Free The Computers of Star Trek by Lois H. Gresh Page A

unique electric auras that surround people. Still in the basic developmental stages are ID chips planted in a person’s hand that would automatically open doors and trigger proper security codes in research centers. Similar research is being done involving nanochips that would be injected into people’s fingertips.
    Whatever evolves, security on Federation starships will be much more advanced than anything we can imagine at the moment. But no security system will ever be absolutely flawless. Consider that the transporter can instantly do a full-body scan and duplicate a person’s unique DNA pattern. Transporter malfunctions created
two Captain Kirks (“The Enemy Within,” TOS ), and two Commander Rikers (“Second Chances,” TNG ). Unless human nature changes over the next three centuries, most likely every innovation in security will be matched by a new technique to thwart it. Still, whether the ship’s crew numbers in the hundreds (as on the original Enterprise ), or over a thousand (the Enterprise-D of the twenty-fourth century), there’s no reason that any of them should be at risk from intruders. Unfortunately, guaranteeing the safety of the starship’s computer core isn’t so easy.
    Having Jem’Hadar warriors beam onto the bridge of the Defiant with drawn phasers might make for good TV, but it is not the most likely method of attacking the ship. An assault on the starship’s computer mainframe is much more promising. And a lot less risky.
    The Romulans and the Borg have been tough, deadly Star Trek foes. But the Bynaars captured the Enterprise without firing a shot. (“10010011?” TNG )
    In the trusting Star Trek world of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth centuries, no one seems to worry about viruses or malignant programs until it’s too late. Messages and files are routinely downloaded to starship and space station computer cores. Precautions against viruses may be in place, but if they are, they’re not very effective as demonstrated by numerous incidents of code alteration that happen to the starship’s main computer and the holodeck computer system. And viruses are only one of the electronic dangers facing Federation computers.
    Many scientists believe that the wars of the future will be fought primarily between computer systems, not on battlefields. They feel that destroying the enemy’s computer network would cause greater destruction than any bomb or biological weapon. The more advanced a society, the more vulnerable it’ll be to computer warfare. Thus, the technologically dependent Federation would be a prime target for computer terrorists.

    In the twenty-fourth century, sabotaging an electrical grid (“Homefront,” DS9) or tampering with a security program (“Civil Defense,” DS9 ) would be a cost effective and extremely deadly method of fighting. One person hacking into a computer network could affect billions. Hackers would be a constant danger on planets or installations where they would be able to focus their attack on large systems, tapping in unnoticed and downloading important information or tampering with system security (“Babel,” DS9 ). Still, hacking into a starship or space-station computer wouldn’t be easy, especially since the network is a closed system where any intrusions are quickly noted (“Babel” DS9, “Meridian,” DS9 , “The Quest,” TNG ).
    Other methods of attacking Star Trek computer systems would be more insidious and harder to detect. While a fleet of Klingon starships might not be able to conquer Deep Space Nine , a few lines of computer code could. The main weapons used in such attacks would include worms, Trojan horses, and the most infamous of all destructive programs, the computer virus. Hidden in an innocent-seeming transmission to a starship, they could cause catastrophic damage.
    A computer worm is a program that uses flaws and holes in a