It seems to me that the technology introduced in Shadowplay makes any kind of wired connection no more secure than a wireless connection. In terms of SR4, that technology was made public about 20 years ago. By this point, it will have been miniaturized down to commlink size.

This makes me think that all the careful removal of wireless access from your characters cyberware should be largely pointless. A hacker should be able to hack the wired connections just as easily. This leads me to a house rule I rather like: Wires dont matter. Which is great, because it's a pain to keep track of what equipment/Wares are wired or unwired.

Even smaller, UW has an optical tap which does exactly that, and a microtapper drone carrying such a tap


Uhm, wut? Tapping wires under somebody's skin is as easy as capturing a wireless signal?

The technology in Shadowplay did not require physically tapping the line. It was wireless tapping of optical wires.

The optical tap requires you (or the drone) to physically access the fiber, and since the decription says that the tap "create a micro-bend so that light signals may be captured" so probably peel the protective layers to be able to attach the sensor directly on the optical fiber itself.

IIRC the tech in Shadowplay allowed not only monitoring, but also alteration of the transmitted datas, and possibly from a short range rather than direct, physical contact, so I think it's based on a completely different concept.

As far as I remember the tech only allowed listening on FO lines without cutting the line and plugging in a repeater (which would lead to a temporary blackout -> detectable). Will read it up when I get home.


PS: "Touchless" technologies for eavesdropping on FO lines actually exist in real life, based on the recording the tiny bits of radiation scattered when light "hits" atoms (Rayleigh scatter). Current technologies require monitoring a long piece of the line to gather enough photons, but of course three-letter-agencies could already be significantly better than that...

*Sighs* I have to buy Shadowplay again. It was the first piece of Shadowrun I read, and was almost totally sold after I was done. Found 2XS, and was completely sold.

I want more Dirk and Sly!

only because you can relate better to people that are your own age, not half your age *snickers*

In unwired there is a fiber tap with a wireless transmitter at the other end, iirc. There is also nanotech specifically for reactivating disabled cyberware wifi (no comment about cyberware where it has been physically removed).

Sadly the latter is to slow working to be combat viable...