8.4.4 Hacking
So you want to hack the commsphere huh, get into places you shouldn't? Breach firewalls to read files you're not allowed to? Post 'HACKED' on your friends Flogger account? Change your boss's access credentials to "I'm a kithlicking flakkhead"?
Well, tough daka, because you're gonna basically be an idiot at commsphere breaching no matter what you do at first. You have to learn this stuff by doing, let me repeat that again, but more noticeably:
YOU HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO HACK BY ACTUALLY HACKING AND MANAGING TO DOMINATE A SYSTEM, THERE IS NOT ANY OTHER WAY. YOU WILL NOT LEARN ANYTHING FROM FAILURE IN THIS DOJOSPHERE.
THERE ARE NO TEACHERS HERE, NERD.
There's no manual, there's no scripts to download. The commsphere security systems update too fast to be subverted by premade software. Your only option is brute force tactics, a little intelligence, some luck and determination, and oh flakk, will you need alot of determination.
Starting Out
So you start out not really knowing anything more than how to infect ICE - that's Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics for those of you who hate acronyms - and the hacker "community" at large considers you a Neophyte, which is a polite term for "flakking noob". Hacking to you at this level is basically kithcraft.
You will learn how to use more complicated functions as you progress, because as was said before, the commsphere's counter-intrusion measures are constantly evolving, so you are not going to be just handed a suite of killer hacks and be good to go. And don't go believing anyone who says they have them, either! Cause they flakking don't!
So here's the long winded version of the hacking process:
Start's pretty simple, find a terminal, make sure no one official looking is lurking nearby and simply HACK TERMINAL to start the process with your mindsim. You'll get a grid view of the directory, and the filled in square is where you are and the not filled in squares are where you are not. Congratulations, you just entered the directory of some network you do not have permission to be in. You're not done though, and you probably have more questions. So let us begin.
You've got this GigaOps monitor visible while in the grid. This isn't your "health" per se, so much as GigaOps is a combination of your firewall protections, processing power and time remaining before getting caught in the system.
No, these are not seperate things.
No, you cannot upgrade them with store-bought gear.
No, you cannot increase them with training at a gym or something like that. It's not a statistic like some game you played in your basement with your friends.
You get better by doing better, by winning.
Sometimes you have more Ops, sometimes you have less. It all depends on the system you're trying to breach and how badly the person, organization or security AI wants you to stay out versus how much you know about intrusion processes and networks and how adept your knowledge about your software limitations has become.
This is dictated by the security level of the terminal when you PROBE the TERMINAL.
Professional tip here: the security level of the terminal does not correllate to your rated level of hacking software. In layman's terms, a security level 16 terminal does not mean you need to be hacking level 16 to beat it. It's just an indication of the difficulty, nothing more nothing less. You can have level 20 hacking software and
periodically get your digital ass spanked by a level 2 security system. It happens. It's embarrassing and you should not talk about it, but it happens.
So, back on GigaOps.
You lose GigaOps just persisting in the network.
This is cause the system you are penetrating is passively trying to remove you, and you're also burning Ops just so they don't IMMEDIATELY know where you are and who you are and send some mouth-breather jacked up on zhubeast growth horomones to introduce your head to your lower colon and make abstract art out of your vascular system.
You lose GigaOps moving around. This is because movement is traffic in the network. Unusual traffic causes undue attention, so you spend Ops to keep yourself from being immediately caught, and getting a visit from jacked-up mouth breather.
You lose GigaOps attacking ICE that you find lingering in the network directories. This is because you're burning processing power to delete these ICE from the directory.
Again, mouth breather prevention.
You lose GigaOps getting attacked by ICE. Mouth breather reason again.
The standard ICE you'll run into are:
Antivirus
Normal run-of-the-mill antivirus software, probably store-bought. Nothing crazy, but definitely problematic in groups and not always running alone.
Replicating Antivirus
These suck. They rapidly duplicate themselves overwhelming your intrusion efforts through sheer numbers, and while the duplicates are weak - you can probably break them with one or two injections of a basic infection routine - the original replicator is a little tougher to crack than its copies.
Polymorphic antivirus.
The hacker community isn't sure how these are a threat. The consensus currently is they're supposed to shift and become harder to kill or recompile themselves - essentially regenerating - and be difficult to remove. In practice however, all they do is reconfigure themselves to be really easy to delete. Delete them and laugh.
Firewalls.
These come in static and mobile versions. Mobile ones will move around (obviously), but not very far or very fast. These could be your primary target when starting out, since they don't fight back. Occasionally when you breach one of these, you'll get some Ops back. Not always though.
Scanners
Flakk these things. They do not attack by themselves, however they will actively summon any ICE from nearby directories to come and have them terminate your connection with rapid effectiveness. They can be jammed, but first you need to know how to do that. If you do not know how to do this, get out of that directory and keep moving. The Scanner does not just bring all the ICE to you, it also briefly tags you in the system and the ICE it summons will chase you through the network for a bit. Try not to get stuck.
Honeypots
This ICE is designed to trap you, make you get stuck. When you get into a directory with one, you will find yourself unable to leave that directory until you've destroyed the honeypot. Sometimes these are alone, sometimes they are not. Does not attack on its own, but it also is slightly more resistant to infection. Take it down quick if there's a Scanner or you are going to be in trouble.
Sometimes when you decompile these, you get Ops back. So they're usually worth squashing anyway.
Glitches
These aren't ICE per se, but they help the network and these are NOT on your side, so they count as ICE. Glitches are, as you may have guessed, glitches in the network you are currently trespassing in. While they do not attack you, they can cause the system to malfunction, which in turn causes the network to rollback a few seconds as a recovery operation and "resurrect" the last ICE you just tore apart. So take them out too. Comes in mobile versions too, so that's fun.
Unlocking the Array
The processing array holds root access privileges to whatever the network is connected to and is your ultimate target. Your intrusion software cannot infect or overwrite the array, it is just too much for your software to do. You need to get the password. The ICE you destroy getting to the array will sometimes have bits of the root access password in their code when you destroy them, but not always, and some are more likely to have it than others. Firewalls in particular.
Sometimes though, you just have to guess. You could destroy every single ICE in the network, purge every single directory and you could still be two or three letters short of a full password.
Just how it is.
Once you have obtained the password, or have a pretty good guess as to what it is, get to the directory with the array and UNLOCK it with the password. You will now have access to whatever the terminal was connected to for however long it takes the administators to realise they have been breached and change the password.
Failure
Failure IS an option and a harsh reality of starting out in your hacking "career". Sometimes you'll have a streak of wins and dominate every network you come across, sometimes you will wonder if you are just dumb or especially inept at slicing your way through terminals. This is normal, even the best hackers still fail from time to time. Just keep trying, as long as you do not hear alarms and stomping feet rapidly approaching your location, you should be fine. Unless you just fried your brain, in which case, welcome to your new body.
Everyone's been revoked from a network cause they guessed CRAFTER instead of DRAFTER at least once.
No, the passwords don't make sense. Sometimes they're even really lewd, perverted, derogatory or just outright bizarre.
So that's pretty much the long version of the whole affair. Remember, this stuff is ILLEGAL in most subsectors and faction spaces so don't go around bragging about it. Oh, and before you go thinking that you are somehow "magically teleported into another plane of existence" like you're some thong and blanket wearing fantasy adventurer. You're wrong.
Your fleshy meatsack of a body is left completely vulnerable and helpless while you're doing this cause hacking takes a great deal of mental processing power to do, and that's literal. So hack responsibly.
HELP HACKING LOCATIONS has some basic low-sec terminals you can try out, provided you can find them. There are others, but it is up to you to find them. Though most likely some generous soul has collected all the locations of any terminals and put them in a helpful file on your faction servers. Cause apparently that's totally normal.
Here are some low-sec, low-traffic places you can find some terminals to practice on. Exact coordinates left out cause there's been enough help in this file, you are going to have to look elsewhere if you need more.
Level 1 hacking terminals:
- At the bottom of a drain in the Litharge Subnet
- Between Bikman Circle and the Commercial District in Haven City
- Corwin's Flood in Biloxan
- Sundock Spaceport in Ostari
- The Bizarre Bazaar in Lowtown
- On the way into the Dregs in Litharge
- Raphite Towers in Litharge
- Finesse in Song City
- Oracle Apparel in Song City
Level 2 hacking terminals:
- Techdustry District in Biloxan
- On a road in Whittler's Hollow
- The Silverdyne Talent Agency on Solace
- New Horizons Leasing in Haven City
- The Crater Casino in Oldtown
- A medical building in the Undercity
- The glittering, neon-lit entrance to the Verge in Song City
- Quickmark Pawn in Song City
