QUOTE (Eratosthenes @ Apr 22 2010, 09:43 AM)

I was thinking of ways to secure my characters PAN, and I wondered if I had managed a fairly secure system (I'm AFB, so may be forgetting something obvious):
1) Commlink is encrypted with Strong Encryption (1 hour to 1 day, doesn't really matter).
2) User/Security accounts are disabled (i.e. they have no rights/abilities on the node, even if they do logon).
3) Anytime an Admin account logs on, an alert is triggered.
4) ARC: Wait 1 turn, log off user. If cannot log off user, shutdown (or scramble spyder, IC, etc.)
What I envisioned is the following:
Hacker breaks in with User rights. Finds he can't do anything.
Breaks in with Admin account. Alert is triggered. He has 1 combat turn to deactivate the alert, but the node itself is encrypted. Unless he has the encryption key, he cannot deactivate the account. And it would take too long to Decrypt the node.
Now, this assumes the hacker comes in on an Admin account (which I suppose is debatable...perhaps they just come in with admin rights, in which case swap out "Admin account logs on" to "Subscription established".
The biggest problem I see is your Encryption Scheme (Strong Enc ryption), Account Priveleges, and your ARC setup...
If you only allow Admin Access to do anything, then that is what you must log on as...
First... You cannot hack the node unless the node has been decrypted... for a regular user, this is not a problem, as you have the keys...
You cannot access an encrypted node until you have decrypted it, so no hacking ino the node with any access prior to this step. See page 66 of Unwired for more details...
As you are set up, an Alert will be automatically initiated when even you log on... yes, you can stop the alarm in a pass (as it is your system), but so can anyone else with a single pass, so your alert would really accomplish anything, your alert is canceled and then they have the run of your System... Placing Patrolling IC is a good idea.
IF the system could not log you off (For some reason the alert is not canceled) then you enter a reboot phase, at which point, you will not have any access to your device until the boot cycle completes, including your Strong Encryption interval... the system is not available until your system completes the Strong Encryption at startup...
As a result you will either have 2 actions occurring...
1. You wll be in a perpetual reboot phase, as your device struggles to keep people out of the system or
2. You will have let everyone have access to all of your pertinant details, if they have the ability to enter your node with Admin rights, then they are going to run rampant with the ARC setup you have...
The best idea above is to have a Pavlov Data Bomb on your node and the IC/Agent to watch for the absense of that... this will alert you (or whomever/whatever) and will give you other ptions... Ideally, they will not ntoice the databomb and take damage upon entering the node...
Keep the Faith