Massive bump, but there is a reset button. If you click the "Admin" Access button while on the VSEC page, it'll reset the lights to a different position. I also noticed that it'll alternate between 3-4 different starting points.

VSEC is annoying, but I eventually get it.... >_>

Oh, there IS a way to "practice" VSEC, but it involves doing something that cannot be done with only the game...I'll just leave it at that.

Alrighty, it seems to be a graveyarded topic. However, since any newcomer (like myself) checking out this forum is likely to read through either this or the other topic devoted to discussions regarding VSEC Solvers, I'll post a few hints on "refining" a websearch for this issue.

Hints:
1a) Lights Out is the right game to look for, but it comes in all sizes.
2) Version 2 VSEC involves pushing only the buttons that are Lit. You'll find this corresponds to a particular form of the Lights Out games.
3) Mathematicians make the best game-solvers.

4) VSEC 3.0 will exist in 0.2.0.
5) VSEC crackers will be permitted to be posted for this version. It does not exist to date that I have seen.
6) The point of the ban was to prep people for this new version. It's most unforgiving, and you'll have to figure out how it functions on your own.
7) Don't panic. You need at least a Veteran ranking before you're offered a mission that requires you get past it. It's the upper tier.
You will also need to do this once in the new storyline.

[leach]

You mention that the bank passwords are in fact crackable. I assume you mean once you break into the admin section of the bank (So I remember) and can browse the accounts associated with that bank.

These encrypted passwords, is there a logical way to crack them or does it require some prior knowledge IE Is it possible for someone who's knowledge of programming and network security is confined entirely within Onlink, and before that person reinstalls and replays the game only to find out that they're going to be doing oodles of research?

[/leach]

Bank passwords are crackable so long as you can find an appropriate account number. The trick is finding that number.

...And the easiest way to get one (with tons of money) is to work your way into being able to do a "Trace a recent bank transfer" mission, but some people seem to be too lazy to do that.

*coughcoughsuperbunnycoughcough*

What was all this childish discussion about?

I was able to use a search engine, narrow it far enough to come up with a great solver that is programmable and wrapps ...

If I can do it, you can do it too. By the way: that's what hacking is about. Use everything you have to find new ways. Do a little research, will you?
Sometimes you have to digg deeper and study the subject a little bit.

Ok, it's only a game you migt throw in. But than again, it's a game about hacking. It's not 100% realistic but it's not restricted to the game engine only. You can discuss, ask the "underground", search the internet ...
And though you might not allways find a step by step manual solution for everything right away, you will find some solution eventually. It's not that hard. It might take some time, but that's the fun, isn't it?
What else would be the fun in a game, if you wouldn't have to think, because everything is explained in detail for dummies?


@Switch: propably not. If your knowledge is totally confined to and within the gameplay of uplink, you most likely won't be able to solve the scrambled bank account details. Uplink doesn't teach techniques in detail.
But Uplink contains some nice easter eggs, fun stuff and hints for the eager mind.
The original additional content of the game holds some hacking stories and some cipher techniques. Actually you need to solve some ciphers to get to them.
Brush up on basic encryption systems like from Ceasar.
If you like that, you might wanna read Dan Brown's "Digital Fortress" or "The Da Vinci Code". I don't like Dan Brown to much but I enjoyed this two stories. they are good entertainment and contain a lot of riddles and ciphers.
You can play the game without this knowledge and hack accounts, but your missing out on the sweet stuff.

Haven't read those two, but I did read Angels & Demons; very good book.

And yeah I know i've missed a bunch of stuff that I eventually found with a lot of help but that kinda ruins the fun. A lot of the Easter Eggs however appear to be things you stumble upon more than anything, and I don't have the patience to just trawl randomly; I like an objective.

As for what Vaius said, yeah, finding those accounts is dead easy. I just wouldn't know how to go about breaking encrypted passwords when I view the accounts stored in a bank's database.

I personally enjoyed the little story that came with one of the Codebooks...heh.

i still have to crack the codes on the extra content.
Well, I found the first by searching the net. Some site had the password explained.
The others I yet have to solve. Either by solving the riddles or by using a password retriever on the zip-files.
I suggest all three ways beeing legitiment since they still are solutions in the way of hacking (search, use your mind, use tools).

I dont know, how you break these scrambled account details either. I don't know if this is even usable yet. As I would rate Miah; it's propably something, that he has in mind working on (if not happened yet).
Maybe, ask him?

Only thing I tried to do with the codes shown in the Bank Records screen is to throw them through a Hex-to-ASCII translator, which doesn't work.

I honestly don't think Miah would have made it THAT easy.

Perhaps it's possible to gain some sort of source code, which when compiled in the C++ HUD creates a program that cracks the encryption on bank passwords?

Seems possible, provided there was some other way to guarantee it wouldn't just put things back the way they were before encrypting the accounts that way (i.e. too easy again to hack banks).

I'm perpetuating an Off topic section i guess, since this thread's supposedly about VSEC security.

Or rather, why to not to post blatant solvers for it.

People could at least Google "Lights Out Solver."

Yeah, it took me a while to find a satisfactory answer to how to solve VSEC, but then again I was in the market for the theory behind it as opposed to just an applet to solve it.

I just find the basic game boring and repetitive without the little nuances like new security systems, so it just baffles me why people would want a shortcut solution when Miah obviously puts in a lot of effort to design and implement balanced additions to the game.

I mean, it's not like we need to learn the mathematics behind the implementation and solutions to these puzzles, but that's where the interesting work comes in. Why deny yourself the chance to Solve a problem through your own efforts (or at least Learn how to approach a problem without being spoonfed)?