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Hacking the Mesh

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Last post

Mon, 2013-10-14 16:02

Raoul

Hacking the Mesh

Hi everybody, I discovered this game a few months ago and played in twice in 3 months. My group doesn't play often... a shame, I know. So, I decided to play a hacker. I thought it would be cool. It kinda is. First game was all fun, but second was... meh. So a question about the Hack sheet. It says that once the hacker went through the Firewall, it has to throw against the Monitoring. Fine until there. But there the help sheet says that the hacker suffers -20/-30 if hacking for a Security/admin account. I know it is important for the firewall, but I can't find in the rulebook where it says that the malus also counts for avoiding detection. Can someone help me on that? So, if I hack someone, I go for the mesh insert I guess. It is like a node, right? So if I fail against the firewll in both case, that firewall has an ID for me. If I didn't go through a cluster of nodes before, it is my ID of my mesh insert and I am quite fucked up, right? If I did go through a cluster, they need to track my ID in the mesh first. And it takes one hour. And if they are good and lucky, they'll find my ID. And I'll be in a bad position, right? But again, if it takes one hour, I have plenty of time to go to any node of the cluster to erase my traces, and they won't be able to carry on following my ID... is this true? Someone wrote that I should go through an ecto, but then I have -10 for everything I do... not that good. Another person says I should make a script to erase my datatrail. But what is the point? If I am leaving the node, couldn't I just erase the traces myself? What is the bonus point of making it via script? That muse that monitores everything... well how can I lower her rating, so that she even has less chances to see me? If I am in a node, a mesh insert, can I donwload the keys for encryption? If I make a backdoor when spotted and leave the node without erasing my traces, will the backdoor be found at once automaticly? (I'd say yes to that one...) So, what do you do when you are spotted? I don't have the right reflexes yet I think... Thanks for the help you can offer... EDIT: And one last question: how long does it take to create an Alpha fork? I read about the time pruning takes, but nothing about creating the fork in itself...

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Raoul

Thu, 2013-10-17 07:10

NewtonPulsifer NewtonPulsifer's picture

Wall of questions dude. Maybe

Wall of questions dude. Maybe pare it down to 3 and you'll get an answer?

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"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."- Isoroku Yamamoto

Thu, 2013-10-17 10:01

Nebelwerfer41 Nebelwerfer41's picture

I would like to know the

I would like to know the answers to some of these questions as well, we have a very active hacker in our current group.

Thu, 2013-10-17 12:50

Raoul

Just 3 questions...

Top 3 questions then... * Is the Hack sheet wrong when it gives malus (security and admin) to avoid detection on a monitored node? I didn't see it in the book. * If I hacked a node, do I have access to the encryption keys it uses to communicate to other nodes? * Can one reduce the capacity of a monitoring unit to detect a hacker? I have the impression those muses are seeing all my attempts to hack anything. Thanks a lot...

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Raoul

Mon, 2013-10-21 21:54

NewtonPulsifer NewtonPulsifer's picture

Raoul wrote:Top 3 questions

Raoul wrote:
Top 3 questions then... * Is the Hack sheet wrong when it gives malus (security and admin) to avoid detection on a monitored node? I didn't see it in the book.

What hack sheet?

Raoul wrote:
* If I hacked a node, do I have access to the encryption keys it uses to communicate to other nodes?

If you have "Security Account" access you could reset crypto keys of other regular users. This is likely to trip an alert/warning on systems/users they communicate with, but you might be able to talk your way through them accepting it (social engineering). You could possibly also funnel data down a regular user initiated encrypted connection that is already active if it is badly designed. You'd need Admin access to grab the actual system level crypto keys. However, even an admin doesn't get the crypto key access of the regular users (the crypto keys themselves are encrypted until the user enters their passphrase/password). You could log the user's activities and get their password that way (as admin).

Raoul wrote:
* Can one reduce the capacity of a monitoring unit to detect a hacker? I have the impression those muses are seeing all my attempts to hack anything. Thanks a lot...

Not really, no. Informorphs/synths never sleep! I can't think of a way off the top of my head without having security or admin privileges already. Plus, they can team up just like PCs ( up to +30 teamwork).

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"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."- Isoroku Yamamoto

Wed, 2013-10-23 13:48

Raoul

This is the sheet I talk

This is the sheet I talk about... http://www.voidstate.com/rpg/voidstate_eclipse_phase_hacking_cheatsheet_... And extra question: how do I make "sure" not to be identified when I hack a node? If I go private and go through a lot of different ID's, does the opponent get -60 in an opposed test with me?

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Raoul