Cyberspace

Cyberspace is a virtual environment that exists to exchange and store electronic data.

• It can be accessed by individuals using a device known as a Cyberdeck.
• Individuals who access Cyberspace are known as Cyber Jockeys or simply jockeys.

Description (Specifications)

Cyberspace is the virtual, unseen fabric existing between databases and computer entities. It is a nebulous, electronic world carried by communications systems where data is exchanged between nodes. Essentially, cyberspace is perceived by a jockey as a dark horizon-less plane that fades into a grey static haze.

• The static haze is the perception of the flow of data through the general fabric of cyberspace.

Data Nodes

Concentrations of data, contained within real world devices such as computers and robot brains, are perceived as nodes of different colors emerging from the cyberspace plane. Nodes most typically appear as cylindrical or cuboid, though specific nodes may be perceived as complex geometric shapes, as multi-faceted, or resembling natural crystals. Though it is not universally true, the simpler the device hosting the data, the more basic the form of its cyberspace node.

• Sophisticated or advanced devices with a cyberspace presence may have a simple shape within cyberspace in order to avoid drawing undue attention.

Structure

Each node represents one or more electronic devices connected to cyberspace. A cluster of nodes will generally represent a closely linked network of devices such as servers, though they often have a dispersed real world geography. Each device tends to contain a variety of types of data and as such a single node can have many bands of color.

• Nodes are the jockeys perception of computers, artificial intelligences and electronic devices of all kinds.
• The Cyber Jockey's Cyberdeck is always visible as a node.

Identification

Most nodes carry a series of properties that they use to identify one another. This information includes:

• Corporate or business name.
• Network address code.
• Geographical code.
• Official registration code.

These properties are freely viewable and may even be displayed as readable data in cyberspace above a node – this may be part of local legal requirements. Nodes that do not carry such properties are usually private data sources belonging to individuals, or ‘black’ corporate entities that are operating without official permission.

Interpreting Data Nodes

Data Color	Data Type	Security Level
Silver	Encrypted	Varies
Black	Military data	3
Red	Government data	3
Purple	Financial data (including tax records)	3
Green	Environmental data	2
Blue	Technology/technical data	3
Yellow	Personnel data	2
White	Public records	0 (Open)
Orange	Media/entertainment data	1
Grey	Unspecified/uncategorised data	1

Data Flow

Specific exchanges of data are perceived as rivers of encrypted silver. A data river emerges from a node and tracks across the plane, rapidly connecting with another node. Rivers can only be followed back and forth between the source node and the receiving node: they cannot be chanced across within the static haze.

• Unless one of the nodes is prevented from doing so, the two connected nodes are able to interrogate one another and exchange data.

Data Security

Every node carries security. This ranges from basic firewalls and antivirus software through to deep-level, 100% encryption algorithms that renders the nature of the data contained within the node unreadable from the outside. A node with above average levels of security has a silver appearance.

• Nodes are policed by internal detection programs – Watchdogs – that are constantly hunting for unauthorized activity.
• Security is rated on a scale of 2 to 15. The higher the number, the greater the level of security.
• Security must be overcome to gain access to the data.

Security Level

Security Level	Basic Details
0	Read-only data.
1	User login.
2	Basic commercial firewall and antivirus software.
5	Advanced commercial firewall and antivirus software.
8	Custom-developed security software.
12	A heavily protected network running sophisticated custom-developed security software.
15	A heavily protected network running extremely sophisticated custom-developed security software with trace and hunter/killer programs.

History & Background (Dossier)

Entering cyberspace allows data nodes to be accessed and the flow of data between them and other nodes to be observed, mapped and understood. The width of the data rivers show the concentrations of data flowing between nodes. The larger and taller a node is, the more information it contains. Different colors within individual nodes or clusters of nodes represent different types of data. Intensities of color represent concentrations and importance of data, and also indicate its "natural" level of security: nodes protected by higher levels of security are generally silvery in color. The larger the node and the deeper the colors, the more information it contains.

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References & Contributors (Sources)

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This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Mongoose Traveller: Cybernetics Mongoose Publishing 2011, pg 75.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science