With the new year and a new decade, those who linger in the depths of the Dark Web are looking to cause a little mischief and mayhem to keep people on their toes. You never know who might be watching. And it all starts with something as simple as an attempt to log into the wifi...
This is completely optional by the way. Just a little side story for those who might like a puzzle\coding challenge!
Perhaps your phone/tablet/laptop is just set up to attempt to connect to any wifi it finds.
Perhaps you are just wandering in the forest near a tower hoping for a signal.
Perhaps you think you lucked out as you find a strong wifi signal that appears to be a part of the island ISP's free wifi.
So you connect to it.
1-20: Nothing especially interesting happens as you connect -OR- you seem to have a poor signal despite what the wifi signal strength indicator tells you. Oh well. Enjoy the free internet!
21- 50: The device connects, and you are prompted to accept the terms and conditions of the island ISP for use of the wifi. Accept it and now...there's a tracker on your device. Maybe no one, not even you, will notice it's there. Maybe someone is keeping an eye on where your device has traveled for the past 24 hours. Google might be a bit too eager to tell you about the places your phone has been.
Congrats! You are now a puzzle piece! Feel free to add *tracked [insert device type]* to your titler for 3 days to help other hackers notice you! For a phone, it'd be *tracked phone* for example. Depending on the app user, they may have limited access to aspects of your character's device. IM Amara Parmelee for your device's puzzle piece info!
51- 60: The device connects, and you are prompted to accept the terms and conditions of the island ISP for use of the wifi. Acceptance of the prompt adds & installs an app in the background. Only by listing all apps will you see the icon of a black serpent and the name "Viper VPN". Opening this app will alter your device's connection data to that of someplace else. It might be handy for 3 days.
61- 80: The device connects, and you are prompted to accept the terms and conditions of the island ISP for use of the wifi. Acceptance of the prompt adds & installs "Viper VPN Pro," an app with the icon of twin black serpents that not only masks your device's location and connection but also alerts you to other devices with the tracker that you might be able to connect to for a short time [[with OOC consent]] You can see paths of where the tracked device has been and for how long. They also have weird tag names for some reason.
80+ : The device connects, and you are prompted to accept the terms and conditions of the island ISP for use of the wifi. Acceptance of the prompt adds & installs "The Viper," an app with the icon of a black viper with fangs out. This app not only hides your device completely from any connection, but it allows you full access to tracked phones infected with the tracker. You can see paths of where the devices have moved as well as what apps have been used. Contacts, history, pictures, call logs, and some text messages are on display with the victim none the wiser [[again, with OOC consent, ask the tracker victim what you would have found]]
So...what's so great about seeing all this data?
Aside from just being nosy, some of the trackers have a code on them. Maybe instead of Victim A's Apple iPhone, the name of the device appears as V-5MI or F-4H0. What could this mean? RP investigating to learn more! Flex those investigation skills and hacking prowess!
Why three days?
The app & tracker programs are designed to remove themselves fully without prompting from devices three days after they are installed, leaving only trace data to detect if the app or tacker had been installed previously. Any devices that had the app or the tracker beforehand will not pick up the wifi signal again for another three days. Any device that has history of both the app & the tracker on it will not pick up the wifi signal again for a month after the second component (app -or- tracker) was installed.
What if my character notices the app/tracker, and tries to remove it?
It'll uninstall without fuss.