It's that time again, time for "I hate the matrix."

Okay, so on page 224 of the BBB, under "Things about Hacking all runners should know." It confuses me.

It says that anything with a wireless transceiver can be hacked. So, if someone is RIGHT next to you (Because your Gun's signal rating is 0), they can hack your gun even if you don't have a comlink (unless your gun's transceiver is turned off or removed.) Same with your cyber-leg (if wirelessly enabled) and whatnot. Not a big deal because if someone is right next to you and hacking you can whollop them or shoot them with little trouble.

Okay, got that.

But then it says that PANs are stupid to have on a run. It mentions that anyone with a PAN can be hacked. So runners who have their comlink set to HIDDEN, and only allow their teammates' devices to connect (for subvocal chatting) along with their gun and shades, are still super-vulerable to hackers unless they have a super mac-daddy pimped out comlink like the hacker. Really? Does the street shaman need the top of the link super-wiz comlink equipped with black IC to go on runs? It's enough to make one go out and buy some cables to direct-connect one's comlink to one's datajack and gun, then turn off their wireless . . . but that STILL doesn't let you talk to your teammates!


Another question I have regards interacting with AR if you don't have a datajack. Now, I may be wrong, but I assumed that a Datajack and a comlink will let you mentally manipulate AR and will also let you slip into VR (but not run hotsim mode unless you paid to mod your comlink.) But what about Mages and Adepts and the few others who don't have datajacks? What are they stuck doing? Do they have to go out, buy AR gloves, Image Link glasses, and electronic paper (for a keyboard) in order to interact? Seems somewhat expensive and very limiting. I was under the impression that trodes and the paint-on-trodes would function like a poor-man's datajack, but according to the book, all they let you do is experience simsense. Seems to me that, for a world that is very heavily dependent on the matrix, there should be some way for non-datajack equipped people to talk to their comlinks outside of waving 250 AR Gloves around like a dufus.

Let me address some of your concerns:
1. Can everything be hacked, yes. Will it be hacked, probably not. If you have an evil GM then yes you should buy a top of the line comlink. But a regular comlink in an average office building with average security will not have a hacker on hand to disrupt your LAN between your PCs (especially if the links are set to hidden).
2. Who says that AR Gloves are ugly looking devices. I would expect them to be a skin tight glove with embedded electronics that would come in a wide range of styles (I'm sure there is even an "Apple" version of the gloves). As for viewing AR, you could have a wide range of image linked glasses to do that (and then use trods to access the matrix). Again I'm sure there is an "Apple" version of trods and image linked glasses.

People today spend $500+ for an iPhone/Blackberry/Generic Smartphone. How is that any different then someone with AR Gloves, a comlink, and image linked glasses in Shadowrun? I imagine that only IT proffessionals, gamer crazed teens, and office wage slaves would be the only ones that would get a datajack. I don't expect a exec to get one, nor any eco friendly person, nor many magic users.

The reason most devices aren't hacked during combat is that it takes too long. Getting in without alerts is an hour long extended test. Hacking on the fly is faster, but still remarkably slow for combat (at 1 complex action the rigger hacks A gun, woo).

As you pointed out you need to be close to enabled devices to hack them if the comlink is turned off. Plus you can effectively thwart a hacker by turning off your comlink (thus severing his/her connection to your device). That doesn't prevent any damage they have done so far but it will prevent further damage.

Yeah, one complex action and the hacker turns off the Troll's minigun. Yeah THAT'S not major at all . . .

The heart of the problem remains, will hackers (assuming their not engaged in combat) be able to hack some Hidden Comlinks that are only communicating with each other? Parts of the book seem to point toward 'No.' (The description of HIDDEN says that it is virtually impossible to detect comlinks in this state, as they don't show up on NODE searches). But under the sidebar, the running theory seems to be "BUY THE BEST COMLINK BUY IC, BUY RATING 6 FIREWALLS, BUY EVERYTHING!!!!" Just confused on which is which and what I should be realistically throwing at my players.



I more meant that you would look like a dufus moving your hands around while nothing was in front of you, but I guess that kind of behavior wouldn't be too weird if AR gloves were common, now that I think about it.

I more meant that, it would be a pain to try and do stuff with your comlink if you couldn't issue mental commands. Sure, you could look cool doing impressions of the control Center in 'Minority report' but on a run, if you need to wave your arms around every time you want to subvocally message your friends, that could be pretty darn annoying. I was just wondering if there was something out there that could let mages manipulate their comlinks as easy as people with Datajacks. Seems to me there would be a big market for that.

@Degausser

As a GM I would assume that if you open a comlink program for continuous communication you would keep it open. ie no need to keep waving your hand around to send messages.

If you and your group are so worried about hacked communications why don't you find the price for standard walkie talkies and use those.

Trodes. Even comes as face paint so you can unleash your inner artist. Read the electronic gear section, it's in there.

Read my first post. Trodes (according to the BBB) only let people experience SimSense, so that Mages can be chipheads as well.

You also need a Sim Module . the Sim module is the thingamagic that does the ASIST interfacing.

You can get AR through ASIST. It's in the core somewhere that most people use a SIM module for their daily AR needs.

Or you could use a retransmitter mini/micro drone. What I haven't figured out yet, is what keeps the buildings security system from picking up active wireless on a character. Seems like the best thing would be to turn OFF all wireless links. (Though this is based on the real life observation that a signal can be detected at far greater then its useful distance with the right equipment).

Network security can be a headache for any runner team. So my group has any wireless devices or cyberware slaved to their personal comlink and their comlinks slaved to the Hackers comlink and they all run hidden.. This way any attempt to interface with any devices will be directed back to the Hackers comlink which is beefed up with a fat firewall and running an Agent with analyze so any attempt to hack will probabbly get noticed if the Hacker does not see it coming first.

Network security can be a headache for any runner team. So my group has any wireless devices or cyberware slaved to their personal comlink and their comlinks slaved to the Hackers comlink and they all run hidden.. This way any attempt to interface with any devices will be directed back to the Hackers comlink which is beefed up with a fat firewall and running an Agent with analyze so any attempt to hack will probabbly get noticed if the Hacker does not see it coming first.

Sorry About the multiple posts.

one option is to turn of the wireless on the comlink, run the pan via skinlink, and use that old two way tranceiver found in the gear section...

here is one option tho, run the team com via laser or microwave link (unwired, p199)...

a bit like 21. century hand signals

Depends on what type of character you're playing. If your character is a weekend warrior recreation marksman that decided to try a life of crime, he may not be savvy enough to know that PAN security should be a high priority. If you're playing an experienced runner with a background is special ops then yes you are going to want some security for your wireless gear.

I have been lead to believe that slaving a node eats 2 subscription slots. is that true? and how does that factor into the "slave everything to the hacker" tactic?

Subscriptions are determined by your Systemx 2 so even a group of 6 runners could slave to a single com with a system of 6. I tis not a sure fire way to protect yourself when you need to split up or are doing leg work on your own. But slaving your own cyber and wireless devices to your comlimk will help slow down an attempt to hack your implants. And if your Hacker can run an independant agent of his on your comm then it can alert you to any attempts to hack your gear giving you time to shut down or deactivate wirelss capabilities.

No, one complex action (or two, if the link has a good firewall) and the hacker has access to your commlink. Then he can figure out what's connected to it, disconnect one device, or start hacking one of the devices slaved to it, each requiring another action. By now, the troll's minigun has turned the rest of his squad into swiss cheese, so who cares if he turns it off (which will cost the troll one simple action to undo)?

As for the trodes thing, VR is interactive. Trodes allow VR. Trodes are therefore an input/output device, not just output.

Trodes provide a full two way DNI. Unwired p42

I've always told people, "yes, you can hack a guy's cyberware, but there are far more effective things to do in the middle of combat than make that guy's arm-shotgun not work."

Just to note, to hack a signal 0 device, you don't have to be standing right next to the target. If there is any wireless device within Signal 0 range, such as a vending machine, drone, lightbulb, security camera etc. you can use those to relay the signals, bringing you within signal range.

Very very true. The only time I see usefulness in hacking an individual's cyberware is in a scenario in which the players have ample time to prepare. In a scenario involving well-armed security guards, you could pre-hack their gear, maintain a live User connection to said gear, and when the run goes down you disable everything. It might buy the team a few Simple Actions worth of guards readjusting to try to gain access back to their equipment.

In the unlikely event, it could be done.
But for the most people who come up with the brilliant plan to either
a) hack cyberware
or
b) prevent their cyberware from being hacked
I tell them not to bother.

Quick question for everyone: I know having a rating 6 firewall is a must, but what about Encrypt? If you have a rating 6 Encrypt program encrypting everything on your PAN, won't that slow down an enemy hacker as well? I mean wouldn't he need to hack through your firewall first and then decrypt everything. Or it the other way around?

Given that Browse is a client side application, and that services such as Google don't exist anymore, I stopped applying sense to the "decrypt after hacking in" issue.

Outside combat, Encryption will just require another program (Decrypt) from the hacker. Inside combat, the delay of at least one turn might be huge - so runners at least should have encryption. There is also the saying about "locks keeping honest men honest", but given that we are talking runners...

As for when you decrypt, I can´t find an explicit quote right now, but would say that you decrypt first, use second. Decrypt node, hack, decrypt file, read.

Well if someone is trying to listen in on your teams communications or visa versa, the hacker would first have to detect wireless node (assuming it's hidden, Electronic Warfare + Scan Extended Test with a threshold of probably 4) then decrypt the signal (Decrypt + Response (Encryption x2,1 combat turn) extended test) and finally intercept wireless signal (Electronic Warfare + Sniffer (3)) to listen to communications on a hidden wireless node as an example.

So having a rating 6 Encrypt on your commlink with a Rating 6 firewall/Rating 5 system would make the hacker's job a whole lot tougher. Add in IC with all the bells and whistles that you can get and you should be good to go... for a least a round or two

And if you add the analysis 5 program the intruding Hacker might well be detected and kicked out
Plus If you only allow admin accounts on your Comlinks it'll be even more difficult for the Hacker
And Hacking on the fly is so troublesome that most Hackers won't bother anymore

Hough!
Medicineman

... in combat. They´ll try to cause havoc with spoof instead, or by giving commands to previously hacked nodes.

Iris Anti-virus... the only way to fly. get both Analyze 5 and Purge 5 for the program load of one program. Run that as Ergonomic and Optimized 2 and you can run it on a Rating 3 Agent.

You're right; ... In Combat

@KCKitsune
So much Unwired to read, so few time

with an added Dance
Medicineman

I know you meant that, no worries.

Hacking somebody's cyber eyes in real time looks so cool when the major does it, but the rest of us mortals should just toss a grenade and be done with it. A lot less dice that way.

You could hack the cybereyes as combat preparation (hacking does not require LOS), and "change a linked device mode" in combat. Most guards should have rating 3 or 4 commlinks, and admin accounts on those are not impossible to hack. Messing with the video data would be a real-time edit operation.

indeed, send a spoof is the right way to go in combat. having smartgun secure themselves or eject ammo is a nice trick...

and i guess one could spoof cybereyes to shut down, or show diagonostic patterns

not deadly, but highly distracting.

i do not recall that ever being done mid-combat. as part of a conversation that one can tell will lead to problems, sure, but not while bullets or fists are flying...

I've often wondered this in SR4. If your a strict Vehicle Rigger (ie you only link up to your vehicle when your in it and thus don't need an extended network to like all the devices, a datajack (or VCR in the "good old days") will suffice). Are there any rules that allow a vehicle rigger to close off external connections (thus reducing hacking into the vehicle) but still maintaining the menatl link with the vehicle? To a long time Rigger character player this seems to be the biggest nerf of the archtype that was done in SR4 (along with merging riggers and deckers together to create hackers).

I'm not entirely clear what you're getting at, but I'm going to give it a try. If a "old school Rigger" wants to operate his vehicle from inside of it, with a wired connection (via datajack) then he can safely turn off the wireless on the vehicle and have it be secure that way. If he still wants to control it while on the move and such, then what you are describing would be "slaving" the vehicle to your Commlink. Thus, your vehicle would not respond to any commands unless they came from your Commlink's Access ID. This can be defeated by a Spoof if someone manages to find your Commlink's Access ID, so it's not impenetrable, but it is fairly secure.

I always found it funny how in unwired where it is talking about hacking cyberware, it actually says something along the lines of "externally accessable cyberware does not use wireless" then goes on to talk about hacking a cyberarm on the next page.

Now I don't know about you, but a cyberlimb is about as externally accessable as you can get, meaning all control is done by DNI, full diagnostics requires a wire (this is the make the limb do stuff), and the only wireless will be a couple of RFID Chips reporting diag info but having no actual connection to any controls. Same thing for cybereyes and ears too. Only stuff fully inside the person (wired reflexes) could be hacked wirelessly and then *ONLY* if the person didn't get them with no wireless (optionally with RFID Chip wireless diag reporters).

In fact, RFID chips that don't have any control of the Ware but pass on diag info would make *FAR* more sense for most pieces of ware then any type of Diagnostic Control and are totally allowed under RAW. I read it as the standard for anything where direct access is easy and a moderately common option for everything else (some pieces of ware are helped by being wireless). So that pretty much by default shuts out 99% of ware hacking, since runners will almost always select the more secure option by default.

*******************************

Next up, secuirty. Skinlink everything, get a bunch of 'Non-standard freq' modules [Personal Opinion: I rule that even if you detect it, without a module yourself you can't send any signal in that range.] and use those combined with being in hidden mode. Your even harder to detect then just being in hidden mode and even if detected most likely the people detecting you won't have equipment that can send and recieve in the freq range your using.

You need extra security? Switch to throat mikes and radios (again using a 'Non-standard freq' module) while turning the wireless on your Commlink off unless you work through you Commlink (Hackers & Riggers, I'm looking at you here).

I guess it's a good thing that I clustered my other cyberware and then slaved that cluster to my commlink. I have the following as a commlink

Response 5, System 5, Firewall 6, Encrypt 6 (Ergonomic and Optimized 1), and an Agent 3 with Bells & Whistles*.

* = Attack 3, Armor 3, Expert Offense 3 (Ergonomic), Cascade 3 (Ergonomic), Iris Anti-Virus (Ergonomic & Optimized 2), & Virtual Person (question about this below).


Question: A virtual person is listed as follows in the BBB:



Does this mean that if you have the time and/or know someone that you can make a sorta Pseudo-AI by linking a Virtual Person with an Agent? Even more so if you can add in the Adaptability Autosoft.

I have to believe that linking them would be effortless. Even buying agents and vehicles with pre-loaded persons should be standard gimmicks for software and car manufacturers.

To take an analogy from Battlestar Galactica. The humans over time developed internal networks with no outside connections (this was due to the fact that the Cylons were too good at hacking their ships and making them useless in battle). I see the same problem (not as bad but similar) with riggers in SR4. If you had a LAN that didn't extend outside of the vehicle your in then there would be no risk of someone hacking your vehicle and causing you to drive into a ditch. Most riggers should have a tricked out comlink making hacking hard but it seems like a unnessesary risk when you don't need external connections in the first place.

sure, you can turn off the remote access and plug your datajack into your car. and you can get the VCR cyberware, but that seems kind of limiting for your character. no drones or secondary vehicles? I guess you could do that with little investment of points and branch out as a medic or weapons expert or investigator or something.

First...yay first post!!

Second, is this possible for a rigger to accomplish hacking communications through his slaved drone? If so does he have to be jumped in or remote controlling it? or can it be done passively without interrupting the actions of the drone's turn?

This is from several posts back, but what the hell...


You could always have a holoprojector putting out a visual display and manipulate that wit AR gloves. Not quite as weird as moving your hands around in the air with nothing else there.



If you've got goggles or glasses you could "install retinal scanners" or some such thing that determines where you are looking on your image link and allow you to manipulate the interface with blinking. Essentially turning your eyeball into a modern day mouse.

Another thing you can do is purposefully turn down your Comlink and Vehicle's Signal rating to 0. A rating zero equals 'a few feet' according to the book, meaning that a car would have to maintain several turns RIGHT NEXT TO YOU to hack it, something very difficult to do. On the down side, if they have a jammer, you are screwed.

passively.

Yeah, I agree with this post. One of the cool non-hacking, every day things you can do with wireless is to activate your vehicle remotely, use the Pilot to drive to your location, open the door, and bang! - you're in the car. This is a really handy aspect of wireless driving/rigging that makes it difficult for a Rigger to truly turn off wireless - it's similar to the question of whether or not any given network has wireless, really. Convenience vs. Security - a tough choice.

If we turn to a "realistic" point of view, let's say that in a couple of years almost all new vehicles are equipped with bluetooth or wifi listeners that allow you to lock/unlock your car, locate it in a parking lot (yeah I forget where I park all the time!), pop the trunk only, or any of a number of daily activities. People would be all over that! Now imagine that all of a sudden a bunch of these cars get hacked. The nature of hackers is such that they like to share their exploits whether for fame, glory, money, or just plain "open source" mindset. Now you're going to have a bunch of cars with a known, exploitable flaw - just like websites, DNS, OSes, or whatever have you. The natural reaction of the manufacturer is to patch the flaw in some way, rendering the exploit unusable. Then the hackers find a new way in, this gets patched, and the cycle goes on. If cars keep getting jacked, no one is going to sit around waiting for it to keep happening - some kind of aggressive action is going to be taken to mitigate and reduce the carjacking.

How to replicate this in SR4? The way that SR4 works is essentially only Rating+{something} vs. Rating+{something}. This doesn't really replicate the natural progression of technology and the hacks-against-it to evolve to meet demand. I was thinking a lot about this the other day and came up with the following:

Software "degrades", or becomes less useless over time. Perhaps every month (or less in a fast-moving techno-literate society like the 6th world?), every software-based rating that a PC has decreases by 1. This reflects the tendency of the PCs opposition to increase their protective *and* offensive measures. This introduces what is essentially a software maintenance fee into the PCs' lives, much like maintaining lifestyle. In this scenario it becomes really cool to actually have software development skills in order to maintain your own gear and keep it up to date and bleeding-edge.

Hm...I think I might use that. Or maybe it's already in Unwired (still in the midst of reading it) and I've just made a redundant suggestion