high tech vs low tech hacking

[DFW]

If he can do a little creative wiring or something similar to get a 'private' terminal then hacking becomes more feasible,

Nope. On the system I set up, there is nothing you could do to gain higher access unless you physically went to the server room. It is is extremely simple to set up such public access systems. People are currently used to REALLY bad architecture due to REALLY crappy backend design.

 

[hdan]

Remember that the starport is Imperial territory. There's a good chance that the local 'port systems will be TL12+ , even if the rest of the planet still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

Not only that but, 35 years ago I could have given you access to a dumb terminal on my network and you could have used TL 10 hand computer and you would NOT have gotten past the menu screen you were presented with...

I would if I could program my TL10 hand comp to whistle in 300 baud into your acoustic coupler.

I suppose this implies a guideline that you shouldn't be able to use tech-related tools more than a few TL outside of their intended range. You'd have the same problem trying to use modern automotive diagnostic machines with a car from the 1950's.

However, since Traveller is such a technologically diverse setting, it seems likely to me that machines manufactured by the megacorps would be capable of dealing with a wide range of TL considerations. A TL12+ LSP handcomp designed for starfarers would probably have ways of dealing with lower tech computers and machine interfaces, at least if they were manufactured at the local TL under license.

For truly "home grown" tech or alien originated tech you would need to do some fancy electronics and programming work.

(Hey, maybe that's why "alien tech" is illegal on some world - the local authorities don't want to run the risk of criminal organizations getting effectively "uncrackable" security. Or at least they want some extra laws to throw at criminal organizations which *do* use that technology. A particularly detail oriented and evil Referee could have company controlled worlds that consider anything not made under license from their parent company to be "alien tech".)

 

[DFW]

I would if I could program my TL10 hand comp to whistle in 300 baud into your acoustic coupler.

Made my 1st online purchases with one of those ~'82.

 

[hdan]

I would if I could program my TL10 hand comp to whistle in 300 baud into your acoustic coupler.

Made my 1st online purchases with one of those ~'82.

Nice. I only used mine for FidoNet stuff.

 

[hobgoblin]

Computer rating acts as a limiter on the software rating, so a sufficiently advanced computer running a equally advanced intrusion program will overpower a less advanced computer. Funny thing tho is that Traveller have the security software effect increase by 2 at each increment (0,-2,-4,-6) while the intrusion software is linear with rating.

edit: btw, there is a bit about hacking in the agent book as well.

 

[Mithras]

That +2 is the kind of modifier I would have used. Thats what these numbers are for, in my opinion. TLs, computer ratings and so on, giving the GM an ability to rate technologies and provide decent modifiers based on those ratings. Speeds up play.

 

[E.D.Quibell]

If he can do a little creative wiring or something similar to get a 'private' terminal then hacking becomes more feasible,

Nope. On the system I set up, there is nothing you could do to gain higher access unless you physically went to the server room. It is is extremely simple to set up such public access systems. People are currently used to REALLY bad architecture due to REALLY crappy backend design.

Unix, VMS or something else? Because Unix had holes the size of busses you could drive through to gain root via the terminal.

Best regards,

Ewan

 

[DFW]

something else?

RSX with custom set up & mods.

 

[GypsyComet]

custom set up & mods

That's the kicker right there. Doesn't really matter what the system is, in a Traveller context. The hardware and software could have started out bog standard Vilani with a tech spec three thousand years old, but if the local admins have a clue and a tradition of dealing with snooping offworlders, all the backdoors will be closed, access points either under locally sourced encryption or behind an air gap, and under the administration of a paranoid with random but periodic urges to change passwords, routing, and as much else as they can reach.

Miss any of those details, however, and the right snooping offworlder, or the guy behind him, will be equipped to own your network. Possibly without you ever realizing it.

 

[Greg Smith]

DFW, just think what Alan Turing could have done with a laptop in hut8 !!!

It would definitely be smaller tham the Bombe!

I went to Bletchley Park just the other day!

 

[DFW]

Miss any of those details, however, and the right snooping offworlder, or the guy behind him, will be equipped to own your network. Possibly without you ever realizing it.

Not really. A person could have had an RSX computer. Wouldn't have helped them at all. The only way "in" is through physical access to the server room.

Staring with the rainbow series is a good place to start learning the needed theory before you touch a system. Giving someone access to important systems be able to hack around is the 1st mistake.

 

[GypsyComet]

That's the "air gap" I mentioned (and the clue, for that matter). It's an effective step, but not always practical for networks. The more people or geographical area a network serves, the harder it is to make air gaps work, and the harder it is to secure the network in general.

 

[DFW]

That's the "air gap" I mentioned (and the clue, for that matter). It's an effective step, but not always practical for networks. The more people or geographical area a network serves, the harder it is to make air gaps work, and the harder it is to secure the network in general.

I don't know. My network scaled to thousands. It depends on what system you are using. Don't even think about windows or linux. Toys for kids.

 

[E.D.Quibell]

That's the "air gap" I mentioned (and the clue, for that matter). It's an effective step, but not always practical for networks. The more people or geographical area a network serves, the harder it is to make air gaps work, and the harder it is to secure the network in general.

I don't know. My network scaled to thousands. It depends on what system you are using. Don't even think about windows or linux. Toys for kids.

I'm not an RSX guy myself, and I'm too young for the PDP-11s (VAXs was where I started Unix and VMS), but I would expect that it was vunerable, most multitasking enviroments are, especially if you were serving a user base of thousands, which seems extremly large for a PDP-11. I mean they wrote Windows NT from RSX, and they are still finding vunerabilites in that even now it's called Windows 7

Best regards,

Ewan

 

[hobgoblin]

custom set up & mods

That's the kicker right there. Doesn't really matter what the system is, in a Traveller context. The hardware and software could have started out bog standard Vilani with a tech spec three thousand years old, but if the local admins have a clue and a tradition of dealing with snooping offworlders, all the backdoors will be closed, access points either under locally sourced encryption or behind an air gap, and under the administration of a paranoid with random but periodic urges to change passwords, routing, and as much else as they can reach.

Miss any of those details, however, and the right snooping offworlder, or the guy behind him, will be equipped to own your network. Possibly without you ever realizing it.

And i think this can be described via a higher security package and the DM modifier it provides.

 

[GypsyComet]

To some extent. All of the security measures described do not apply to the same task unless you really blur it all together beyond the realm of most RP. In most cases, the measures described are going to add difficulty DMs to the hack itself (Comp), access (Intrusion/Stealth/Forgery), and pre-job scoping (Investigation), potentially all while avoiding the notice of a high Law Level (Admin and/or Advocate), suspicious sysadmins (Carouse), and other random factors. What the TL adjustment is going to help with is just the Comp tasks, really.