Mindware Hacking

Pods, synthmorphs, and some bots, vehicles, and biomorphs are equipped with cyberbrains. This technology enables transhuman egos to sleeve into and control these forms. Under the hood, cyberbrains are specialized hardware (hosts) for running an infomorph’s digital mind-state. The drawback to both cyberbrains and infomorphs is that they can be hacked, just like any other electronic device.

Preconditions

To hack a cyberbrain, you must be able to access the cyberbrain itself. Most cyberbrains are linked to mesh inserts and slaved to the user’s PAN, meaning they can be wirelessly accessed by hacking the PAN first. Cyberbrains are also equipped with access jacks on the exterior of the morph, so if you have physical access to the morph, you can plug in and access via a wired connection. If the subject is not willing or incapacitated, you must first successfully grapple the target.

To hack an infomorph, you must know its mesh ID and have access to its home device. This may mean you must first hack the device the infomorph is running on.

Encoded Security

Because they run an ego, cyberbrains and infomorphs feature hardcoded security measures; apply a −30 modifier to all hacking attempts.

Mindware Subversion

Once a cyberbrain or device running an infomorph has been infiltrated, it may be subverted just like other systems. Since such mindware contains an ego, however, an intruder has several unique options.

All of the actions below require winning a Hacking Test.

Trap Ego

As an intruder, the first action you may wish to take will be to install a lockbox app. This malware traps the ego/infomorph within the cyberbrain/device, preventing it from transferring to a new system. Lockbox malware also locks the ego/infomorph out of its root admin controls, effectively cutting it off from countermeasures or other defensive actions. The only mesh actions a lockboxed mind may take depend entirely on what permissions, if any, you give it.

Egos trapped within a lockbox are quite vulnerable. They could, for example, be subject to enforced uploading, simulspaces, forking, or psychosurgery. Egos trapped for extended periods may suffer stress from helplessness (Stressful Situations).

Control Ware (Cyberbrain)

As Control Ware.

Copy Ego

You can copy the source code of an infomorph resident in a cyberbrain/device. This counts as an inactive backup file of the ego, though it may be run as an infomorph on a host or server. The “forknapping” of infomorphs from compromised systems by criminal interests remains an ongoing problem in the inner system. Some infomorphs come equipped with a copylock app; this applies an additional −30 modifier (cumulative with the infomorph’s −30 encoded security modifier) to copy attempts.

Delete Ego

Deleting an ego is the digital equivalent of murder — or at least property destruction. This has no effect on the infomorph’s backup files (which must be deleted separately) or the morph’s cortical stack.

Freeze Morph (Cyberbrain)

The connection between a cyberbrain and the morph it resides in can be temporarily blocked or permanently severed. This usually causes the morph to freeze in place (a safety feature for cyberbrain glitches), though it may cause the morph to collapse. In either case, the morph is incapacitated. An ego trapped in an incapacitated morph for extended periods may suffer mental stress from helplessness (Stressful Situations).

Mindhack Ego

You can mindhack the ego within using psychosurgery. All of the psychosurgery procedures are an option, from interrogation to altering memories or personality traits. Since psychosurgery takes time and specialized software, this is usually reserved for targets that are somehow captured and restrained (forknapped, trapped within a lockbox, physically incapacitated, etc.).

Modify Meshware

Any known meshware installed in an infomorph or cyberbrain may be removed or deactivated. Likewise, new meshware may be installed.

Modify Sensory Input (Cyberbrain)

You can modify the sensory inputs from a morph to its resident cyberbrain. Blocked senses will simply stop functioning until re-enabled. Recorded sensory input may be fed into the cyberbrain instead, replacing either a single sense or the whole sensorium (the same as XP). Unless the sensory input was previously recorded from that morph, such injected sensory inputs are easy to recognize as artificial (Perceive Test at +30). It is also possible to feed contradictory sensory input into the cyberbrain, invoking severe synaesthesia with the intention to distract or confuse; apply a modifier between −10 and −30 (hacker’s choice). Prolonged exposure to hostile sensory input should be treated as torture psychosurgery and may inflict mental stress.

Puppeteer (Cyberbrain)

Morphs with puppet sock implants may be remotely operated, just like a bot (Remote Operations). If the resident ego is not locked out with a lockbox app, it may fight attempts to puppet the morph as an automatic action — you may likewise counter the ego's attempted actions. Make an opposed test pitting the ego’s WIL Check against your Interface skill. If the opposer wins, no action is taken. Morphs with locked-out cyberbrains may still be puppeted. If the cyberbrain is shut down, however, no puppeting is possible.

Scorch Ego

Direct access to an infomorph/cyberbrain ego opens the possibility for types of attacks that are normally infeasible due to strict content filtering. You conduct such attacks using scorchers — hostile apps that employ damaging neurofeedback routines.

Shutdown

Cyberbrains and infomorphs may be deactivated, just like other systems (Reboot/Shutdown) — this includes hard shutdowns. If a cyberbrain is shut down, its morph will freeze in place or collapse. Shut down morphs may not be puppeted.

Tap Senses

As Tap Senses.

Terminate Cortical Stack Feed

The cyberbrain feeds backup data to the cortical stack. This is a one-way connection, so the cortical stack itself may not be hacked, but the transfer of data may be cut off. Likewise, an infomorph’s ongoing updates to its inactive backup files may be terminated. This can be done for a temporary period or it can be indefinitely severed. A restored backup will be missing memories from the period when the feed was terminated.

Sideways Egonapping

[SECURE SESSION ESTABLISHED]

H: Hey, are you there? I’ve got something for you. Something you’ll like.

S: ID plz

H: [Enable Access to Social Network Profile]

S: Hey lady, I didn’t recognize you without that battlemorph.

H: Quit fucking around. We need to meet, like, yesterday. It went off. I got the stuff.

S: No dice. Haven’t you heard? You’re persona non grata around these parts. Your little job for BG kind of hung your ass out to dry.

H: You mean the job you set up for me? The one I’m trying to offload on your dumb ass? Don’t tell me you’re not going to help me unload this shit! I’m walking around with a dozen illegally forked egos here!

S: Would you let me fucking finish? I can’t meet you. BG’s the maddest I’ve ever seen him. He doesn’t want to be associated with you or this job at all, so getting the forks to him is a no-go. Check your g-rep, Lulu, you're getting hammered.

H: Well, shit.

S: Yeah, that’s one way of putting it. Now look, I want to help you, but I need to know what happened so we can cover our tracks, alright? How many did you get?

H: Lucky thirteen. All the finest forks slipped out of Mars’s finest glitterati brains, ready for whatever nefarious purposes their buyer has in mind. Like BG.

S: You’re one sick shit, Lulu. I like that about you. Look, you need to understand that the buyers I have in mind aren’t exactly BG’s caliber here. You need to know that before moving forward.

H: Do I have much of a choice at this point?

S: No.

H: Fine then. So where do we meet? These things are burning holes in my morph in the worst possible way.

S: Tell me how the job got so fucked up, Lulu. You’re supposed to be the best forknapper in V-NS.

H: You know how it goes. You get in, the security turns out to be something different than what the intel shows, and all of a sudden you’re making stuff up on the fly.

S: What, like guards with shotguns? Dogs? Dogs with shotguns?

H: Shut up. I mean adaptive security algorithms. The marks all used the same mesh security service, and intel was it was out of date. Turns out not so much.

S: So when did they find out who you were?

H: Well, the backup facility had wireless-inhibiting walls, so I had to be on site to pull the hack off. Sorta. I did this old-school, ripped their external sensors and drilled through the wall from the alley outside, snuck a bot through with a fiberoptic tether to establish a link. I got the egos you asked for, but their security was on me fast. They must've traced me back, their security hacked my morph's cyberbrain as I was finishing the job. They were so eager to stop the download that he didn't lock me in — big mistake. I evacuated the morph and got away.

S: At least you lost the morph. So what went wrong with the dropoff?

H: I've been trying to figure it out. No way they got anything from the morph. But I have a theory, based on some things I've heard. It's not hard for them to crosscheck patterns of intrusion against previous hacker practices, not to mention the fact that the last couple of jobs I’ve done for BG weren’t exactly low profile. Their machine-learning algorithms are trained to look for those patterns, right? Ophelia is good at hiding my tracks, but she’s not that good. That's the only explanation I have for how they showed up, screwed the dropoff, and nabbed Mel.

S: That's not encouraging. If they have a profile of your habits, they could still be on your tail.

H: I know, that's why I've been mixing everything up. And that's why I need you to set up a new way for me to offload these egos.

S: OK, here’s what we’re going to do. You remember Ralph's? That old coffee bar in Progress? The one with the overroasted beans they claim are a pure Earth strain? Let’s meet up there and talk. Just you and me and the coffee.

H: I don’t think you’re reading me here. I want to offload it, not talk about offloading it.

S: One meeting on Progress, we’ll go from there. And you stash the shit someplace safe. And you sure as fuck don’t tell me or anyone else where, alright?

H: Fine. See you there, noon tomorrow, that old table near the back. I’ll wear a red scarf.

S: Always the traditionalist. I respect that about you, Lulu. See you.

[SESSION ENDED]

[SECURE SESSION ESTABLISHED]

S: She’ll be there. Get the team ready.

BG: Thx.

[SESSION ENDED]