

1. I'd rule 'yes'. One can determine a target's operating system in real life with simple analysis.
2. I'd rule 'no', except maybe in very vague terms-- if at all.
3. No idea, maybe someone else should take over here. What if a hacker tries to hack a user account over and over and over again, and there's only Admin?
4. I'd rule 'no', but this could be wrong for game purposes (might be more interesting if yes). My justification goes back to "RL" like the first one: you can't MITM/spoof a connection if you don't know it's there, and you don't know it's there if you don't have access to the system. Using traffic diagnostics you might be able to tell how BUSY a host is ("gigapulses of data moving in and out", or "seems fairly quiet") as one can do today, though.

I don't think it's in any books, Matrix Perception is for inside a node, public or private, running Analyze on other icons... not for when you're not even logged on/in yet.

Oh and that sounds more like running the Sniffer Program rather than Analyse.

These aren't official answers, of course, since I'm not a source for official answers, but I believe the answers to your questions are yes, yes, yes, yes if it's just the presence of traffic (I think Oenone has it right about needing Sniffer to actually read the traffic), and yes.