From: | Tzeentch tzeentch666@*********.net |
---|---|
Subject: | The Matrix: Jackpoints (Gearhead) |
Date: | Sat, 4 Dec 1999 11:27:22 -0800 |
> >actually, when I go to work (for an ISP), I just plug my laptop's
ethernet
> >adapter into thier switch and that puts me live on the internet. No
account
> >or validation. I always assumed that deckers would go to a phone company
> >switch (which by 2060 would be all matrix stuff), break open the casing
and
> >plug themselves in. effectivly putting their system live on the matrix.
Yo
> >u might need to do a little research (or bribery) to determine what sorta
> >addressing you need to use...
>
> Two points I was striving to make. ;)
>
> From someone who's had his share of cracking open telco boxes... ;)
Bad boy! Phreakin' is for kids dontchaknow.
Well that does bring up some very good points, not all of which I could see
a GM liking. Smart players could use this to be pretty much untracable. So
their jackpoint is traced? Big deal.
In the Barrens and other combat zones/abandoned areas you might not be able
to be assured that the links are Matrix-aware any more then you can expect
all phone switches and and connections to be digitial in poor and rural
areas today. They may even be using 1990 era copper lines to route Matrix
traffic! Plus in seedier neighborhoods those little green boxes of love may
be targets for demolition by your local gangers. So they might be placed
underground, accessable through a locked manhole.
Either the decker can sit at the PAD and jack in like a beige box, run a
fiberline to a point away from the terminal, or for the really savvy attach
a receiver to the open line so he can communicate through it via a
cell-link.
Even if the trace is successful guess what? They will trace it to whatever
poor chummer was using the port the decker stole. So the decker could still
be hacking while Lone Star breaks into the house of Stuart J. Citizen
looking for nefarious hacking activities (hilarity ensues). If he was using
a cellink then he's even safer then using a satlink, and it does not even
require hacking any satellite transponders!
Other uses of this nefarious method are listening in to matrix traffic to
that port, switching the cables around so that the connections are different
(essentially switching phone numbers) and making prank phone calls to the
local SK office asking if they Lofwyr in a can.
Countermeasures would be moving the boxes underground, locking them with
alarms (done now), checking the boxes periodically (done anyways for routine
maintenance), and possibly an alarm if someone removes cables without
authorization. Another one is that successful traces notify the telco
company and they lock out that port from their central offices (takes X
additional turns unless you were hacking a telco system).
Of course an argument could be made that PADS are not necessary
anymore/something else is used etc. But the idea has worked for almost 100
years now and it would work just fine in the future. Especially since not
everyone will have fiber right to the home (the infamous "last mile") and
the PADS will connect to fiber trunks. It's a cost thing chummers.
Ken
PS: If you start going off-topic for the thread title PLEASE CHANGE THE
SUBJECT TITLE. It's really annoying to be following this Matrix thread and
then see posts on book bindings.