[Ryo]

I've got a technomancer in my game who wants to hack a car with a Crack sprite to steal it. The problem is, as soon as he got in, he triggered the Alert. Now, I figured this particular car had a silent alarm, it alerts the owner, a local go-ganger, but has no other overt signs that its been triggered. Now, the Technomancer player immediately says the crack sprite has suppression, meaning he's got enough time to turn off the Alert. But that got me to thinking...would he even know it was triggered? How would he know to shut it off? The hacking section is mum on whether or not a Hacker realizes an alert is triggered prior to the security tightening on his ass.

And for that matter, can he even turn the alert off? I don't see a command for that either.

[FastJack]

It probably would depend on how he hacked the car. Did he create a Secure or Admin account when he hacked the system? If he did, he'd probably see the Alert being sent out. But if he created a normal account, then the alert would be above his security level.

As long as he can see the alert, he should be able to try and suppress it, but there is a time factor involved.

[Ryo]

According to him, a Car is a peripheral node and thus only has public and admin without a threshold increase. Was he right about that, or was he yanking my chain to avoid the +6 threshold increase on admin?

As for trying to suppress it, is there a test in that?

[Chaemera]

Peripheral nodes have only one account level: Admin, not even a "user" account.

However, peripherals are things like RFIDs, toasters and fridges. Cars have a pilot program, as such, I wouldn't treat them as a peripheral nodes (they're too complex, compared to my reading of peripheral nodes). The rules on peripheral nodes can be found on page 48 of Unwired.

Additionally, if you do rule that it's a peripheral node, I can't think of anyone who wouldn't slave their car to their commlink immediately on purchasing the thing. Then, the techno can't hack it without a physical connection or by hacking the owner's commlink. Heck, even if it weren't a peripheral node, most anyone with a little tech-savvy would probably still slave their car to their commlink, it's basic security 101. Slaving can be found in Unwired, pages 55 and 59.

At the end of the day, you are the GM, you decide what kind of node a device is, its matrix attributes, and its security responses.

As to the Suppression sprite power, it works automatically to delay the alert by rating/2 (round up) combat turns. However, as FastJack pointed out, without a security or admin account (and if you don't consider it a peripheral node after reading Unwired, he needs to declare what he's hacking for) he wouldn't know the alert existed to squash it.

In fact, with suppression, since the alert isn't generated until after the suppression time is over, he still couldn't squash it before it went off, it doesn't exist yet to kill.

On top of that, if the Crack sprite is in, then he isn't in, if the Crack sprite wasn't told to disable any alerts after hacking in, it won't hack in. Remember, the minute the crack sprite goes after that car, it's on remote task (pg 241, SR4A) and if it's unregistered, it does what it was last commanded then departs. So, if he told it "hack that car" it'd hack in, then de-compile itself and he'd be back at square one without his crack sprite. If he told it "hack in, disable any alarms, and create an account for my use" it would do those three tasks (assuming he had three tasks owed) and de-compile itself.

If it is registered, it'd hack in, and wait for him to give it new orders via the Sprite-Technomancer link (pg 241, SR4A). And remember, hacking in and creating an account is two tasks, regardless of whether or not the sprite is registered. Three if it's going to disable alarms, as well (the suppression happens for free since it's an "always on" feature, but the disabling is a separate task).

[Ryo]

Okay, wow, he was totally misrepresenting how this worked. Clearly I need to read the technomancer rules closer to call him on this stuff in the future.

[Ultra Violet]

One little thing I have to add here...
Why does he hacked in first place? Usually you can spoof a car, without having the problem of triggering an alarm.

[Ryo]

One little thing I have to add here...
Why does he hacked in first place? Usually you can spoof a car, without having the problem of triggering an alarm.

Wouldn't he need the owner's Access ID to spoof the car?

[Chaemera]

He would need the AccessID of someone with a legitimate account on the car to Spoof. So, short version, yes.

[Ultra Violet]

But it is not hard to find the trace of that access ID, and the real benefit is your spoof-attack isn't an attack for the system. So if you have time you will get the access ID and can use it.

I use spoofing often for some free taxi rides.

[Loki]

Hacking into a system creates the account in the node so that'd just be one task.

[theKernel]

But it is not hard to find the trace of that access ID, and the real benefit is your spoof-attack isn't an attack for the system. So if you have time you will get the access ID and can use it.

I use spoofing often for some free taxi rides.

ooooooooo sounds like fun

[Chaemera]

Hacking into a system creates the account in the node so that'd just be one task.

Re-read Unwired.

If a node has been hacked on-the-fly, the hacker has found some gaping hole in the system security that allows him to access an account on that node. The hacker has not actually acquired the passcode for the account, however, and the exploit is likely to be noticed in a security audit and/or patched in the immediate future. This means that if the hacker wants to access the node again, he will have to hack in again. There is no way for the hacker to share the hacked account with another hacker or Matrix entity, even while the hacker is accessing the account.

So the Sprite is in, if it hacked on the fly. It would have to re-hack if it wanted to get in again after it leaves, and it can't let the technomancer in with its own access.

If the Sprite probed the target, then it found a way in which it can share with the technomancer, but the technomancer may still get discovered using this exploit logging in himself. Additionally, they still don't have an account of their own, they're piggy-backing an existing, legitimate account, which gets nasty if security compares AccessIDs to accounts, or any other significant security protocol.

So yes, using "probe the target", it only takes one task to get in, but you've got a second chance to be detected (and without the advantage of the Sprite's Suppression power) and you've got a dozen ways to sunday to get caught out with your pants down using someone else's (or a blatant fake, depending on your GM's interpretation) account.

[Loki]

I knew it was a short term pass, missed that it was non-transferable. Thanks, that'll help with bot net orders too.

[Ultra Violet]

A vehicle has a pilot so it is a legitim target for spoofing. Spoofing (we talked last time about it) can use a existing account, and if the account is Admin level you can chance things like, slaving it to your Comm or creating an own new account.
Hacking can also create an new account, in fact it can create an hidden account or an hidden backdoor.
In my Game, characters who are specialized in car theft (with at least a good knowledge skill & Co.) can do their research about a type of car and its production flaws. In my SR-World Pros do know their stuff and this is knowledge a professional car thief has. Sound like: "The XTS series has a flawed beta-quadrant in its firewall." or "The XTS2 has a backdoor exploit, they been sloppy at the production code purge, with a little Luck, its still intact." But that is only fluff, how a character can get a backdoor or exploit without hacking it himself.
The sprite story is a little bit otherwise, a sprite can enter a node from the resonance realm as shortcut, but the registered technomancer has to be in the node to do so, the second way is that the sprite is used to hack into the node and create an account or backdoor the technomancer could use, that costs at least one task. (see UW, p. 154, Sprites and Node Access)

[Xicidis]

Page 221 SR4A...

"Security cameras, stoves, ear buds, medkits, firearms, children’s toys, doorbells, showers, biomonitors, cyberware, make-up kits, vehicles, coffee makers, store displays, electronic paper, drones, light switches, and many, many other items are all peripheral devices in Shadowrun"

So yes, he was right, a vehicle is a peripheral device. So, no, he would not need admin access. However, the vehicle could be slaved to his PAN and his Commlink. That would mean you would have to break into his Commlink to control the drone.