Another “side-channel attack” technique involves reading the electronic emanations from IT technology. Although sen­ sitive systems feature TEMPEST-hardening (a security array that protects computer systems from being “read” by outside parties), a non-TEMPEST system can still be deciphered by a hacker with the right gear and the proper knowledge.

As Wim van Eck revealed in 1985, unprotected computers release electromagnetic pulses based on the work being done on the computer in question. Reading and interpreting these “compromised emanations” through what’s called van Eck monitoring requires specific gear and expertise; that said, it’s supposedly easy if you know how.

A mage who understands this phenomenon and knows how to “read” its effects can employ Correspondence 2 /Mind 2 / Forces 1 to scan and interpret a computer’s van Eck signatures. The Hacking Difficulties sidebar gives the difficulties and time involved. A properly skilled mage can read a system’s van Eck emanations even if the system has been TEMPEST-hardened, although that’s a pretty difficult stunt for even the most experi­ enced technomancers. Since no one else can see what the mage is doing inside her head, van Eck reading remains coincidental unless the scanner starts saying stupid things like, “Well, according to the van Eck readings I’m picking up without any gear…”

Even with technomagick, however, it’s still currently im­ possible to transmit a hacking program via van Eck emanations, though many Virtual Adepts have tried. At the moment, it’s a read-only technique… though it might not stay that way forever…

Anyone with the proper knowledge can make a regular computer system do tricks. Certain tricks, though, demand

certain specialized systems. And so, the more accomplished computer-mages employ sophisticated machines that accom­ plish feats no ordinary computer could perform.