Howdy, I'm gonna be playing a hacker for the first time in a SR4 game soon and I'm a little confused about agents.

Are agents basically matrix drones, just without the ability to jump into them like a rigger can jump into a drone?

Can someone give me some examples of how you might use an agent properly?

And, like drones, I'd hafta buy the agent program multiple times so I'd have more than 1, correct?

I looked through the forums, but wasn't having any luck on finding basics on using Agents. If someone knows of a thread that I overlooked, please help a n00b hacker out so I don't get my team slagged, heh.

First you name your agent "Smith" and then your golden.

For a Hacker Agents make great support and help in defense.

While you are busy doing Hacking, have your agent constantly browsing and analyzing the node looking for threats to you. If you are detected, you can have the Agent fight while you try to get away. Or have it help you fight. If you are offline for any reason, have your agent look up stuff for you while you party. All the tedious tasks that don't take your Hackers awesome skills to do, have your agent do them instead.

The biggest thing is that the agent can take a second round of actions for you. Just think 'what else could I be doing here?' Legwork - you have the agent browse, scanning, spoofing your matrix trail, defrauding your lifestyle so you live for free, all that kinda shiz.

Yeah, load up your Agent with a handful of programs and you basically can tell it to go do something for you. Its a pretty efficient use of your time to multi-task.

For instance, I just recently had my Agent do a data search for some research information. Its a Rating 3 with a Browse 3, so it gets 6 dice to make the test. Now, my character is a mage, so I didn't spend any points in Data Search, so this was actually a cheap way to get some computer/hacking skills without spending my BP on skills that I'm likely not going to use.

But, you could also arm your Agent with Analyze, Armor and Attack and have it scan your home node. If any intruders hit it, you just have the Agent engage in cybercombat.

Arm your Agent with Exploit, Analyze and Stealth to target a node and hack it...lots of things you can do in addition to just having it back you up in cybercombat. Just note, they have the same access id as you, so if they are tracked, it still comes back to your home node.

But as a non-hacker type, they are very useful for a lot of matrix related tasks!

My Technomancer mostly uses his Agent programs to sit about in my comrades (especially that pesky Cyber-Sam who keeps forgetting to turn his wireless off) 'links. They arent really designed to do anything other than watch for an enemy hacking. Got them scripted so that if they do detect something is up they ping me so I can either slave my friends 'links to my brain (Lets see you get past that, you sneaky little hacker!) or I jump into the node and get ready to lay the smackdown.

Or I use them to spread my homemade viruses about the place. My technomancer has a habit of releasing ASIST Viruses that makes everyone it comes in contact with suddenly break into dance. Mainly because I find it amusing.

well. the theme of my hacker is basically a parody of a wow player, with an idea of 1 agent that was a priestess (scanning, browsing, using medic on him, etc) and another agent that was is a rogue for stealth actions in other nodes while the hacker is busy in the real world. Its all supposed to parody an adventuring party.

Any suggestions on how to use a stealth agent properly?

hehe, nevermind, i took forever in replying and my questions were already answered. Thanks!

A TM who uses agents instead of, or in addition to, sprites? Tell me more.

Sounds like the agent was simply a purchase based on after saying "Damnit steve! We're running here! Turn off your wireless!" the 10th time. That agent sounds like a babysitter, haha

He actually uses both Sprites and Agents. As a technomancer I find I dont actually have a lot of use for all that nice shiny Nuyen the Johnson keeps throwing at us, so its either pass it on to the team or I horde it all up. Instead I decided to buy some toys, i.e Automated Sniper Drones, some high rating Agent programs and one or two spare cars ( ).

The Agents do all the things I dont really want to waste a Sprite Task on such as sitting in nodes doing basic scans and the like, maybe sometimes spread some code about to set up a Botnet while I have a snooze. As a metaphor consider it this way, I use my Agents as your basic police forces and my Sprites as SWAT. The Agents do most of the grunt work, patrolling the streets (commlinks), watching out for bad things going down. The Sprites follow me about and help me when I need to pull off my epic hack, or are mobilised whenever the Agents have trouble holding off the Combat Hackers. I also have a habit of slotting my Sprites into my drones to make what would normally be a dogbrain stupid attack drone into a killing machine. Add in my Biowired up Sniper skills and some Sniper drones, and using a camo-stealthed flying drone as a signal booster I can sit on top of a building half a mile away and pick off any resistance that my more active friends are having trouble with.

Sure, its not optimal at times (If I wanted to I could be much better at actually getting into systems, but honestly, after your dicepools are so high having the ability to do something other than make all the badguys smartguns drop their clips is nice) but I get to watch peoples heads explode through a smartlink.

Plus I run Tacnets, have Machine Sprites sit in when the Armourer is fixing things along with a Tutor Sprite if we ever need one. My party is getting used to having a fair bit of support from me.

Gotcha. My game has three TMs and I am always interested in helping them find more to do.

BlueMax

How you handle agents and software in general is altered by how much of Unwired you have.

In theory, the agent you purchased came with copy protection and a unique purchase ID based on the SIN you used to buy it.

While the Copy protection is in there, you can only ever have one of the agents. No copies.
If you crack the agent you can remove the copy protection, letting you make multiple copies and run them all over the place, but with once exception: you can still only run 1 of those agents in any given node (although I think you can run them as much as you want on your own commlink.) Note that the custom ID in the agent is something you will want to remove if you are using it for hacking and don't want to leave a trace if you agent program get's captured. The "This agent is registered to Bob Hobowack" is not something you want floating around. Either way, if you crack the agent it will no longer auto-patch which means you will have to self Patch the bugger or it will degrade. Alternatively you can buy an illegal version of an agent (A Mook) so that these troubles aren't built in, and you won't have to crack it.

You can purchase more agents in order to run more of them on a node at the same time.

Also note that IC and agents are almost the same, but IC can be launched automatically when an intruder is detected on a system.

I personally like to use Agents with Replicate, Stealth, Exploit, and Attack to spread as viruses through enemy systems after I break in. It lets me crash not only a security node, but most of the equipment connected to it... the sensors, locks, and sometimes even drones. At the very least it distracts the security hackers when they find their whole system under attack instead of just one guy slinking about... still it's not exactly subtle so it's the kind of thing I do when subtle isn't the idea.

Oh, and note that Agents are not as smart as drones. Drones have a whole computer running them and can interpret their environment thanks to a whole lot of sensors. Agents are very simple programs that run on the 2070 version of a cellphone/laptop. In general they follow a list or "Script" of actions that can be about as complicated as a list of "IF X THEN DO Y." If you want smarter agents, you need to load them with the Adaptability Autosoft. Hopefully your GM doesn't make you script out the entire complex agent setup when you say, send it out to Browse for info.

Good agents I have:
Fido: Browse, Adaptability, Stealth (search checks on various topics)
Crash.Worm: Replicate, Exploit, Stealth, Attack (spread to all connected devices, then attack the OS of the device you are on.)
Blinder.Worm: Replicate, Exploit, Stealth, Negator AR Software (Spread to all connected nodes, and run Negator AR software while Stealth in order to conceal the Shadowrun team from the senses of security guards.)
Netmaker.Worm: Replicate, Stealth, Exploit, Scan (Scan for commlinks, try to hack the commlinks only once, replicate onto the commlink if connected, Slave back to host commlink, begin again.... easy way to make a quick network of bots inside busy places full of consumer grade commlinks... like Clubs. I tend to have it only scan for commlinks because I don't want it to attack the building's security nodes. I also only have it exploit once, so if it doesn't get in, I assume it's a nasty firewall and move on instead of risking detection. The goal is to infect a lot of low grade commlinks for Denail of service attacks against a stronger commlink.)

Good IC I have:
Guard Dog: Analyze, Homeground, Stealth (inspect most recent unchecked user, then reinspect users based on the oldest first. Sound alarm if trouble detected. Keep running at all times.)
Attack Dog: Armor, Expert Offense, Attack, Cascading (attack who it's launched at. Good auto-load IC because it will work on agents and sprites as well as hackers and technomancers.)
Black Dog: Armor, Expert Offense, Blackout, Cascading (attack who it's launched at. Good for throwing at enemy hackers. I call the Black Hammer version Hellhound.)
Bloodhound: Track, Exploit, Adaptability (track who it's launched at, and try to get into their system and open a connection back to me.)

Of course all their loaded programs can further be modified with Program Options like Optimized, Ergonomic, Armor Piercing, Mute, etc.

It can get very complicated. The game I play a hacker in, we mostly ignore or gloss over the Program Options as we aren't an overly matrix focused group, and I now know more about 4ed hackers then the GM.

One of the nice things about slaving my friends 'links to my brain is that according to the rules (Atleast as I read them) it means that the only way anyone can break into them is by spoofing my Access ID to access it. Now I am not sure about the next bit, but reading the Spoofing action text in SR4A, spoofing can only be done on something with a Pilot rating or is a Peripheral device. I aint sure, but I am quite certain that a Commlink is neither of these things.

And Unwired says that a normal hacker cannot hack my living persona node. So I am fairly certain that means that unless the enemy hacker is a Technomancer himself my friends Commlink is completely and utterly secure from any outside hacking attempt. And then the Owner of the Slaved Commlink simply makes sure that all his kit is DNI/Skinlinked and he is completely safe from hacking attempts.

Feel free to poke holes in this though.

(EDIT: I apologise that thats a bit Offtopic, if you want I will pull it into a different thread for any discussion on it)

I don't have SR4A yet (waiting for the hardcopy), but by my understanding you're mostly right. I understood slaved nodes to only have a few methods of access.

1) Gain access to the "master" node (pretty impossible to a non-hacker against a bio-PAN)

2) Gain physical access to the device and take a -2 DP to hack it (hope the player is unconcious though, and if he is why bother hacking his smartlink)

3) Spoof the access ID of the master node. This would require the hacker first locate your node (which is always in hidden mode), perform a Matrix Perception Test, and then spoof commands to the cyberware.

So given the above, this seems to fit what you're saying EXCEPT that I would consider cyberware to be a peripheral device as far as the Matrix is concerned. A hacker is not spoofing commands to your commlink (bio-PAN), they're spoofing commands to the cyberware PRETENDING to be your commlink.

No doubt though that this is far more secure than letting the minor diagnostic computers broadcast in open wireless.

He's not talking about spoofing cyberware; he's talking about spoofing commands to teammate's slaved commlinks as if they came from the TM's bio-node. The question is if a commlink (which is not a peripheral device and has no Pilot rating) can be spoofed. If it can't, this is very secure; if it can, less so.

Agreed, however in my example this is the current topology of the Slaved networks -

My Bio-Node. Master Node, basically unhackable unless I am up against a technomancer
My Friends Commlink. Slaved to My Bio-Node. From my reading of the rules an enemy hacker cannot spoof any commands to this Commlink because it is neither a peripheral device nor does it have a Pilot rating.
My Friends Kit. Everything here is wired directly to his brain with a DNI connection or wired/skinlinked to his Commlink, which means its unspoofable unless the enemy hacker is in direct contact with the Slaved Commlink.

So, the enemy hackers options should all be cut off. He cant hack through the Slave because he cannot hack into the Master Node (My Bio-Node). He cant hack into the Slaved Commlink unless he gains direct access to the commlink itself, and thats not really an option open to a hacker when lead is flying. He cannot spoof commands to the Slaved Commlink because the 'link is exempt from the spoof action (See above). He cannot spoof commands to any peripheral devices that are wired/skinlinked to the Slaved Commlink just because he cant, not without direct contact anyway (See above why thats not a good idea).

The only way I can see an enemy hacker disrupting this would be to use Jamming tech to disrupt my Bio-Nodes subscription to the Slaved Commlink.

This all rides on not being able to spoof a slaved node...anyone have access to unwired to paste some RAW?

This is all been super helpful information. I think I should've just made this thread called "Help a n00b hacker" or something....because I got a lotta questions.

Like starting loadout gearwise. Seems like everything I've seen says "GET THE FAIRLIGHT, NOVATECH NAVI OS, UPGRADE THEM, BUY ALL PROGRAMS AT RATING 6!" That just sounds boring to start out with EVERYTHING AWESOME. Am I wrong here? My dwarf hacker is a 20-something geek named Banhammer, his skills are geared toward finding exploits and hacking on the fly via AR hacking mostly so he can run with his team on missions.

Any suggestions for a gear load out? Or is it pretty much 'twink it all out' at character creation?

IIRC, the commlinks and OS available can only be upgraded to 5's, based on chargen availability limits. But yeah, there is really no "strategy" to building a great hacker to start...at least from an equipment standpoint. You want the best rated commlink you can buy and you want the highest rated programs (all of them, both common use and hacking) that your commlink will allow. Now, getting into unwired, you can add some more fun to the common builds by adding program options to a lot of your programs.

I mean, who doesn't want the Mute option on their Exploit program?

But, generally speaking, almost all hackers are going to have a similar starting build when looking at the commlink, OS and programs. Just set aside the nuyen and "get'em all".

The target of a spoof attempt must either have a Pilot rating or be
a peripheral device. Most often you will spoof a drone or an agent, but
you may also use spoof to do things like unlock doors, get free cab rides,
and make the McHugh’s autocooker prepare your soyburger exactly
the way you like it.

Slaving
One node, the slave, may be linked to another node, the master.
In this setup, the master is given full admin access to the slave.
When slaving a node to a master, the slaved node does not accept
any Matrix connections from any other node but the master and
instantly forwards any connection attempts to the master.
Hackers have three options when faced with a slaved node.
First, they can hack in directly to the slave with an additional
threshold modifier of +2, though this requires a physical (wired)
connection to the device. Second, they can hack the master node
(thus gaining access to the slaved node—and any other slaves—
as well), though this node is usually more secure. Third, they can
spoof the access ID of the master node and then spoof commands
to the slave.

Ok, so it seems my method isnt completely secure. The enemy Hacker could potentially grab my Access ID and spoof commands to the slave, maybe. It isnt really that clear...

But if we go from that to get my Access ID the enemy hacker still has alot to do. As any good Technomancer does I run every run with a stupidly high Stealth rating (Stealth 6 + Threading + Sprite Aid). This can easily push my Stealth to 15. So just to get my Access ID with a Matrix Perception roll they are looking at rolling against my Hacking + Stealth (19 or so) or my Firewall + Stealth (20 or so). Your every day hacker is going to have one hell of a time getting my ID so they can spoof a Command to the Commlink.

Hmm... not sure. Your thoughts?

(I really am sorry for setting up a second conversation in your Thread dude , if it gets annoying I will throw up my own)

That sounds about right. As the TM, be sure to spoof a new AID for yourself every chance you get in downtime if you're really paranoid. You probably don't want to do it midrun because you'll lose all your subscriptions, but if someone does manage to grab your AID and start spoofing your slaved nodes/gear, it'll mean he has to start from scratch next time.

Yeah, I agree, getting your Access ID will be tough. And seeing TMs basically change their AccessID every morning they wake up, there's a smaller window of opportunity to hack (which makes probing even more difficult).

What would be more probable, is if the hacker setup a honeypot or was monitoring a node the TM was accessing, thereby getting your Access ID indirectly through the Access Logs.

But either way, slaving to the TM bio-PAN is one of the safest and sound methods to keep everything on lock-down...no argument there!

Ah, makes sense. Still doesn't stop them spoofing a command though. Once a node is slaved, isn't it then by definition secondary or peripheral?



Just to correct myself (as i'm at work without books), I was wrong when I said -2DP, as this clearly states its +2 threshold.



I think here we're on the same page exactly. It can be spoofed, but it requires them to obtain your access ID, not to mention finding your commlink first (which a bio-PAN if I remember right always runs in hidden). So throw a scan test on top of the above.

Point being this is a legitimate (and good) defense, still not unhackable though, but way better security. This is exactly why the Matrix Specialist is so important, even without the unhackable bio-node, it can be a pain to try to go through the master node (with more than likely: better system attributes, better IC, and better/skillful users), and its almost as much pain to go around it.

Edit to avoid double post:

Can you slave cyberware to a commlink and then slave the commlink to another comm in a daisy chain? I didn't think this was possible as the cyberware would have more than one master node technically, and it clearly says it can only be slaved to one.

Meaning you can slave as many devices to one node as you need to, but you can't slave a device to multiple nodes, or am I missing something?

Ok, I ended up double posting anyway. Sorry



Just wanted to comment that changing your access ID means you're logged off every node you're accessing. So if they do start spoofing your access ID and you change it, his commlink is no longer slaved to you. (at least until you re-establish it, which might be too late).

Edit: re-reading the quote above I see where you said the same thing, my bad. Think i'm just going to quit posting my foot in my mouth.

I don't believe a node is ever actually redefined as a peripheral device, no - those are two separate classes of Matrix-active devices. That said, the previous quoted rules make it clear that you can spoof a slaved commlink regardless, so the question's answered.



Yeah, that's why I said you don't want to do this midrun.

My understanding of it would be that (From a purely Fluff perspective) that if you have three nodes, and you link them as so:
Master Node - Slaved Node - Slaved to Slaved Node

That the Master Node is for all purposes the Master Node for the entire daisy chain. I would also rule that every node can only be slaved to a single Master Node. Multiple nodes can be slaved to a single Master node, but not the other way around.

Remember the critical flaw inherent in spoofing: it is a one-way only, single use command. The target does not send any communication back to the spoofer; any return data goes to the correct node.

So, let's say enemy hacker sends a spoofed command to your teammates's slaved commlink. They get to send 1 command; they have no way of knowing if that command is accepted or what happens (beyond external observation). Let's say they've figured out it's slaved and they want to send a command to say "Unslave". First off, this is probably an Admin level command, which increases the difficulty. Second, you're probably a canny little TM and have required certain admin actions to require a verification. You know, an "Unsubscribe: Y/N"... which means when the node sends you the message (not the spoofer; no communication goes back to the spoofer) you are aware the node is under attack.

So what you are saying is that my method, by RAW, basically creates an unhackable commlink node? That is unless an enemy technomancer comes along and starts fiddling with my brain that is?

*copies and pastes this to show to his GM who is sometimes suspicious of CodeBreakers attempts to have fun with his Living Persona*

I think we see this the same way, but your way of looking at is slightly more confusing (or brilliant). If everything can be accessed from the Master (master) node then how is the above any different really than this?

Slaved Node -> Master Node <- Slaved Node

Node A is master, Node B is slaved, Node C slaved to slave

So if I wanted to access C, I have to access B, which means I have to access A. So in the end its the same thing, access A to get access to all the nodes. In reality B and C are both just slaved to A.

I'm sure there are tiered topologies, I just think they went with the mesh network style for simplification. The only way tiered would really work is if you had to access each in sequence, and then every corp would just keep a string of security nodes to pass through making matrix runs draw out.

Man, All my guys gear is going to be like this now. Isn't this super Spoof proofing?
I am going to drink my coffee wake up mentally and figure out how this doesn't prevent all spoofing.

BlueMax

Yeah. I'm still trying to figure out if there's any way that this sort of thing doesn't completely invalidate the entire idea of spoofing. The Spoof program, by default, would have to handling confirmation requests on commands automatically, or it's basically worthless.

The nearest example of this I can think of is the command verification protocol used on drones. I think the extra step of double verifying each command can be a slight hinderance.

Not sure how this really plays into defensive minded subscriptions though. I mean for a drone, you can prevent others from spoofing orders by having the drone use its next pass to say "really" and then you have to say "yes" again (eating up two passes, one for the drone and one from you before it can act). But how does this work for commlinks? do they have passes by default. I don't think you roll initiative for a slaved commlink.

This can open a big bag of bad BTL's. Are you saying the OS is double verifying, or would this require an agent? Also, this means that the commlink OS would verify ALL commands from the master node, and even the end user. "I use my commlink to make a call"....pause...."really?"...pause..."yes".

In the very least I would have this degrade the slaved and master commlinks response by one (similar to a proxy server).

Any thoughts?

You are Spoofing a command as if sent by the authorized user, it doesn't have to be exactly the same command that the normal user uses, you have to think abstractly.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Great Name.

BlueMax

Even this chain of conversation is completely dependant on being able to Spoof a Commlink... which isn't really defined in the rulebook, but its suggested that its not.

Either way, the system makes a Technomancer using his brain as a Master Node extremely useful as a buffer for the rest of his teams systems. Next question I would like to put out is what happens if I have the following:

A high rating Machine Sprite (I am talking Rating 10 or so here)
A personal, high Firewalled commlink
Lots of personal drones.

Now, I run the Commlink in Hidden Mode at all times, and I slave it to my Bio-Node. This makes the Commlink itself damn hard to hack. Can I then slave all my personal drones to that Commlink, thus keeping my Bio-Nodes subscription list nice and empty? I throw my Rating 10 Sprite on the Commlink to run it (Task - Command these sets of Drones to attack my targets and defend me) and the drones meaning I hardly have to interact with it at all.

Gets around having to worry about Subscription links, and means I can still have my small army of sniper rifle equipped Rotordrones in the air.

When the node is slaved it forwards all commands to the master node. So you would have to maintain all the subscriptions.

You can subscribe all the drones as one subscription though, as long as they all receive the same orders.

Once you slave a device, you can't subscribe anything to it, since it won't connect to anything other than the master. Everything else would have to be slaved to the master.

Curses, you are correct. Oh well, I guess I will just have to depend on my Rating 10 Sprites to keep my Drones safe. Woe is me

Thats what our group does but they stick to Rating 7 Machine Sprites.

Or at least all but that wussy CaptainSegfault.


But seriously as a GM, how do I fight 3 TMs?(answer in PM I don't mean to hijack only kvetch.)

BlueMax

Spoof Command and Spoof Access ID are different actions.

When you Spoof your AID to be the same as somebody else's master node you effectively become the master node.

By definition you now automatically have Admin access to the slaved node.

Until things change all data sent to the slave node will be routed to both master nodes. The number of packets that follow each route probably depends on physical proximity to the slave node but if the hacker is within Signal range of the slave node he probably gets most of them and is able to sniff all of them.

The first thing most hackers will do is reslave the device to one of his own devices and then reset the encryption.

Being slaved doesn't stop you having subscriptions but all subscribed devices have their data routed via the master node.

That one greatly amuses me.

I don't agree with the "unsubscribe: y/n" piece. Otherwise the spoof program is worthless (as others have mentioned).

I do agree that the spoof command is one-way and it has very limited use and no way of knowing if the command is accepted. You also have the ability to have the "spoofee" ask the TM (assuming the master bio-node example), did you just turn off my wireless/eject my clip/turn on my thermographic etc. But that should be quickly found out that someone is spoofing and measures taken to deal with the problem.

But the hacker running the spoof, should still get that first spoof off. I mean, she's already done the monumental task of getting the TMs access ID without him knowing, so give her the opportunity to spoof. The TM can easily change his access ID and have everyone resubscribe rather quickly.

Not so sure that would be the case. Using current day logic (sorry, I know this is a no-no), if there were two master nodes (which are supposed to be unique), I'd think an error would occur and you'd start getting problems. At the very least, the spoofed node would not automatically get subscriptions from the master, and once you tried to subscribe, if you didn't unsubscribe the real master, you'd get problems. And it would be obvious to the real master that it just got unsubscribed, unless you also hacked it and edited his subscription list to make it think it was still subscribed.

Again, spoofing another active node does not automatically give you all its subscriptions...and you need those subscriptions to do anything above basic spoof commands.

Subscription /= Slave

When you slave a node to yourself you effectively create an Admin level Access ID Account on that device.

Certainly having two nodes with the same AccessID is going to cause networking problems but, bearing in mind that this is a mesh network, chances are that for the most part this is going to be transparent unless the master node is beyond the local mesh. Packets will propagate out through the local mesh until they are received by the relevant node like a big game of pass the parcel. So long as both nodes are relatively close to the slave node and not right next to each other, or both within mutual signal range of the slave node, both will receive all data packets sent out by the slave and the slave will accept all data packets sent by either master.

Obviously if anything the spoofed node does results in any sort of confirmation request from the slave the real master will know instantly.

I'd go with sending it some sort of batch file or Scripted Agent. Shut down, restart with a new AccessID, re-encrypt coms, re-slave to a new master node.

At the same time spoof one of your own peripheral nodes to he same AccessID as the original slave and start feeding the original master a bunch of recorded data from the original.

I thought the rules in Unwired specifically state a Slaved Node can only communicate with it's master... so no slaved to slaves node chains right? The number of slaved devices on a system is a mater of connections. That's why you cluster some things (like cyberware) and then slave the cluster, or make sure your cyberware is only physically connected (so connected, but not slaved) to some single wifi device that is secure (may I recomend your implanted commlink?). It's basic node topography defense. You have to access the main node to get to the rest (because they have no wifi) but it's not all slaved so it isn't eating up your connections.

Also, a spoofed ID on a slaved device would have to be the Admin account because the slaved device won't open except anything else. That means you have to be able to get the ID info from the master node via an Analyze check, and then make a Spoofing check at -6.

From my reading of Unwired's "Advanced Spoofing" and BBB's Spoofing, I see no indication that Spoofing can be used to open a connection to a Node. It lets you send a command to the node/agent/drone/sprite but not communicate with it or gain access to it. Unwired specifically states that to do more then issue orders you'd have to hack in. It also notes that you can only get it to listen to commands that your Access ID would be able to do... which in this case would be Admin, so that's not an issue.

Spoofing a node/agent/etc means you're sending a command with a false ID that it should accept. The idea of Spoofing your connection to mimic the master node is an interesting idea, but it has a flaw in that the Master node is already connected to the slaved node (slaving requires a connection), and no node is going to accept a connection from an account that is already logged in. Even if the real master account isn't logged in (in which case it it's slaved anymore) you'd still need more then the Access ID, you'd have to log in using the passwords/etc... Otherwise known as Exploit & Hacking (or having a real account.)



Sending instructions is fine, but a GM could reasonably call for a separate spoof check for each command.
Also note that a device can't normally just change it's own ID. It will need to have it's Access ID spoofed, or changed with a Hardware check. Most nodes, drones, and agents have no ability to do this on their own. Some agents and drones might have the Spoof program, but it's a bit uncommon. Non-Icons like Nodes have no ability to do this. You'd have to be logged in, likely with Admin level access, and then spoof the ID your self. I'm not sure what this gets you as the ID is really only used for spoofing (mechanically.) People present in the AR/VR around you will still be able to see the node if they could before.
Re-encrypt coms doesn't seem to do much either. A slaved node has one channel open, to it's master, and reencrypting it won't really make your job any easier as a spoofer. Hell, if anything the person opperating the master node will find the incoming "accept encrypted connection from node?" request a little bit curious.
The Re-slave to master node command isn't going to help you either... your telling it to reconnect to the node it is already connected with. Instead, skip all the other crazyness and just Spoof it with "Slave to this other Node" with your node as the new one.

I don't even know how to begin replying to this.

I'll try again.

When a node is slaved to another that master node is given an exclusive Admin AccessID Account.

A subscription channel is devoted to the master on the slave. The master also devotes a subscription channel to the slave.

There is no physical connection between them.

There is no way for the slave to determine where packets with the masters AccessID came from.

All are piped through the subcription channel devoted to them directly to an active (logged-in) account with admin level access.

Any data packets sent with the slaves AccessID as their destination are re-routed by the slave to the master.

The AccessID's of the slaves subscribed devices are presumably held in the master's routing table which simply fires them back at the slave with it's own AccessID apended to the packets.

A hacker who spoofs his comm-link to have the same AccessID as the master node merely need devote a subscription channel to the slave device to experience the real master node's feed from the slave.

He is able to inject packets into the stream all of which are treated by the target slave as if they had been transmitted by the master, it has no way to differentiate the difference.

Should they cause the slave to do something that would be visible to the master then you are busted if the master is on the ball.

"Are you sure you want me to delete Access log? Y/N"

Like I said I would upload an Agent with a script that started with disabling Wifi and turn on a fake slave that is spoofed in exactly the opposite manner to the master to endeavour to keep the master out of the loop for as long as possible.

Interestingly you are partially right about spoofing AccessID. The version most people use is a Hacking and Software test which is queer in a number of regards.

It is a skill + skill test which is a bit odd and by including software it is not something that a normal Agent can do. You would have to include a Profession: Software Autosoft in the package but that's no big.

Crizh: I get the real world logic you are trying to apply here, but I don't think the game mechanics back you on this, unless I missed a section on what Spoofing an ID does in game, beyond making you harder to trace with a (2) target number?

Do you have any page references for me on this or is this? I've check p98 in Unwired, and 224 & 227 in the BBB. Spoofing a Data Trail (changing your ID) doesn't mention gaining special access to connections from the new ID. In fact, it doesn't mention mimicking an ID at all.

My logic here is that if all that was needed to make a command to a node look valid was to have the right ID code, then needing to make an active check to spoof commands to a node (with penalties for dealing with Admin or Security accounts) wouldn't be needed, after all you can't even try without the ID code. Clearly there is something more going on when commands are sent, and to think that changing your machine's ID instead of simply tagging your commands with that ID would make it and auto-bypass doesn't seem right. Especially when changing your ID is a simple (2) check instead of the potentially much harder command spoof check.

I do like the idea of listening in on the wifi chatter between two nodes though. I belive the Sniffer program lets you do that instead (assuming you don't have to decrypt a bit). It would work rather well with spoofing commands I think. If the two aren't in direct signal range, you could even try editing the responses so if the slave node goes "Are you sure," you could block that form reaching the the master node and then spoof back "yes!"

Unwired p52.

Access ID Accounts.

Crizh,
What game mechanic determines if the Master is on the ball?
Also, I have thought about how to ask this question for some time and the tone keeps sounding aggressive of accusative. I assure you it is not and that my interest in genuine.

BlueMax

That would do it.

I was wrong, that is a completely valid trick. Nice catch.

I'll have to read through that chapter a bit more closely I guess.