I was running a matrix session for the hacker in my shadowrun group recently and the question came up. How does stealth interact with the system it is in? For example: Does Stealth make you invisible to everything in the system? Or does stealth make you appear as a non threat to the system?

Ideally, it would make it so the system doesnt see you.

As for looking harmless, that may be more in the realm of Spoof.

BlueMax

It makes you look really unimportant, as if you are some kind of automated background process or something.
There is no such thing as being invisible in the matrix: If the node truly doesn't know you're there, you wouldn't be able to "see" anything or interact with anything in it, as that's reliant on the node and other devices giving you the info you want.

Agreed. Stealth makes you look like a legitimate, and boring, icon or process in the system.

Anytime something is looking for you in with Computer + Analyze

"If your target is intentionally trying to hide from you,
this becomes an Opposed Test, with the target rolling
Hacking + Stealth (or Firewall + Stealth for programs/
nodes). As a rule, anything running a Stealth program is
considered to be hiding."


Anytime you Hack on the Fly

"Each time you make a test to hack in, however, the target
node also gets to make a free Analyze + Firewall (Stealth)
Extended Test."

Anytime you Probe the Target

"Similar to hacking on the fl y, the target node gets one free
Analyze + Firewall Test when you make the actual intrusion.
Th e threshold for this test equals your full Stealth program rating."

And

"Stealth is a clever hacker program that attempts to make
the hacker as “invisible� as possible to other system processes by
obfuscating his activities, erasing system tracks, and mimicking
authorized traffic."

So it certainly looks more like the camouflage type of "Invisibility".