Should Boimler or any ensign, have access to "Personal Logs"?
I kinda agree with Commander Cockins that it's a potential security risk that "Personal Logs" are accessible by any ole "Ensign" or just about anybody.
What's your take on the issue?
Spoilers Big Holodeck Security Problems in Lower Decks? - Debate
- Thread starter Kamen Rider Blade
- Start date
Should Boimler or any ensign, have access to "Personal Logs"?
I kinda agree with Commander Cockins that it's a potential security risk that "Personal Logs" are accessible by any ole "Ensign" or just about anybody.
What's your take on the issue?
Starfleet uses 6 digit numeric passwords for the remote admin console, and a copy of every starfleet's ship has that list of passwords accessible within seconds from at least the science officer's console, for some reason, so it is clear they also never change. You can hack an entire space station by moving chips in and out of their slots a few times. They could use some more robust security.
I concur.
May I suggest that the thread have a spoiler tag added? Given the nature what Boimler learns at the end of "Crisis Point," IMO there's little point in even having the discussion, if we can't discuss the spoiler content, since it relates directly to the OP question.
Done.
As for the question posed by the OP: Personally, I didn‘t have a problem with how they portrayed Boimler being able to simulate the Cerritos crew on the holodeck. We‘ve seen other instances in the past where something similar was done as well, especially on Voyager, where Tuvok did basically the same thing in “Worst Case Scenario”.
And then again, I don‘t spend too much time thinking about the real world implications of what they are doing in the show, since it‘s a comedy. The idea of the show is to take what the other shows have done and give it a humorous spin.
I don't see how this even touches upon security. So each ship has an ID code? Police cruisers have that, too, painted on and all; Starfleet's is at least secret from the public.
Whatever security there is would be independently of that, and there's no reason Kirk shouldn't be entitled to doing what he does, after it has been verified Kirk is Kirk. And Starfleet systems are always verifying that the user is the user, in all sorts of ways of which voice recognition is the one evident to the user.
The actual problem there is the ability to fool voice recognition, and then be done with the break-in. Not only can a sufficiently good imitator like Data do that, but a mere recording of a few keywords suffices in, say, DS9 "Tribunal".
Timo Saloniemi
Thank you, @Michael, for opening things up for spoilers.
What created the conditions in "Crisis Point" holo-movie for the disclosure of the private information that Mariner is Captain Freeman's daughter was Mariner's simulated death coupled with the accuracy of the character simulation. Apparently the real Carol would likely have delivered such a eulogy for her daughter under similar conditions, ergo the simulated Carol did too. Until that point in the holo-movie, the norm was maintained wherein the characters kept the information private.
P.S. The holo-movie was also a conceived by Mariner as a repurposing of Boimler's job interview simulation. So, it's not out of the question to consider whether it was easier to gain authorization for the computer to construct accurate crew member simulation for the originally intended narrow purpose than it would have been for the more open-ended simulation that might create conditions leading to the disclosure of private information. In other words, it might potentially be the case that Mariner's hijacking and hacking of Boimler's program provided additional conditions necessary for the disclosure of the private information. For example, perhaps Mariner used a software backdoor to illicitly transfer the authorization that Boimler had been able to get to her own more radically therapeutic program.
This was my thought.
What created the conditions in "Crisis Point" holo-movie for the disclosure of the private information that Mariner is Captain Freeman's daughter was Mariner's simulated death coupled with the accuracy of the character simulation. Apparently the real Carol would likely have delivered such a eulogy for her daughter under similar conditions, ergo the simulated Carol did too. Until that point in the holo-movie, the norm was maintained wherein the characters kept the information private.
P.S. The holo-movie was also a conceived by Mariner as a repurposing of Boimler's job interview simulation. So, it's not out of the question to consider whether it was easier to gain authorization for the computer to construct accurate crew member simulation for the originally intended narrow purpose than it would have been for the more open-ended simulation that might create conditions leading to the disclosure of private information. In other words, it might potentially be the case that Mariner's hijacking and hacking of Boimler's program provided additional conditions necessary for the disclosure of the private information. For example, perhaps Mariner used a software backdoor to illicitly transfer the authorization that Boimler had been able to get to her own more radically therapeutic program.
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In other Trek, it seemed like the level of access the public had to personal logs varied depending on plot needs. For instance, K'Ehleyr could not access Worf's personal logs that would explain why he accepted discommendation, because if she could then there would be no need for her to confront Duras with her suspicions and get murdered. But it also seems that there were times when crew members were able to access the personal logs of others when they needed to.
In any event, Crisis Point makes it clear that Boimler cracked something that Freeman wanted to keep private, and he did so without putting any particular effort into seeking that particular bit of information. There's no particular reason to think that Boimler is better at hacking than the next person, so it's sort of a scary thought what someone more talented or malevolent could accomplish.
In any event, Crisis Point makes it clear that Boimler cracked something that Freeman wanted to keep private, and he did so without putting any particular effort into seeking that particular bit of information. There's no particular reason to think that Boimler is better at hacking than the next person, so it's sort of a scary thought what someone more talented or malevolent could accomplish.
Yeah, but I like to think that the 6 digit code is for access to the remote console itself (enterprise’s), it wouldn’t work from s Klingon ship. Of course that’s just my idea and there’s is no evidence one sense or the other.
not necessarily. The option to change the code is addressed in the movie and you could just send the new code updating the fleet’s computers.
About the original topic...Cybersecurity is way insufficient in most of Star Trek, honestly, nothing new here.
Oh, absolutely.
Yep, since TOS, but TNG was not that much better.
Boimler was protective of the code he wrote, though. Perhaps that was because he knew that the holodeck code at least (if not he himself) could access the private information? I don't know, maybe that's just a rationalization.
I don't think I've ever seen an episode of Star Trek and something struck me as "good security" on any of the shows.
I have no problem with an Ensign replicating a ships crew. Accessing personal logs is another mAtter. Can any senior officer access any personal logs on TV/movie Trek?
Security in Star Trek is a joke. Applying any real world sensibility is a fool's errand.
In the aforementioned TNG episode "Booby Trap" the Holo-Leah Geordi creates is based of her public/open professional logs. When he's talking to Leah (before she is created and only speaking to him) Geordi asks her for the "real story" on something she mentions and the computer chimes in with, "personal logs are restricted access" or something to that effect.
So it's pretty damn absurd that Bradward was able to get access to the personal logs of the entire crew to create perfect simulations of them and to get personal, private, information about them like Mariner being the captain's daughter.
Boimler is apparently an awkwardly-inept genius, not a stupid or cunningly evil nemesis.
His tinkering with the holodeck and the creations of the crew, were meant to be for his personal use to help advance his career.
He never expected anybody else to take what he had done and modify it, so he probably didn't think using personal info was that big a deal, since nobody else would know and he wasn't actually looking for intimate details.
(just like Barclay did)
Everything that happened after that point is on Mariner, including letting slip her relationship to the Captain.
<side note>
I have to go back and watch episode one again, I thought sure by the end of that episode Bradward had realized that they were Mother & Daughter.
(which is why he didn't tattle on her)
His tinkering with the holodeck and the creations of the crew, were meant to be for his personal use to help advance his career.
He never expected anybody else to take what he had done and modify it, so he probably didn't think using personal info was that big a deal, since nobody else would know and he wasn't actually looking for intimate details.
(just like Barclay did)
Everything that happened after that point is on Mariner, including letting slip her relationship to the Captain.
<side note>
I have to go back and watch episode one again, I thought sure by the end of that episode Bradward had realized that they were Mother & Daughter.
(which is why he didn't tattle on her)
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No, he was still totally clueless.
I'm not really sure accessing personal logs is really a "security problem." It's an invasion of privacy, but not a security issue. Anyway, the conceit in the episode is that the computer accessed the personal logs to create realistic representations of the Cerritos crew without Boimler actually reading them. After all, he was completely unaware Mariner is Freeman's daughter until holo-Freeman mentioned it towards the end. And I doubt doing this is against Starfleet regulations anyway since there's no way Boimler would actively and intentionally break the rules in such a manner.
Even then, Boimler clearly inserted some of his own biases when creating the program. I doubt Jet would really murder a fellow Starfleet officer for ignorantly offering Freeman cookies she was allergic to. But since we know Boimler has resentful feelings towards Jet, he's obviously going to present an unflattering representation of him in his holoprogram.
Even then, Boimler clearly inserted some of his own biases when creating the program. I doubt Jet would really murder a fellow Starfleet officer for ignorantly offering Freeman cookies she was allergic to. But since we know Boimler has resentful feelings towards Jet, he's obviously going to present an unflattering representation of him in his holoprogram.
I watched it recently, and Boimler is not aware at the end.
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