Access To A Ship's Internal Systems Via Hull Polarization Matrix?

[Thomas Kelvin]

I've been thinking that a ship might use some sort of modified energy beam (phaser, disruptor, etc.) to create an computer link between them and the other ship, using the hull polarization matrix as an access point. This would require that the other ship's shields are down, and possibly that their hull plating was polarized (although I suppose it could be activated by the energy beam). Thoughts?

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think that this seems like one for the Trek Tech forum...energizing.

 

[Timo]

We don't know if a "hull polarization matrix" interfaces with a ship's computers in any fashion (mere on/off switches controlled by the computer won't help there). Even if it did, we don't know how the computer is subdivided, and whether it's even theoretically possible to access the interesting bits by accessing the bits that control the characteristics of the hull.

However, I'm sure one could force oneself upon a ship's computer by directing some sort of an intruding beam at the victim ship's sensors or communications systems. The computers receiving input via those are no doubt massively fortified against such intrusion, but at least there is a computer connection there.

Trying to force access through a non-sensor, non-communicator element would be the sneaky way to go. But it might be too tricky for the usual adversaries to bother. Then again, some villains and heroes have used feedback in energy transfer beams or tractor beams to wreak havoc; the same pathways could probably be used for more subtle interference as well. Heck, even warp fields might be pathways to the computer for all we know, the systems monitoring the field shape being vulnerable to a sufficiently clever or violent feedback signal.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Thomas Kelvin]

Agreed, going through a system with indirect computer access would rather difficult (not something the Pakleds would be able to do), but it is going to be less fortified against intrusion. The hull polarizing system isn't a closed-off system because the computer still has to regulate it, so the idea is that someone could force their way into a ship's computer system through a weaker point of entry (and gain full access once they're in - maybe). The polarization matrices would just be another link in the chain, if that makes any sense.

 

[Timo]

A computer "regulating" a system doesn't mean the computer could be accessed via it. If the computer turns one dial up and down to regulate hull polarization, then the only thing you can do is force that dial to turn by itself - which won't cause much of a backlash in the computer, and won't help you with anything intricate. It's not as if you could manipulate the control computer of a wind generator today by yanking at the wings or anything, much less infiltrate a computer at the other end of the Web that is monitoring the power production curve of the generator.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Richard Baker]

Sounds a bit like a techobabble solution from an episode so it should work and probably just in time

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I've been thinking that a ship might use some sort of modified energy beam (phaser, disruptor, etc.) to create an computer link between them and the other ship, using the hull polarization matrix as an access point. This would require that the other ship's shields are down, and possibly that their hull plating was polarized (although I suppose it could be activated by the energy beam). Thoughts?

Technobabble plot devices are neither creative or original.

It sounds as if you're contemplating some ways in which one starship can compromise the security systems of another. A good place to start would be to look up techniques in REAL WORLD information warefare. Assuming your starship is equipped with an AI or an android or some kind of advanced computer system that can figure stuff out on its own, you're basically trying to launch some kind of DDoS attack on the enemy's computer system, which means you're going to want to spam subspace with a thousand different connection requests in your enemy's computing language and then listening for a response from an unsecured resource. There are probably efficient subroutines for doing this in the Trek universe. Maybe a Starfleet equivalent of the High Orbit Ion Cannon?

 

[DonIago]

I feel like I should note that something similar to this was already brought up in the ENT novels.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I feel like I should note that something similar to this was already brought up in the ENT novels.

The Romulans apparently had something like that in the Earth-Romulan War, yes. They could apparently hack any starship in seconds, turn off its weapons and shields, even turn its weapons against allied ships. This was supposed to explain why 100 years later TOS starships are using analog switches and magnetic tapes to run program codes and basically cannot be hacked unless someone is physically on the ship telekinetically pushing buttons (although it might neatly explain why in the 24th century it is possible to basically take over a starship's main computer just by randomly pushing buttons on any random lightswitch).

 

[Spot261]

Agreed, going through a system with indirect computer access would rather difficult (not something the Pakleds would be able to do), but it is going to be less fortified against intrusion. The hull polarizing system isn't a closed-off system because the computer still has to regulate it, so the idea is that someone could force their way into a ship's computer system through a weaker point of entry (and gain full access once they're in - maybe). The polarization matrices would just be another link in the chain, if that makes any sense.

Sounds i bit iffy, my central heating is computer regulated but you couldn't affect the software via the radiators, nor could you hack my cars onboard computer via the air conditioning

 

[David cgc]

Sounds i bit iffy, my central heating is computer regulated but you couldn't affect the software via the radiators, nor could you hack my cars onboard computer via the air conditioning

You'd think that, but it is possible. If you have a sensor that accepts any kind of input from an external source, bad input could be fed to it to confuse or co-opt the program. That's why many websites prevent you from using certain special characters in usernames or passwords, a ham-fisted way to prevent a "Bobby Tables" attack. The principle would be the same, except instead of slipping your code into a username, you'd write it in a hull integrity percentage report.

Let's say you're firing an energy beam at a ship's hull plating. The system is constantly reporting back it's status to the main computer, so if you patterned your beam in such a way that the ship's computer interpreted it as an instruction rather than data on the hull, it might give you a path into the rest of the system. Ideally, Starfleet would be smart enough to sanitize all sensor input, but it's always possible that there's a path you haven't closed off. That's the premise behind why networked computers were such a big deal in the remade Battlestar Galactica. They don't have to open up their wi-fi to the Cylons to be in danger. Bad data could be fed into the sensors or communications, and if they're connected to another system, that input might find its way into a place that isn't hardened against it and it can do some real damage.

While I was looking for a specific real-world example, I found one that actually does involve hacking a car through an unsecured sensor leading to the main computer, though it's the tire pressure and not the HVAC. That's not an exact analogue, since they're co-opting the sensor wirelessly rather than manipulating the computer by actually changing the pressure in the tires, but that's the principle.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

That's the premise behind why networked computers were such a big deal in the remade Battlestar Galactica. They don't have to open up their wi-fi to the Cylons to be in danger. Bad data could be fed into the sensors or communications, and if they're connected to another system, that input might find its way into a place that isn't hardened against it and it can do some real damage.

Minor point: if you go by Blood and Chrome and other tie-in sources, the deal with networked computers was that the cylons had the capacity to write malicious code on the fly and could adapt their attack methods to their enemy's defenses in real time. No human programmer was smart enough or fast enough to respond, so IF they found any weaknesses in your systems security they could do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Keeping the computers off-network was just a way of slowing them down; they often DID compromise colonial systems, but their effects were limited; say, shutting down two of the ship's eight main guns or turning off the halon systems on C-deck. Purging those systems and rebooting from a protected archive would solve that problem, so it was just a damage control issue.

It wasn't until the SECOND Cylon war that it became a real problem, and that was mainly because Baltar gave the Cylons access to the CNI navigation system. That system had been designed to basically automate the anti-cylon countermeasures so that a typical warship computer could stop their intrusions pretty quickly. But once they had inside knowlege of its security protocols -- and direct access to the Colonies' main defense computers -- they could load all kinds of interesting malware.

Moral of the story: there's only so much you can do attacking an enemy's network from the outside, and about the most you can usually do is stop him from using his own systems or slow them down to the point of handicapping his response times (DDoS attacks). Real damage requires insider knowledge and is best accomplished by espionage or by planting something directly in the enemy's system that can physically access his computers. The Star Trek example of this is definitely "Silent Enemy" where the bad guys actually BOARD the Enterprise and plant something in the cargo bay that takes over a chunk of their computer systems. Privately, I have to think the Xyrillians did something similar when they were leeching off the Enterprise's warp drive, maybe sneaking aboard and planting some backdoor codes in the main computer that let them transfer power from Enterprise to their ship (the malfunctions would be kind of hard to explain otherwise). But that's mainly because everything about the Xyrillians implies an inherently parasitic nature and I believe they are secretly one of the most insidious life forms Starfleet ever encountered.