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DocTaotsu
One of my good buddies wants to run a hacker in his next game so we got to talking about all the awful things a hacker could do to fuck with someone. Locking them out of their own commlink, hacking their cyberlimbs, hacking their commlink to go on speaker mode and exclaim "My name is <Insert Actual Name Here>! I'm a sccccaarrry shadowrunner! For a good time comm #234234 etc".

But he suggested we toss it to the wolves... that would mean you fellow dumpshockers.

So what are some terrible thing a hacker could do to someone he really doesn't like?
Neraph
Scorch him, I believe the term is. Unwired goes into it. You erase all his SIN information. Either that or change his SIN to a highly criminal one.
Tiger Eyes
Reprogram a RFID tag on him/her (or reprogram the commlink) to broadcast that the person is a sex offender (again see Unwired for that trick).

Plaster their face & ID on Lone Star's bounty hunter site as a wanted FTA.

Post on Shadowland that he/she has worked with Pachinko Mike.

Hire a technomancer to send a pack of machine sprites with the gremlin power into everything he/she touches/interacts with/goes near.

Bearclaw
I'm the hacker in our current group, and the coolest thing I've done to some one was, just before we busted in the door to a room with another team of runners, hack the street sams link, turn off the reflex trigger on her wired reflexes, and then dropped her flare compensators, essentially blinding her, with guns in her hands. Just about the time she was done spinning in circles emptying her pistols into the walls, we kicked in the doors and the other team just surrendered. spin.gif
Heath Robinson
Turn their 'link into a proxy, and post the connection information to Shadowsea. (Using the Proxy Trojan)
Insert their SIN into adult entertainment (and associated toy) sales databases.
Anonymously mail the contents of their commlink to everyone on their contact list.
Install Puppeteer on their 'link or CHN and get an Agent to randomly order drones to move at high speed towards them. (I call this the Yossarian)
Corrupt the SIN information on their 'link in a high class neighbourhood.
Do an intentionally crappy job of pirating their programs and post them to Shadowsea - any sensible Corp is going to put unique identifying information into their programs to identify piracy sources, they'll come down on them like a sack of bricks.
Install a spam-net Agent into their CHN.
Bandwidth costs, max them out.
Use their 'link as a makeshift jammer.
Humanis-made Slave virus, infect them with it.
Crack their copy-protection.
Insert the Resource Allocation Error bug into their Browse program.
Ryu
For wageslaves, write applications to all competitors. Offer to sell company secrets in those applications. Make fake holiday videos for your target, to be found by the spouse. Report the boss of your target for tax embezzlement, using the identity of your target. Top secret of course. Reset the stocking limits of the targets household nodes to "best of the best/ much of it". Be sure to create ordering patterns that imply alcoholism.
kanislatrans
lets see,

Disable someones spam filters at the mall and set comm to "auto-accept any incoming signal"

Change the language setting in their commlink to latin.

Leave a worm virus in someones drones. (thanks to who ever put that in UW. I love it.)

change there nano- tats from"Born to raise Hell!" to"Pinky love doll,ask me for a freebie" while in a Trog bar.

Switch opponents vehicle RFID tag to that of a stolen vehicle. with an ARO that says"Cop Killers do it with style!"

Rig an election at a Humanis Chapter and have them elected President...and shoot a press release to all the media.

Sweep Jeepus, I could go on forever...good thing I never run a hacker... grinbig.gif grinbig.gif








DocTaotsu
HonestlyI think it'd be worse to change someones language to spetheriel or some obscure language from papua new guinea wink.gif
Sir_Psycho
Encrypt is my favourite. Hack in, encrypt the node and then crash it. When the mark reboots, he finds he can't access his comm, because the logon is encrypted. The best part is that his decrypt utility is there inside the commlink.

It's the matrix equivalent of locking some-one's keys in their car.


Another fun one is to use Track and Sniffer to compile yourself a schedule of everything the mark interacts with in AR or VR in an average day. Next you hack everything on the list; Vending machines, his Americar, his home maglock, the autodoor at work, the soykaf machine, the water cooler, his secretary's comm, everything. Load a data bomb on to every node and program it to only target his AID.


Another fun (and profitable) one is to steal their drones. Lots of people own drones, not many Steel Lynxes, but the occasional MCT Flyspy for their son, or maybe a minizeppelin. Maybe you want to steal their domestic drones. Just park out the front of their house, hack their Central Home Node and have their drones roll out the front door and into your van. Make sure you have a jammer or something else to mess with the RFIDs and you can get away with a few drones. Make them do their own household chores for once.
DocTaotsu
I can think of worse things that can be done with hacked households drones... but yes, stealing them certainly seems profitable.
TheOOB
Hack into someone's cyberlimb and force them to redline, quite painful and more difficult to identify as hacking then causing them to shoot themselves in the face.
Neraph
QUOTE (TheOOB @ Nov 14 2008, 01:09 AM) *
Hack into someone's cyberlimb and force them to redline, quite painful and more difficult to identify as hacking then causing them to shoot themselves in the face.


Just wow.
orcsoul
I've always had one question about hacking a persons cyber ... can't you turn off wireless on your cyber so that it broadcasts no signal? Only reason to turn it on would be for things like diagnostics and the like?
TheOOB
QUOTE (orcsoul @ Nov 14 2008, 01:17 PM) *
I've always had one question about hacking a persons cyber ... can't you turn off wireless on your cyber so that it broadcasts no signal? Only reason to turn it on would be for things like diagnostics and the like?


You can and most runners certainly should unless the ware requires wireless functionality. That said most people who are not runners leave it on because it's simply easier to be able to have your ware network with other devices. So unless you are facing opponents who have gotten some professional anti-hacker training, hacking ware is a viable option.

It should also be noted that even without a wireless link, you can hack ware through a DNI. If you can hack into their datajack(or possibly even a trode net) you have access to any device that has a DNI with the user.
Starmage21
QUOTE (TheOOB @ Nov 14 2008, 02:39 PM) *
You can and most runners certainly should unless the ware requires wireless functionality. That said most people who are not runners leave it on because it's simply easier to be able to have your ware network with other devices. So unless you are facing opponents who have gotten some professional anti-hacker training, hacking ware is a viable option.

It should also be noted that even without a wireless link, you can hack ware through a DNI. If you can hack into their datajack(or possibly even a trode net) you have access to any device that has a DNI with the user.



I prefer to find the ones operating their commlinks via trode nets or the like, hacking their links, and subscribing MY hot sim module so that I can feed them wierd psychotropic simsense biggrin.gif
Ravor
Forget psychotropic IC, just feed them a BTL copy of Bubba the Love Troll does the seven Dwarves set on a loop of the rape scene.
Chrysalis
Have a self replicating agent run psychotropic IC and suggestion software to make every person who logs into the node put 100 nuyen into your personal "stop mastrubating save a kitten" account.

ravensoracle
QUOTE (Chrysalis @ Nov 14 2008, 04:51 PM) *
Have a self replicating agent run psychotropic IC and suggestion software to make every person who logs into the node put 100 nuyen into your personal "stop mastrubating save a kitten" account.


Same idea but more for the psychopaths, Use the Suggestion software to convince Miracle Shooters that the game is real. Then arm then with a real Pred. Watch the Bloodbath ensue.

Great for an ammoral distraction. devil.gif
Riley37
Install some Black Hammer onto their comlink, programmed to target the user next time they go into simsense.

There are defenses against Black Hammer coming from some *other* node, but sucks to have it coming from your *own* node.
Panzergeist
Psychotropic blackout program that induces anti-authoritarian attitudes. Possibly making them join the Anarchist Black Cross if it gets enough hits.

Hack their commlink, send out terrorist threats with it.

Hack the commlink of somebody at a really rough bar, send messages to everyone else at the bar calling them a bunch of pussies.

Put a black-IC data bomb in a rigger's car, set to go off only when he goes over 120 kilometers per hour.

And my personal favorite...there is an example IC program in Unwired which makes me shiver with sadism. I forget the name, but it's something made by the Choson rings. It knocks you out with blackout, spoofs its way into your commlink, searches around for info on all of your friends and family, tracks them down, nails them with black hammer if possible, and comes back to hammer you in your sleep. Sounds like a terrible thing to encounter...at least, if you are using hot sim and your own commlink. If you are using cold sim and somebody else's commlink, with a friend to log you off or jack you out after it finishes searching your borrowed commlink, well, that's a different story... devil.gif
Rasumichin
QUOTE (DocTaotsu @ Nov 14 2008, 04:58 AM) *
HonestlyI think it'd be worse to change someones language to spetheriel or some obscure language from papua new guinea wink.gif


The key here is simply choosing a language using an alphabet you can't read.
Good luck trying to find the change language button if all text is in Arabic letters (which might also already be included in a lot of off-the-rack links).
For added fun, change the whole user interface setup to something the target has never used before so he has zero chance to find the way to the language setting menu from memory.
Don't forget to delete the instruction manual.


Other possible ideas :
-create embarassing fake accounts of the target on various social networks and messageboards.
Be sure to include the target's commcode and real-world address (of course, both private and at the office), but only after the fake account has accquired a sufficiently bad reputation on the network.
Bonus points if you can find friends and coworkers of the target on the network.
Be sure to invite all of them into your new-founded "i love hookjobs from underage trollstitutes" and "hail our new insect spirit masters!" newsgroups.
-make the commlink broadcast advertisments for selling snuff BTLs in a AAA neighborhood (for added fun, upload some actual snuff BTLs onto the link).
-use the target's commlink as a proxy for hacking the Zürich Orbital
-create AR overlays for traffic signs so that the target will end up on the wrong lane on the highway while the commlink constantly broadcasts text messages saying "i'm taking all of you down with me!" to every open account in the area
Oenone
Not so much a nasty trick in itself, but if you spike someones drink with a cocktail of hacker nanites and mesh tags you can do all the horrible things already listed to cyberware that the owner thinks has the wireless functionality disabled. Oh and you have the mesh tags boosting the range you can do it from and making it a whole lot less likely they'll be able to shoot you.
Kev
QUOTE (kanislatrans @ Nov 13 2008, 09:01 PM) *
Switch opponents vehicle RFID tag to that of a stolen vehicle. with an ARO that says"Cop Killers do it with style!"


I laughed out loud. biggrin.gif That was good, man.
InfinityzeN
You're all a bunch of mean, evil, vindictive bastards. I like'y! biggrin.gif
Stahlseele
Upload Stuff like Centaur on Ork Porn onto target Comlink and set it to boradcast.
Do something to stop the comlinks owner from deleting it. Maybe a nice little Data-Bomb or something like that.
if you're good with forgery, get some video material and forge the comlink owner into the vid
Sumo Neko
QUOTE (DocTaotsu @ Nov 13 2008, 12:31 PM) *
One of my good buddies wants to run a hacker in his next game so we got to talking about all the awful things a hacker could do to fuck with someone. Locking them out of their own commlink, hacking their cyberlimbs, hacking their commlink to go on speaker mode and exclaim "My name is <Insert Actual Name Here>! I'm a sccccaarrry shadowrunner! For a good time comm #234234 etc".

But he suggested we toss it to the wolves... that would mean you fellow dumpshockers.

So what are some terrible thing a hacker could do to someone he really doesn't like?


All I have to say to all of this post and replies is very entertaining. But you had better permanently disable that person or their allies. Little pranks or distractions are all well and good. But if not you will earn an enemy that becomes a relentless stalker and your life may become {smile} (insert Chinese Proverb).

Just remember you reap what you sow.
The Jake
QUOTE (Panzergeist @ Feb 4 2009, 06:16 AM) *
Put a black-IC data bomb in a rigger's car, set to go off only when he goes over 120 kilometers per hour.


"POP QUIZ HOTSHOT! There's a BOMB on a BUS! If you go over 60 the bomb is armed! You go under 60, the bomb explodes! What do you do?"

- J.
Rasumichin
QUOTE (Sumo Neko @ Feb 5 2009, 12:35 AM) *
All I have to say to all of this post and replies is very entertaining. But you had better permanently disable that person or their allies. Little pranks or distractions are all well and good. But if not you will earn an enemy that becomes a relentless stalker and your life may become {smile} (insert Chinese Proverb).

Just remember you reap what you sow.


The real entertainment starts when you link all of these little pranks to one of your enemies.
Rad
QUOTE (Rasumichin @ Feb 4 2009, 06:09 AM) *
-use the target's commlink as a proxy for hacking the Zürich Orbital


Wins.

That said, I thought the whole "Upload Troll on human rape sim on a (metaracist) human's link, forged so that your mark is the human star, then blackmail them with it, and leave an agent on their link that will drop them into hotsim and loop it if they call the cops" bit was pretty evil.

From a security standpoint, load your programs with the Optimization option that lets them function at full rating on a lower-system node, then use a crap commlink that can barely handle the IC and whatever else you're running. When someone tries to hack in, they automatically exceed the limit and cause the System rating to degrade even more, leaving their programs stuck at X rating while yours hit them at full strength.

Oh, and it's Juhseung Saja, the Choson-ring IC that knocks you out, pulls your contact list, kills your family, and then comes back to finish you off.

On a more devious note:

Use psychotropic IC to give a wageslave the inexplicable compulsion to buy a rival corp's products. Bonus karma if he's the head of marketing for his division. biggrin.gif
Ryu
A hackers programs run on the hackers commlink, even if they are used on another node.
Rad
Eh, maybe I'm getting my terminology wrong--the SR4 hacking rules do read a bit like they were written by Cthulhu.

Why they think learning to hack in an RPG should be almost as complicated as learning how to hack IRL I'll never understand...

...to my understanding, there were certain circumstances where you had to operate on the node you were hacking, and counted against the limit of subscriptions and/or running programs.

In any event I'm sleep deprived and can't fathom such things right now. There's a reason I play combat characters--compared to the hacking, rigging, and vehicle rules, the combat rules almost make sense.

[edit]Hmm, so on a cursory glance, system gives a hard limit to the number of subscriptions, but the degradation only comes into play if you run too many programs on your end. Seems kinda stupid and contradictory. Anyway, you could "use up your bandwith" to prevent hackers from accessing your link, if you kept your subscriptions maxed out, but that seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth.
Ryu
Maybe you are confused by the rules for independent agents.

You generally run all programs you need on your commlink. If you want to use them on another node, you need a subscription to that node.

There is a 2*system limit on maintained subscriptions. A node that has more active subscriptions than that has to count them as additional program(s) (might happen on both sides). If you use exploit to gain access, you will usually be able to open a subscription, as that right is usually available with user access and better. Both Exploit and Spoof are used from your node, even if spoofed orders will try not to give that fact away.

Overloading your own nodes with subscriptions until System is reduced to one is possible, but it will do just that. System 1 + Firewall 6 means 7 dice for resisting spoofed orders.
Agents/IC can´t have the optimisation option, so the node can´t run it´s own defensive programs. The key is having as little program load as possible, and since the coming of Unwired, the ergonomic option can take care of that. (2*Agent, 2* ergonomic Analyse, 2* ergonomic Armor, 2* Attack = 4 running programs on a rating 4+ node.)
Rad
QUOTE (Ryu @ Feb 5 2009, 07:05 AM) *
Maybe you are confused by the rules for independent agents.

You generally run all programs you need on your commlink. If you want to use them on another node, you need a subscription to that node.

There is a 2*system limit on maintained subscriptions. A node that has more active subscriptions than that has to count them as additional program(s) (might happen on both sides). If you use exploit to gain access, you will usually be able to open a subscription, as that right is usually available with user access and better. Both Exploit and Spoof are used from your node, even if spoofed orders will try not to give that fact away.

Overloading your own nodes with subscriptions until System is reduced to one is possible, but it will do just that. System 1 + Firewall 6 means 7 dice for resisting spoofed orders.
Agents/IC can´t have the optimisation option, so the node can´t run it´s own defensive programs. The key is having as little program load as possible, and since the coming of Unwired, the ergonomic option can take care of that. (2*Agent, 2* ergonomic Analyse, 2* ergonomic Armor, 2* Attack = 4 running programs on a rating 4+ node.)


Could you post page refs for some of that?

I was aware of most of it, but I don't recall seeing anything that said excess subscriptions count as additional programs, or that agents can't have the optimization option.

As for egronomic, I was aware of that. My current character has a pair of IC with all egronomic programs named "Shiro" and "Kuro"--sort of a poor-man's version of the "3 Musketeers" prepackaged IC.

[edit] Just re-checked Unwired, you're right about optimization being limited to common, hacking, autosoft, and simsense programs--which makes it all but useless. Still don't see anything about excess subscriptions causing degradation. The BBB just states a limit and nothing else, implying that you can't go over the limit at all.
Ryu
Unwired on subscriptions, pg. 55 (like clusters/slaving) I think. Agents can´t have program options, at all, they just run autosofts.
Rad
Ah, okay, there it is. Still don't see anything confirming my earlier notion that a hacker fighting IC "in" a node operated from with within the node in question, and was subject to it's system/response limitations.

Damn, and I thought that was a really clever idea I'd come up with. biggrin.gif
Ryu
Optimisation is far from useless - it will, for example, permit your core defensive programs to run on any node without restriction. I would personally also count it for agent load purposes, analogous to the ergonomic option, but that is admittedly a loose interpretation.
Rad
Yes, but if those programs are just running off your 'link when you use them (as you say), then being able to use them on other nodes becomes a niche situation that wouldn't come up much, and it's unlikely that a dedicated hacker's own link would have a low system or response.

For independent agents on other nodes, or low-rating agents/drones it might be useful, but it's not going to affect your main use of the program though.
Stahlseele
QUOTE (The Jake @ Feb 5 2009, 12:50 AM) *
"POP QUIZ HOTSHOT! There's a BOMB on a BUS! If you go over 60 the bomb is armed! You go under 60, the bomb explodes! What do you do?"

- J.

gett off the bus.
fuck that noise, i'm going home and having a beer, watching the news . .
Fir3y
QUOTE (The Jake @ Feb 4 2009, 05:50 PM) *
"POP QUIZ HOTSHOT! There's a BOMB on a BUS! If you go over 60 the bomb is armed! You go under 60, the bomb explodes! What do you do?"

- J.


Find Neo so that he can fly us off the bus!
Ryu
QUOTE (Rad @ Feb 5 2009, 05:15 PM) *
Yes, but if those programs are just running off your 'link when you use them (as you say), then being able to use them on other nodes becomes a niche situation that wouldn't come up much, and it's unlikely that a dedicated hacker's own link would have a low system or response.

For independent agents on other nodes, or low-rating agents/drones it might be useful, but it's not going to affect your main use of the program though.

At least optimised Analyse is very interesting - you can now beef up the defense of all your nodes. Plus you can take a hit to your response without reducing your program ratings. It is also important for stealth, as you´ll want to have that at the highest possible rating. Special-opportunity programs with ratings above 6 are practically useless without, too.
JFixer
As for Cyber Security... remember that most Limbs/Ware are DNI, and thus unhackable at all. They're not connected to the Commlink in any way, so can't even be accessed through that. Only the stuff that is independant of you, like an EyeSpy Eyeball drone, has a wireless linkup. Anyone with a nice handfull of greymatter in 2070 is buying a skinlink for their smart-tech, to keep it from getting hacked.

You also cannot hack a datajack. It has no signal rating, and thus does not intercept transmissions. A Datajack is DESIGNED to hook directly into a device, which means a wire, which means no hacking unless you can come at the device from another direction, or hacked it before they connected to it.

You want to connect to someone's ware, you do it with nanite injections and such. Otherwise limbs are pretty well isolated from the signals that allow you to get in and hack.
ornot
I'm not sure where you got that idea. I've not got my book on me, but I'm pretty sure that a canon SR4 datajack will communicate wirelessly with all your gear obviating the need for a commlink at all. It's signal of 0 means it can still communicate wirelessly within around 3m.

IIRC there are even rules/suggestions for hacking 'ware in Unwired.
InfinityzeN
JFixer, that is pretty much GM call by RAW. Although my call in my games is pretty much as you described it.

This came from the grenades thread, talking about grenades...
QUOTE (kzt @ Feb 5 2009, 04:17 PM) *
But luckily in SR the entire firing chain is electronic, and wireless enabled!

Which leads to the next dirty hacker trick... hacking and activating their grenades while their in the middle of a mission.
Fir3y
Unwired specifically mentions that ware can be hacked, though they are usually slaved to something with a high firewall rating, such as a commlink or datajack. Of course GM-fiat trumps the rules if that is your preference.
KarmaInferno
I wonder, can a communications link be fitted into a launcher?

Hit a target with it from afar, loaded with some agent that can freeze the guy long enough for you to establish a link and hack the guy.

Or have the loaded Agent hack directly.

Commlink bullets?



-karma
The Neutronium Alchemist
Mass hack the wage slaves on their way to work with some sort of dance inducing psychotropic and leave an evidence trail pointing to your target.
RedeemerofOgar
QUOTE (KarmaInferno @ Feb 5 2009, 06:53 PM) *
I wonder, can a communications link be fitted into a launcher?

Hit a target with it from afar, loaded with some agent that can freeze the guy long enough for you to establish a link and hack the guy.

Or have the loaded Agent hack directly.

Commlink bullets?


Probably far easier to add some sort of grapple system to a minidrone...
GreyBrother
Or actually use a friggin minidrone with Gecko Grip.
*Jokerface* Why so complicated?
JFixer
Datajack: p331 of 5th Printing
A datajack allows a user to directly ihnterface with any electronic device via a fiberoptic cable. Datajacks also allow users to slot and mentally access chips, softs, and BTLs. Datajacks equipped with their own memory storage for downloading or saving files. Two datajack users can string a fiberoptic cable between themselves ((Thus inviting ruin and disaster...)) to conduct a private mental communication immune to radio interception/eavesdropping.

If they put a new one with wireless capabilities into something, that's like /jacking in with your brain/.
Lagomorph
QUOTE (Rad @ Feb 5 2009, 02:57 PM) *
Eh, maybe I'm getting my terminology wrong--the SR4 hacking rules do read a bit like they were written by Cthulhu.


I agree, I definately lost sanity trying to understand them.



As for hacker tricks, negotiate a sizable loan from a mafia using his SIN/bank account information, then forget to pay it back.
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