Cyberpunk Radio - #119 - Ad Hoc Networks

Distributed mobile ad-hoc networks, going "Netless"; constructed
using small wireless devices with built-in storage. These devices,
worn by Faction operatives, swap data between other devices when
they are in close enough physical proximity. Rather than rely on
cell towers for connectivity, ad-hoc networks employs a large
amount of low power antennas scattered around a defined area,
relaying data within this mobile grid. The network authentication
and data transmission are encrypted; Deep Cyper making these ad hoc
networks relatively free from corporate and government monitoring
and control. The existence of cheap materials and components has
allowed a mass distribution of nodes, and their numbers are growing
exponentially. Hiding behind anonymous email and Web accounts, our
Factions put porn-addicted Internet users to work for them.
Specifically, these Factions, and the armies of computers they
control, pay in porn to decode the scrambled letters many Internet
sites now use to prevent computers from generating spam or signing
up for fake Web accounts that can be harvested for nefarious
purposes. Called "captcha," it's essentially a test that's easy for
a human to complete, but difficult or impossible for a computer to
do. So instead of wasting our own precious processing cycles trying
to descramble the jumbled letters, our Faction computers farm out
the work to the millions of round-the-clock porn users. One program
takes the form of a virtual stripper "game," in which a sexy avatar
offers to remove another garment for each "task" the player
completes. The user completes the captcha for the machine to plug
in at one location on the Internet, and at another like a chicken
head pecking at a knob, the human gets his pellet of porn.
Enterprise architecture: The god's-eye view of systems and
infrastructure. This effectively gives us a god's-eye view of an
enterprise, allowing for the mapping, visualization and analysis of
all transactions, interactions, systems, processes and personnel in
the entirety of a given business or agency. Our sophisticated
enterprise architecture software for example, examines all of the
transactions taking place across a financial institution in real
time and examine that data for possible money laundering operations
or rogue traders. Our software can also detect and identify insider
trading (such as that noted leading up to the 9/11 attacks in the
US). From the the White House to the FBI, FAA, and the boardroom of
Microsoft, IBM and ATT, some of the best-secured organizations in
the world, running the most protected servers housing the most
sensitive data welcomed a relatively secretive organization into
their midst. P-tech (a multi-layered cut out front for the Pluri
Media Group) was given keys to the cyber kingdom, to map the
weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and to show how these exploits
could be used for cyber terror. "Cyber attacks subsided over the
weekend and Web sites previously under siege were working normally
yesterday." Authorities were busy analyzing zombie computers that
had been infected with malicious code and had been the source of
the crude distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks. Little
did they know this was just another red herring used by Factions to
probe and analyze government and corporate cyber attack response
strategies. Asymmetric tactics and network-centric warfare-
information is our collective societal weapon of choice; software,
radio frequencies and bandwidth are critical commodities; control
of networks essential for effective propaganda delivery. The
foremost challenge for our operatives in this new battle space
environment is infiltrating command and control of the Information
infrastructure. Each of our Factions are nimble forces fielding
powerful formations equipped with cutting-edge technologies. We
will prevail and our global domination is assured.