http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080...ube-attack.html

seems that stuff thats unbreakable one day, becomes bothersome-ly trivial the next...

so when unwired seems to dodge the issue with its encryption sidebar, it may not be that far of the target after all

All you need to break encryption is sufficient computing power (be that a super-duper-computer or a gal from Jersey who's really good at doing math in her head) and a sufficiently efficient algorithm. SR4 already has ridiculous amounts of computing power, so all that's needed is an equal mathematical advancement. I dunno about anybody else, but such a breakthrough seems plausible to me in the next sixty years.

What strikes me as odd is that some folks don't consider mathematics to be technology. They can accept super-strong cyberlimbs and nanomachines but not advanced algorithms in their science fiction.

I have no problem with encryption/decryption being breakable but the SECONDS it takes to break encryption in shadowrun 4 is a wee bit too fast for my liking making the entire encryption program regardless of rating a speedbump instead of a challenge.

I've proposed as a houserule that Encryption program increases treshold by its rating on ALL tests and the Decryption program reduce Encryption by its rating (Max reduction to zero encryption). The encryption is in constant flux so there is no way to actually remove it, just to have an active counterprogram.

A rating 6 encryption will be a rating 2 with a rating 4 decryption program.

Personally, I like having encryption breakable in seconds, and have since I first read it. It makes electronic warfare feasible within the context of combat.

Encryption should be more workable as a plot device than an actual game mechanic. I'd assume that breaking normal encryption would be a standard part of hacking, so that should be subsumed into the normal rolls. Just assume everything is encrypted to some degree, and the normal hacking rolls deal with that.

Serious encryption should be reserved for really secure items. The big paydata should be encrypted to such a degree, it'll take a lot of special work to decrypt it. But in order to do that in SR4, you have to resort to contrived plot devices, like in On The Run.

Doesn't Unwired have that sort of encryption and the tactical sort?

yep, its called strong encryption, and takes x number of hours to apply or something like that.

then it takes at least that much, or more to break.