[Dakka]

Which is all well and good up until the moment the System KNOWS you are not authenticated, then the alert triggers and its time to break out the Attack progs.

[Billy_Club]

Also, the passkey identifies an unauthorized user to any IC or Spider looking for it.  A hacker can fool the system into accepting his ID as valid, but any even cursory check of the access log will show that someone without a passkey is operating on the node.

[LonePaladin]

Which is why any competent hacker makes his last two steps in a network the following:

• Edit the access logs.
• Gracefully log off.

Even today, this is pretty much the standard end-moves for a hack. (My wife has dabbled in this field a little bit in the past, so I've picked up a trick or two by reverse osmosis.) Unless the hacker intends on leaving some clues behind -- say, if he's practicing on a friend's system -- he always wipes the place for fingerprints as a next-to-last step; if he does it any earlier, he runs the risk of making new traces.


So, any successful hack follows these basic steps:

• Find a way to access the system. Trace a legitimate user to get his access ID, chip out a back door, use social engineering to get a passcode, whatever.
• Get into the system. Brute-force hacking falls into this category.
• Do whatever you're there to do. Snag some data, edit a camera's feed, upload a virus, whatever.
• Clean up after yourself. Make sure nothing that you didn't intend to mess with has changed. Edit the access logs to remove all records of your presence.
• Get out.

Never forget step 4, unless you simply don't care about them tracking you. If you used a stolen access ID, you might be messing with things and intentionally leaving records of it so the other guy gets in trouble.

[Custodes]

Quick question.

When using Attack (program) to to shut down an opponents persona what does the damaged target do to log back in.

I assume they have dumpshock if using VR, but after that do they have to reboot there system, use a Medic program to rebuild the persona, or can they just log back in on their next IP the same as loading any other program?

[LonePaladin]

SR4A, p. 237: "An icon crashes when all the boxes on its Matrix Condition Monitor are filled. If your persona icon crashes, you are immediately disconnected from the Matrix, as with the Jack Out action. If you were operating in VR, you suffer dumpshock when this happens."

As for jacking out*: They don't actually state that a reboot is necessary. Problem is, you can't run any programs while your persona is non grata. You'd probably need to reboot just to get it back online.

* By the way, do NOT Google this term under any circumstances. You've been warned. Don't come crying to me when your eyes start melting.

[Dakka]

My eyes!  The goggles, they do nothing!

[Billy_Club]

You would have to perform a Repair Icon Extended Test until your icon was completely healed (pretty sure Repair Icon does not heal bits and pieces, its all or nothing), or else you'd just get logged off again as your Icon's damage monitor would still be 0.  You'd also still suffer from all the other associated penalties you might have accrued, such as from Dumpshock, or any Stun or Physical damage from Black IC or attack programs, if any.