The books seem woefully short on what, exactly, is in an average commlink. Does the Analyze program come standard? If you hack into the average NPC's commlink (getting a spoofed admin account, of course) using the extended test of hacking + exploit (commlink's firewall + 6, complex action), does the commlink even have a chance of noticing and tossing up some sort of "hey, you're being hacked" warning or are all street sams essentially walking targets for the nearest tech-savvy character?

What if you want to follow a person -- it seems like it would be really easy to hack the commlink to broadcast its location to you, essentially a permanent free Trace User. Perhaps, with your admin access, tell the commlink to forward on all messages to you while also relaying them to the commlink. Essentially, it's an Intercept Traffic test (normally Hacking + Sniffing) for free, because you're using the admin account to change the settings in the commlink itself, or am I missing something?

I mean, it just seems like any responsible Shadowrunner who isn't all up on the Matrix would just turn the commlink completely off before ever taking it on a run.

By the way, the technomancer sprite Assist Operation (p241 SR4A -- The Wireless World -> Technomancers -> Sprites) does that use up a task from the spirit or does having a registered spirit give you a (spirit rating) bonus on every techno-thing you do?

No, the Analyze program is not standard, only the Scan program (at Rating 1) comes for free with every Commlink. Without an Analyze program, the target commlink would roll its Firewall rating alone in the Extended Test "against" the intruding hacker. If the Firewall is able to achieve hits to equal or exceed the Hacker's Stealth program, then the commlink has detected them. That means that going for Admin access is pretty risky even against a "mere" rating 3 or 4 Firewall. Analyze programs, especially up to Rating 3, are incredibly inexpensive and it is reasonable to assume that any user that keeps anything of consequence on their commlink is going to be running one.


All of these actions would fall under "GM's discretion." At the very least, for your "constant monitoring" situation, I would say the hacker would have to maintain a subscription to the target, which means that the Hacker's persona is present in the target node and subject to detection. As for your message forwarding example, there would probably be some conditions. Messages in the Matrix are routed through the user's MSP (Matrix Service Provider) so the Hacker would really have to hack that (much more secure) system in order to capture the target's messages without any of their knowledge. If they are re-routing them from the commlink itself (as you suggest) then I would probably have them make a Hacking + Edit or Computer + Edit test, with their hits on that test determining the threshold necessary to detect the change. Then I would give periodic Computer + Analyze (or possibly even Intuition + Computer) tests for the user to detect that something has been changed. The danger to the hacker now is that the target can take their commlink to their hacker friend who could use such an operation to Trace the hacker (if the hacker was having the messages forwarded to their commlink).


Ah, the revolution of SR4: the Hacker is now essential in the group for their defensive abilities as much as their offensive ones.


Yes it does, and it only lasts as my Combat Turns as the Rating of the Sprite.

All those commlink tricks are possible IMO. The downside is that messing with system settings instead of straight network sniffing is leaves traces.

Ancient History´s Neo-Tokyo Fragment

By default only Scan 1. SR4A provides program packages, though:


You could use those for quick references as to what software will be on what Commlink when it comes to your NPCs. Also, check the OS for firewall and system settings.

Back in the day, the board you were using to hack in could give you a bonus on your rolls. Is that still the case? What can a technomancer do to get more bonuses (other than sprites, who are fairly limited with that 8 day cooldown and max number of sprites) Can an agent or the board/commlink used give a hacker and/or a technomancer more bonuses?

Well, the rating of the Exploit program used provides a direct bonus to the roll. Not much else gives a direct bonus... but I think Sprites with Assist Operation are pretty awesome.

There are some qualities that give bonuses, e.g. Codeslinger, Analytical Mind (Runner's Companion), etc.
There's some cyberware that gives bonuses, e.g. Encephalon, Math SPU (both Augmentation).

You can modify your commlink to give a few bonuses, such as optimization, customized interface, etc. Check out Unwired.

I am curious... What 8-Day Cooldown are you referring to?
And where did you reference it from?

Keep the Faith

I see no reason why anyone can't have a secure commlink. After all, according to the official FAQ, FW isn't limited by System -- and a Firewall program costs only 500*Rating. A commlink with system 4/analyze 4 and FW6 might cost 8k or so -- something every shadowrunner can afford from the get-go. If you're really worried, you could get an agent and treat it as IC for your commlink (running an assortment of vengeful programs). An agent constantly scanning users and the system would definitely foil the scenario you've described.

Other precautions against hacking could be installing Skinlink in all your wireless devices (and disabling the wireless capability), or reducing your Signal to extremely close range. You could keep your 'running' commlink separate from your 'regular joe' commlink, which is a good idea anyway, and make sure your 'running' commlink is always on off/hidden. And these are just simple ideas. With some creativity and a flexible GM, you could design a whole security system.

Also, hi, I'm new

Runners certainly can (should) get a robust commlink at chargen. It's not cheap, but it's not exorbitant. On the other hand, everyone else has commlinks, too, and they're not runners. I would expect gangers and civilians to have pretty lame commlinks, for example. It's about the same as armor, weapons, and other gear: runners can (do) get great stuff, but the rest of the world isn't so optimized.

Hmm, I must have misremembered the "crashing sprites" section in Unwired, p154

Ahhh... Gotcha... yeah, that makes more sense now...

Keep the Faith