There is a reason I mentally put Sammy on a different level than the others besides Snow, (besides knowing that farothel probably has a better handle on hacking than any of us
) she is very cognizant of her online presence and would find it difficult to go about her daily life without a Matrix presence. You are right, she
should be able to protect herself from this kind of nonsense, but she hasn't, and it has reached the point of conscious awareness, the usual protections aren't working and she can't figure out the problem. The public mourning over Christy Daee is not helping, the two are not connected, but they are causing the the same kind stress.
Real world example: Person with a car that uses it for work, they takes good care of it, but relies on the expertise of mechanics for anything serious. There is a catch in the ignition, still works but it takes a second to turn over and there is a new warning light. The free morning comes to take it to the shop, and the city is visited by the President so the traffic is complete gridlock.
Snow- Fixes it herself with some help from people she knows who are into cars.
Sammy- Struggles to find someone to help her or powers through the gridlock to get to the mechanic.
O'Conner- (to this point) Keeps driving, when the engine fall out of the car it is a real problem.
Clementine- Finds another way to work, or finds a new job.
Sam- Hasn't realized his car has warning lights.
The specific interference I mentioned earlier seems to have subsided when you and Sammy switch to your back-up links, Clem and O'Conner have not yet mentioned their difficulties to anyone as far as I know, and as I said, it can be a hazard of the Matrix age for the minorly hacking illiterate like them to have to deal with these issues like these.
I don't think it's minor hacking. I have a firewall 4 and analyse 6 which is constantly scanning everything on my commlink (I've given it the ergonomic option to avoid it using up too many resources). That should be more than enough to keep out script kiddies and things like that. I think I've put the script I used in the OOC at one time, but I'm not sure anymore (and not to mention where in that already insane amount of posts it will be ).
And while Sammy is not a hacker, she is aware enough of matrix security to keep her commlink secure. That has been drilled into her during her time in the spotlights in this city and contrary to most people, she actually listened to it.
What I have as active scanning on my commlink is like the script in Unwired p69, but it doesn't have to track, only warn me if there's an intruder.