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What is the best way to get into a secure system?

If you have the power, you can brute force it. A single failed entry is something most systems are prepared to deal with. A million? Per second? From multiple entry vectors? There's not a lot of places with a net node that could handle it, but then again there aren't a lot of entities on the net that can afford such an all-out assault.

If you have the time, you can finesse it. Track users. Locate weak links. Spoof authorizations and biometrics, construct a security-facing shell that aces every test, then hop in and out like nothing's amiss. Except the places worth breaking into keep their users on shorter leashes. If you get spotted gathering info, the shell clams up, and you can wave your time goodbye.

The easiest, though, is to just walk in. Systems talk. There's always an outgoing request awaiting its pingback. There's always a pingback rushing to fulfill a request. You gotta catch the right moment, and you gotta look like you are what the system wants, but if you do, you're pre-approved. Just don't let the door slam and cut your ass in half.

That's what she's doing. She's got an open data stream with an extremely simple query. Her gate is down. On purpose.

This is the trap, then. The only question left is, do I

> walk into it?

> watch it first?

> bail now?