Written by: Null Kit
Virtual Reality and simsense are indispensable assets for Deckers, as with it we can shed the weakness of the metahuman body and interact with the Matrix at speeds limited only by the speed of our own synapses, but it isn't without its risks: Under the wrong circumstances, a VR user caught in the open can have their connection to the matrix turned against them and be attacked with hostile code that infect and subvert their own nervous-system, flooding them with discordant signals that are painful to the typical VR user, but potentially deadly to those who experience the full experience of the matrix via hot-sim enhanced commlinks and cyberdecks.
The obvious protection against these dangers are common-sense and a firewall, but for professions where biofeedback is an accepted risk,
Barghest Precision Machining have released their latest model of datajack, the MX1 Synaptic-Barrier series. The MX1 trades an additional degree of bulk and invasiveness over conventional datajack models for an in-built dedicated signal-filtering module, that locats and tracks oncoming data-packets for the telltale signs of biofeedback code, and either blocks the code outright or delivers countersignal biofeedback tailored to mitigate biosystem damage.
Someone mind explaining to me what 'countersignal biofeedback' is like I'm an idiot?— Chimes
It can be compared to how two sound-signals of opposite frequencies will cancel eachother out, like in noise-cancelling headphones, except the headphones are your head and the sounds are signals that cause you to seize up until you bite off your own tongue and snap your spine. Countersignalling doesn't *fully* protect from the damage caused by biofeedback only prioritising signals that target vital functions, but this mitigation can be sufficient to survive malignant code attacks that would otherwise incapacitate or kill its user.— Frangelico
While Barghest's current production-run is limited to the point that implantation of the MX1 is being implemented only to Spiders of high-security hosts as of this writing, several other companies have began offering their own versions of the product based on a data-leak earlier this year, and the blueprints of several earlier iterations have been reproduced by black-market manufacturers to acceptable quality. That said, when your wellbeing in the matrix may be dependant on the quality of your hardware, caveat emptor on buying these off-brand models, omae.
Comments