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Computer Operation (basic principles)

K

Kevyn

Inactive Member
Alright, this is something that came up in the discussion of the IES systems:

How the do the computers, particularly the megasystems like PANTHEON and the interNEP, operate, on the basic level? What's their file structure, their hierarchy, their strengths and weaknesses. How can they be hacked, how are they protected from hacking.

The RP appears to be in a position where we have two or more major player-controlled powers who at some point are likely to try and hack their opponent's system. When that finally rolls around, we need to know how to handle it.

Now, I know only generalities of the computer systems that we might be working with in the system, and I have no idea of how the various factions approach computer sciences. This is just an issue I've seen that needs to be addressed. I'll do some research on the subject, but I'm an archaeologist, not a computer engineer.
 
They are quantum computers. Instead of each bit of data being stored in a memory cell (a very simple structure composed of several transistors), the bits are stored by manipulating atomic or subatomic particles in a state of quantum indeterminacy / superimposition (quantum bits).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer
Although quantum computing is still in its infancy, experiments have been carried out in which quantum computational operations were executed on a very small number of qubits. Research in both theoretical and practical areas continues at a frantic pace, and many national government and military funding agencies support quantum computing research to develop quantum computers for both civilian and national security purposes, such as cryptanalysis.
Click to expand...

(Aside: I've had university-level training in both computer science and quantum mechanics. And this still makes my head hurt. Being able to sort of understand it does not help at all. :P)

In the SARP universe, the general structures, paradigms, and even design principles of such computer systems are probably beyond human comprehension. The technology in this setting is definitely post-technological-singularity. Humans have successfully engineered computers that are more sapient than themselves, and these computers have gone on to evolve by designing better and better versions of themselves.

So, yes, theoretically, you can hack a quantum computer... with an even more powerful quantum computer. Without that one essential piece of equipment, it is a task beyond human capabilities.
 
It's true that you need a powerful quantum computer, but... both sides have powerful quantum computers. And for that matter, that information seems to only account for brute force attacks. What about exploits in the system? It has been stated that PANTHEON at least, and likely the interNEP as well, are constantly updating and trying to improve their operating systems. Theoretically, there should be small loopholes and chinks left in the OS from this, yes?
 
If you turned the computers on each other, looking for such updates, yeah, maybe. But that's going to be rather obvious and probably accounted for very quickly.

A character couldn't do it by themselves. It would take the entire nation going to war or something. Which isn't going to happen.
 
I'm not so sure that we should rule out two of the star empires going to war. After all, you'd only need a carefully engineered diplomatic incident or two to lure the Nepleslians to war against Yamatai.

Unless the mods veto it, of course.

Getting back on topic, and trying desperately to ignore the urge to make this another debate on hacking IC, we have quantum based computers for the main network. That means massive bleeding encryption keys.

How is the actual network structured, not just it's individual elements? If it hasn't been done already, I'd like to try and make a hierarchy chart for the major networks, albeit a crude one.
 
From the top down:

PANTHEON-C (Central Node): Monitors and oversees operations. Does not execute external commands. Location: Yamatai, Hoshi no Iori.

PANTHEON: Computer hub. Location: Star Fortresses, major planets and cities.

KAMI (Military Only): Extremely high-end system for flagships and battleships. Overseer for military fleets.

MEGAMI (Military Only): High-end system for ships needing a lot of power.

WIES (Military Only): Standard warship system.

EIES (Military Only): Scaled-down version of WIES.

CIES: Small quantum computer for small ships and shuttles.

AIES: Power armor computer. Handy but not as well featured. Combat oriented.

Smaller Nodal Devices: Communicators, notebooks, etc.

I haven't fleshed out much of the civilian side of PANTHEON yet, but I am now looking at doing that.
 
There is Drei, which you can look up on the Wiki. This system is expanding to take over the needs of the Nepleslian Military and is a conglomeration of partially organic computer systems.

As far as the InterNEP goes it is just like the internet as far as I know. It is made up of numerous peices of old and new technology that have been networked together however this is subject to change. I don't think we've officially nailed down exactly what the InterNEP is outside of an information network.
 
Okay.

Now, how do the networks deal with intrusion? I get the impression that PANTHEON relies on the MEGAMI systems for counter intrusion, but what do the Neps have?
 
How would a MEGAMI react to an intrusion? I've probably seen it before, but I don't want to assume things that may have been changed.
 
I remember one time Wazu tried, and the MEGAMI's avatar physically stuck him in the face for it!

Anyway, there's several layers of defense:

- Firewall monitors incoming traffic. Malicious-seeming patterns of input are identified easily and can be ignored.
Bad commands can be cleaned and reported.

- Any (highly, highly unlikely) damage is compartmentalized. Other parts of a computer can fix it.

- Computers can call on their peers or higher echelons for assistance. The PANTHEON has tremendous power when working in a concentrated effort. A MEGAMI system will typically take over (or at least locate) the offender's computer.

- In an emergency, computers could be reloaded or rebooted.
 
Alright, so highly effective anti-intrusion countermeasures for the Yamataians.

Do they still use the old 'firewall of empty space' tactic to keep their really important information secure?
 
- Firewall monitors incoming traffic. Malicious-seeming patterns of input are identified easily and can be ignored.
Bad commands can be cleaned and reported.

- Any (highly, highly unlikely) damage is compartmentalized. Other parts of a computer can fix it.

- Computers can call on their peers or higher echelons for assistance. The PANTHEON has tremendous power when working in a concentrated effort. A MEGAMI system will typically take over (or at least locate) the offender's computer.

- In an emergency, computers could be reloaded or rebooted.
Click to expand...

If Megami is as sentient as we are, grounds for what we could only call psychological warfare very easily become prevalent. Techniques might be closer to those used on ants than those used on humans but I can very easily see luring Megami in with something that genuinely interests it or a next instruction block that has been corrupted in such a way that she can't detect the difference.

She executes the block and is exploited. A new process fork that begins that and she tries to reboot and compartmentalize the error. This hard-wires the new exploit into her neural network as the real payload was placed on the rebooting/compartmentalizing commands and it then becomes a self-re-enforcing loop that's so hard-wired in the base-psychology of Megami that it is unable to stop unless someone decides to switch her off, yank her memory cores and start her from scratch.

In about 30 minutes, you could effectively have root access and the whole thing could spawn through the networks: Light-years of computers turned into sleeper-agents completely unaware there's a back-door drilled into the backs of their psychological constructs at such a base level that to fix the problem, you have to start over.

The more complex any system is, the more problems are inherently left within it. No system is perfect and the more inputs/outputs/operations it performs, the wider the scope of vector of exploit. The problem is getting at the code to FIND the exploits to begin with, which is a bitch to do, since brute-force attacks are rendered useless by her ability to analyze traffic and the packets of information she acts as forwarder/proxy to.

I wouldn't call myself qualified in computer-science but malware will always be a problem, provided someone is motivated to create it, regardless of how advanced operating systems and software become.

This is especially true, considering how easy it is to exploit a human being (Look up a fellow called Derren Brown if you don't believe me. He has some video demonstrations of such trickery on the British, American, Canadiana and even some folks from new Zealand..)
 
MEGAMI computers don't execute external code. They make decisions based on what they see. So, rather than exploiting them, it's more a matter of altering their perception of reality.

Core code updates come from the top down, not peer to peer.
 
So it's just a matter of falsifying the right flags on your trojan. You make it look like an update coming from higher in the hierarchy. The MEGAMI executes it and then we're in Osakan's scenario.

It's because of this that most governments use firewalls of empty space. To whit, you can't hack into their systems remotely because they aren't attached to anything but an internal land-line network. You need to either be there in person to access one of their terminals or have someone attach a remote node to the physical system. But if you attach, for instance, the C&C for a missile silo to the net (to use a real world example) you'd end up with some hacker firing a missile at whatever simply because someone found the right combination of exploits, because there is no such thing as a perfect encryption.
 
Or just the right scrap of code. I'm not saying that it would be an easy deception, but it's a possible deception. And given the way that the MEGAMI work, a brute force attack would be infeasable. Rather, you would need to finesse it, which is hard but within the realm of possibility.

You're likely dealing with an exceptional individual to pull it. But the PCs are, by nature, exceptional individuals.

Once again, I am not saying that compromising PANTHEON, even to a small degree, is going to be a common occurrence. Far from it. It would be an astronomically rare event. But it can happen.
 
MEGAMI units being as they are, the unit could just not trust what she gets and ignore it.

A PC would still need the help of a quantum computer, I would think.
 
Kevyn said:
So it's just a matter of falsifying the right flags on your trojan. You make it look like an update coming from higher in the hierarchy. The MEGAMI executes it and then we're in Osakan's scenario.

It's because of this that most governments use firewalls of empty space. To whit, you can't hack into their systems remotely because they aren't attached to anything but an internal land-line network. You need to either be there in person to access one of their terminals or have someone attach a remote node to the physical system. But if you attach, for instance, the C&C for a missile silo to the net (to use a real world example) you'd end up with some hacker firing a missile at whatever simply because someone found the right combination of exploits, because there is no such thing as a perfect encryption.
Click to expand...
In the SARP, technology is such that high-end encryption is effectively perfect, though...

As stated before, MEGAMI computers don't execute external code. This means that when PANTHEON issues an update, the MEGAMI deduces PANTHEON's intent and then, if it is agreeable, creates its own version of the coding. If the core system's programming that is creating the updated code itself needs update, the computer must be accessed physically by Kessaku technicians.

What I meant, though, is that like all sentient beings, the MEGAMI computers can only base their decisions on the reality they perceive through their knowledge and their senses. By altering their view of reality, one could change the way they act.
 
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