I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of marks in regards to patrol ic. The Patrol IC text says, "While the act of placing a mark is an illegal activity, the act of simply having a mark is not. Once you have the mark, you are considered a legitimate user."
I was under the impression that in order to enter a node (host?), you had to use Brute Force or Hack on the Fly to get a mark on it first. If this is the case, then what would patrol IC be useful for? If having a mark isn't illegal, then what would tip off the patrol IC that something is wrong?
Alternatively, if I am reading this wrong, and marking the host isn't the same as having a mark, then is the patrol IC scanning every turn, using matrix perception (Computer + Intuition [Data Processing] v.(Logic + Sleaze)? Any net hits at all would mean it could tell "whether any silent running icons are in the area?"
Which of these seems right? Or am I totally off base here?