Let's Play Uplink
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Chapter 3: Suck it, Governments
I've broken 13 grand!
Still not enough to buy the things I want. Back to the mission BBS I go!
Since I went up two ranks last chapter, there are new types of missions available to me!
I don't have the capabilities to do any of the social security missions yet. I need some pricey software first.
So, let's mess with someone else!
Time to up the stakes! No more random corporate espionage.
For now.
TO THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC DATABASE
Ooh, spooky!
You guys should put more security in this place.
The password crack is slow here, but the trace is even slower! I have like 5-10 minutes.
We're in! TO THE RECORDS
Here we are!
Now to make some changes.
Class 2 degree? More like Class 1 degree!
Now to commit and disconnect before I get caught.
Easy as pie, and I'm now 2700c richer!
Unfortunately, there's nothing left on the mission BBS but Social Security falsification missions. I don't have the software for them, so it's time to SPEED UP TIME
Hee hee.
More academic qualification missions!
I'm gonna go ahead and advance time more, get several missions at once.
If I get multiple, I can crack into the system once, and complete three missions!
Uplink Echeladder
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Intermediate
Confident
Novice
Beginner
Registered
There are starting to be a LOT of missions I can't complete on here! I'd better step up my game.
Since money is my major issue right now, I'm stepping into iffy territory - accepting missions I can't complete, and asking for half the money up front. I need to hit 40k!
Five desperate promises later, I reach my goal!
LET'S GO TO THE STORE
One of the two most important upgrades in the game: HUD_ConnectionAnalysis! The other is HUD_LANView, which I won't get for a while yet.
The other is Proxy_Bypass v5.0!
You may notice that I'm skipping a lot of versions! There's a simple reason for it - you can't sell software back to the store (if you could, you could make unlimited money with File_Copier). Buying something twice is wasted money, so I always buy the highest version if I'm going to need it again later.
Employer: Virutal Systems
Target: Social Security Database
Objective: Change Ed Cowell's personal status to 'Employed'
Payment: 4200c
This is the second government system I've targeted!
But I'm not going straight to the password cracker this time.
Connection analysis! There are two systems protecting this database.
The MONITOR is what nearly every system has - it's how they detect that I'm cracking their password and start tracing immediately. I can gain a lot of time by disabling it, but I don't have the software to do so.
The PROXY is a new line of defense! While it's active, even if I'm logged in, I can't edit any records in the database.
There are two ways to disable a Proxy - Proxy_Disable and Proxy_Bypass. Disable is much cheaper, but is also slow, and alerts any Monitor on the system. Bypass is instantaneous and silent.
I went for the snazzier one.
And the chase is on!
This is a damn slow password crack, and the SSDB is very good at tracing. I'm halfway through the password, and they're already two jumps into my chain.
Five by the time I'm in!
QUICK, TO THE RECORDS
EIGHT JUMPS, QUICK, CHANGE HIS STATUS
AND CUT THE CORD
Those always get uncomfortably close.
Now, I have more work to do.
This is the only situation where I don't start a chain with InterNIC!
That's because I'm connecting TO InterNIC.
Nothing! Not even a Monitor.
I love this system.
This place is actually useful in that you can look up the IPs of systems related to a company! But that's not what I'm here for.
TO ADMIN
Simple password security.
No Monitor means no trace, and the password never changes here once I've hacked it!
This is what I want! The access logs.
This machine has records of every connection I've bounced through it. As we speak, the Social Security people are slowly tracking back through the logs on all the machines I logged in on.
Time to shake them.
LOG_DELETER: One of the game's most important programs!
There are various levels of it, but I have the best one - it deletes the record completely, then moves all other records up to fill the empty space. It's completely untraceable.
Time to remove every time that I routed from my gateway to here to somewhere else!
It's important to get this just right.
I delete the log entry of my password being accepted, so that they can't prove that I had access to the logs. I DON'T delete the log statement saying I connected in the first place, because then there'd be an erroneous disconnection log when I left.
My tracks are perfectly covered.
Next time: The last of the grinding!
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