Help - Hacking

Why hack?

There are a few reasons you might want to hack

Gain control of another player's device
Find out what another player's device is doing
Protect one of your own devices
Regain control of one of your devices someone else has hacked

How do I hack?

Click on device tab and find a device that is idle (online unassigned)
Click on the hack link next to that device
If there is no hack tech installed on the device you will have to follow the links to do that first
Click on the link to select a device to hack
Choose the device you want to crack. Note some devices you can not hack, for example those that are offline, or ones belonging to a player of a much lower rank, or ones controlled by a player that logged out a while ago.
Choose one of the hack technologies installed on the device. If possible, make sure the hack technology exploits one or more vulnerabilities possessed by the target device. To find out what those vulnerabilities are you have to run a spy hack - get into the habit of doing this before any of the other hack operations to gain intelligence that helps you plan your hack.
Choose a hack operation (see below)
Click on start hack
Wait for the hack to finish

What hack operations are available?

The following hack operations are available. Not all operations are available to all ranks, some are "unlocked" as you progress in rank.

Spy - the basic hack operation. Quick and most likely to succeed. Spy hacks tell you what technology is installed on the target device, who controls it and what it is doing.
Take control - the best of all. When a take control hack succeeds you gain control of the target device and can use it for your own purposes. To get it back the original controller will have to hack it back or force it offline (which will take up to 24 hours during which time you can use it)
Force offline. This hack is quicker and more likely to succeed than a take control hack and when it does so, the target device is knocked offline. The operation it was performing stops. Using a force offline hack is one way to regain control of one of your devices that someone else has hacked, because when a device goes offline is comes back under the control of its owner
Corrupting - a sneaky and advanced hack. If successful, the corrupting hack silently corrupts the operation that the target device was doing. To its controller the corrupted device appears to be functioning normally (e.g. still cracking an event, dropping on channels, hacking a device or performing adware operations) but really it has stopped working. Use this hack operation on a device that you have spied is performing useful work for an enemy. A corrupting hack performed on an idle (online unassigned) device will force it offline if it succeeds.
Guardian - a way to protect your devices. Setting up a guardian hack protects (rather than attacks) the target device. The guardian devices sits there watching the target device waiting for it to be attacked. If the target device is attacked the guardian springs into life and tries to force offline the attacking device. To make the guardian effective at detecting attacks, install "identity reveal" technology on it &/or the protected device.

Hack modification technology

From rank 8 detailed hack calculations are shown before you start a hack. Use this information to see the likely duration of the hack, whether it will succeed or not and so on.

The following types of technology can be installed on your device alongside the hack technology.

Hack Effectiveness. This technology makes the hack more likely to succeed.
Hack Speed. This technology makes the hack faster to complete.
Identity Suppress. This technology makes it harder for the controller of the target device (and its guardians) to detect your hack.
Identity Reveal. Use this technology on your guardians to make it easier for them to detect hacks on the protected device.

How do I protect my devices?

There are a few techniques for protecting your devices.

Force them offline. Offline devices can not be hacked. But they also can not perform useful work for you. You may consider forcing some or all of your devices offline when you logout of the game
Install only the necessary technology. A lot of technology contains vulnerabilities - reducing the technology installed will reduce the vulnerabilities.
Lease and install Hack Defence technology. This technology is specifically designed to reduce the likelihood of hacks succeeding.
Rename your device as soon as you know it is compromised. A player has to discover your device id before they can hack it. Normally they do this by cracking mail events that have your device id attached to them. For example every time system sends you a mail saying that your device has stopped dropping, or successfully cracked an event, etc, a mail is generated with your device id attached. If a player cracks it, they discover your device id and can hack your device. By renaming your device you prevent others from hacking it until they discover its new ID.
Use guardian hacks. At higher ranks the guardian hack operation becomes available (as described above). Use this hack operation to protect some of your devices.
Be careful who you annoy. You will soon discover that some players really do not like their devices being hacked. They may retaliate. Choose your enemies carefully!

Interference

If no one else is playing, including the controller of the device you are trying to hack, then you may feel you have estimated a winning hack. But any of the following may still stop you getting the result you want:

Your device could be hacked by someone else before it finishes
The controller of the device you are hacking could force it offline (for example if they detect your hack is in progress, or it is caught dropping a channel)
Someone else's hack of the same target succeeds before yours does (at that point all other hacks on the same target are stopped)

C1 Game, Liphook, Hampshire, United Kingdom