I have gathered that in shadows proffesionals use multiple commlinks, which makes sense: you may want to use one for public use, one extremely safe and stealthy for your own PAN; your devices; your bank accounts; one safe and stealthy for job related stuff.

And you may ditch one if its Acess ID gets known with a wrong guys.

But when you ditch and take new commlink or use other one to call your fixer: does he knows its you? And the related question: when you call someone and have a chat, does he get to know your Access ID?

In my mind, it is like me calling someone from laptop using Skype: even if i change my laptop, my skype account is the same and the other person knows it is me. But he cannot trace my IP, right?
So what's the deal with commlinks? And even if i know the location of his PAN - can i get his commlink's Acess ID?

thank you.

Good question. Your skype account isn't your Access ID.
Read more in that section for more good info.

Access ID's are broadcast with your matrix access. They're the shadowrun equivalent of mac addresses.
That being said, they can totally be spoofed, and Hackers routinely change theirs on a daily basis.

Thanks for direction.

p.214 in core book says

So apparently one can trace the caller to its commlink and commlink's access ID, right? (even if it means he has to hack in matrix service provider's database).
That also means, that any call and message sent may be traced later through that matrix service provider database to wait until the target user is online and then hack him.

Am I right thinking now that there are three methods how you can find and hack someone's commlink: a)If you know his commcode, b)if you know his Acess ID, c)if he is in your signal range.

A hacker may trace a subscription back to its origin, so tracing a call should be possible. Another reason to use some care on the phone, you are a criminal after all

Unwired introduces some advanced possibilites like proxy servers or single-use comcodes.


In theory, however a) would require to either hack the database which lists commcodes and their associated acces IDs, or to trace an active call from that commcode. Given that the commcode<=>acces ID database would be a critical part of the matrix infrastructure, I'd say choose the second option unless you got bored with your character.