Hi all,
I've just started my first EP group after a long break from role-playing. It's good when a setting has that effect after seeing it in a hobby store and thinking... 'Damn, I've got to run this!'
I've started by using the quick start and splicing the main rules as I need them. Last night was the first proper session after character building.
After cracking open the airlock of an old research station one of the players decided to wirelessly hack into the stations VPN using his Infosec skill.
I'd already worked out the various Networks used in the station and what they interacted with. He had found a working terminal in a Vac suit storage room leading from an airlock, which gave access to the Infrastructure Network, this was planned so they could potentially open doors, look at the powergrid, damage control and also reactivate life support if they chose too (and made the right Subversion tests).
He made the Opposed skill test with Covert status against a System AI, then a successful Subversion test in order to gain control over opening/shutting pressure doors.
The main questions regarding this are:
Would he have to stay with the terminal or just keep within wireless range in order to maintain the hacked link? (I let him stay with the group, as this was better for the overall plot)
Would he have had to make a Subversion test each time he wanted to open/close a door or just the once for that level of control over the Network, until he tried something different?
I've read enough sci-fi to visualize what a network might look like, but is there any official stories or descriptions of hacking and interaction with the network that I might have missed.
Hope this makes sense.
Cheers
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Some Hacking questions
Thu, 2012-09-06 11:52
#1
Ironbyte
Some Hacking questions
Thu, 2012-09-06 14:11
#2
nezumi.hebereke
The always answer in security
The always answer in security is 'it depends'.
To answer the first, the question is, what was wireless configured to permit? My wireless router won't let me connect to the admin console wirelessly. It's reasonable that some things may not be permitted over the wireless, but other things will be. It's up to you as a GM to decide what. (For most modern systems, everything should be wireless, with the right credentials, but with high-security, older, or Jovian systems, that isn't the case.)
For the second, it depends on what specifically the first subversion test was for. He needs to make a subversion test for every single action above his normal security clearance. However, that action could include:
Reducing the security level of a particular category of action
Accessing a shared console that controls multiple functions
Increasing his own security level
Engaging a particular device.
Some of these actions may be easier, harder, or impossible, based on how the network is set up. For all but the last, his successful attacks gives him access to open other doors without a test.
To a degree, this also comes down to the narrative imperative. For your story, do you want your PCs to have to wait five minutes outside of each door for it to be hacked? Are you okay with some doors not being accessible when the hacker botches a roll? Do you only want some doors to be challenging to open? Or should opening doors and turning on lights be trivial once the PCs are in? Based on what you need for the story, that is what your network should be built around.
Mon, 2012-09-10 09:16
#3
Decivre
Ironbyte wrote:Would he have
Within wireless range. Do note that if the entire ship utilizes a control network, wireless range might be as simple as "near or in the ship".
If he used a subversion test in order to gain system-wide door control access, then it's a one-time thing. If he hacked directly into whichever door he was trying to open, it's once for every door.
So it'll depend on how he does it. The latter would probably have easier rolls with a lower modifier, but the former is a one-time thing.
Panopticon has a little info about network configurations on habitats that you might want to look at.
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Tue, 2012-09-11 11:08
#4
Ironbyte
Thanks for the comments, I
Thanks for the comments, I generally went with what would make the story flow better and that seemed to work as people were where I wanted them to be.
I just want to make sure there is some form of consistency with the use of Hacking into human built Networks, so that anything different (especially alien) really is different and disorientating for the character.
As for how Networks look, I did a search through other posts and found some good ideas/film references. It's just that I was trying to visualize how Network areas would interact with each other (this from Panopticon i.e. Security, Infrastructure, Admin etc.) as I want hackers to have a frame of reference rather than just rolling dice.
Wed, 2012-09-12 07:21
#5
Quincey Forder
Electronic and cyberwarfare from ship to ship
When you say "close or in the ship", it might not even need to be that close.
In convergence eith another thread on this forum, I think that hacking and infosec are the way ships fight each other from a distance, using laser or mason beams to reach the other's comm array and hack into the ship's mesh system and disable key systems like propulsion, life support or even backups.
Actual firing system would be for close or immediate range.
A good example of such cyber warfare can be found in the anime Moretsu Uchuu Kozaku (Bodacious Space Pirates, as it is called in the States on Netflix and Huluplus).
This anime also provides good concept for scum barge and lifestyle
Now, on the Mesh topography itself, how do you think the user perceive and access it, with all the AR objects floating around?
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Fri, 2012-09-14 06:27
#6
Ironbyte
The use of Infosec and
The use of Infosec and hacking for ship to ship combat/subversion brings Bank's 'Excession' to mind and Gary Gibson's 'Nova Wars'. I'll have to look up the anime, thanks.
I've just reread the description of Interfacing (EP p. 239) and realized that I'd been thinking of Hacking and Networks as something more immersive than it is. The entopic overlays are more fun and practical to use, it'll just be a case of being able to visualize how things look and keeping it consistent for the players.
Thu, 2012-09-13 16:14
#7
NewtonPulsifer
Most systems are likely to
Most systems are likely to use the equivalent of an ecto with haptic interfaces (pg. 245 and 246) when operation is not time sensitive.
So the compromised interface could be rapidly dropped or shut down if discovered.
That being said there's no reason a military ship would even have to have a things like life support or backups on a wireless network (you do need wireless for commnet and tacnet). Those could be "air gapped".
In addition, the comm array could be set to ignore anything except tight beam transmissions from known vectors.
I don't think actively interfering with another ship's systems in ship to ship combat hacking is plausible if the target ship is on "yellow" or "red" alert, or switches to that alert level. If you have enough crew you can indefinitely maintain a yellow alert.
Hacking their comm and tac net when the enemy ship is not on alert over a longish period of time and just "listening in" is more viable.
That may not be fun or cool, however, so it is any GMs prerogative to ignore plausibility.
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