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Splintered State Host Conundrum

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brantlymedders

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« on: <12-28-13/1832:12> »
I'm preparing to run phase 2 of Splintered State (the Brackhaven insertion), and I'm having a conundrum when dealing with the two hosts at Brackhaven Investments.  The files the PC's needs are stored on the data host, "which controls and monitors the thousands of financial data transactions that go into and out of Brackhaven Investments every few seconds."  However, this data host is stated to be inside a Faraday cage on the 10th floor.  I'm curious how, from a "making things make sense" perspective, is said host supposed to be isolated in a Faraday cage and still control all of that data, at least some of which has to come in wirelessly?

Am I trying to make things make too much sense, or is there something I'm missing?

martinchaen

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« Reply #1 on: <12-28-13/2152:10> »
Direct fiber optic connection? Basically just to prevent wireless hacking, necessitating jacking in. That's my guess anyway...

Kanly

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« Reply #2 on: <12-29-13/0606:55> »
The way I read it, it's not the whole Data Host on that caged server, it's just the data. The caged server is probably connected by wire to the Data Host. The Data Host itself is somewhere outside the cage, maybe not even in the same room etc.

firebug

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« Reply #3 on: <12-29-13/0956:04> »
The way I read it, it's not the whole Data Host on that caged server, it's just the data. The caged server is probably connected by wire to the Data Host. The Data Host itself is somewhere outside the cage, maybe not even in the same room etc.

That's prettymuch what I think.  The little server with the paydata inside it isn't the actual Data Host or the Security Host.  From what I understand, it's literally just a self-contained server that exists purely to hold that secret information in it.

If it were the data or security hosts that book mentions, it not being wireless wouldn't make sense.  My understand of a host is so things can be wireless, which for a company works better, is cheaper, and is much more convenient for workers (leading to better productivity).  Other things in the building are wireless as well, and because data transfer is a two-way street, putting it in a faraday cage and then having it connected via a wire to literally anything else defeats the purpose.  I mean, that's prettymuch what a data tap is--  A convenient way to just make a wireless connection to enter so you can follow it into a hardwired system.

The book sets it up like it's gonna be really hard once you're in, but...  It won't actually.  As I've stated, the thing must have no way to communicate to any other devices or else you could follow that connection into it without needing to wire yourself to it or even enter the building.  It also reacts to the mere presence of a persona with violent kill commands (as long as it notices you, even if you're doing nothing illegal, and as the core book states, having a mark on a host means you are now "allowed" to be there as far as the host and its IC are concerned) which further shows it can't be the data host.

So it can throw a fit and launch all the IC at you it wants.  You could use all the obvious Cybercombat things you want and rely entirely on Brute Force.  It has no way to alert anyone to your presence and the worst it can do if you're a decker is brick the fancy deck they gave you, which means you just go back to your actual one.  If you're a technomancer, you're in more danger, but you can also call a big ole' Level 12 Fault Sprite and tell it to go to town, probably one-shotting all the IC as they come up with its massive 15 Attack attribute and Data Spike.

« Last Edit: <12-29-13/1000:19> by firebug »
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brantlymedders

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« Reply #4 on: <12-29-13/1736:44> »
I'm thinking I am going to spin it as an "offline backup server" for the main data host.  Probably something along the lines of each day, backup images of the host's files are moved into the backup server in case the main server crashes/is compromised/catches fire/etc.

Elektrycerze3

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« Reply #5 on: <12-30-13/0311:23> »
Albeit nothing in the adventure tells us you don't generate OS while hacking that Host.
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firebug

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« Reply #6 on: <12-30-13/0910:45> »
Albeit nothing in the adventure tells us you don't generate OS while hacking that Host.

No, but being converged upon inside the host just means they send IC, which it's already doing, and all that's required to get rid of that OS is to reboot.  So you do that immediately after transferring the file to your deck before you even leave the host.
I'm Madpath Moth on reddit (and other sites).  Feel free to PM me errata questions!
Jeeze.  It would almost sound stupid until you realize we're talking about an immortal elf clown sword fighting a dragon ghost in a mall.