_CTOS BREACHES

CtOS Breaches Overview

When you gain access to the ctOS towers, several of them have one or two corresponding ctOS breaches. A breach is a cluster of utility boxes that represents a security hole in the network, but when you try to exploit a breach, the system will detect your attempts at infiltration and act to shut your hack down. This means you must find each box in a cluster within a few minutes to complete your hack, or security will close the window and you’ll be returned to square one.

PREPARATION

When you hack the first box in a breach, the ctOS automatically detects Aiden’s intrusion, giving you a short amount of time to reach and hack the remaining boxes in order to complete your investigation.

This requires you to move quickly through the surrounding neighborhood, using your equipment, parkour abilities, and problem-solving skills to find and access each box in turn. It never hurts to scout out the area ahead of time, and several breaches require you to use explosives to destroy inconvenient debris. Bring a loaded grenade launcher, but be ready to avoid the police if you have to. A silenced weapon is also useful to avoid drawing any more police attention than necessary.

As with other hacks, you do not have to be physically close to a given box to successfully hack it. You can and often must do so at range or via a security camera. You can hack any ctOS box as long as Aiden is about 20 meters away from it and has a clear line of sight.

There are 16 breaches in total found throughout five of the six districts in the city. Each breach that you successfully exploit is worth 250 XP and unlocks an Audio Log, which you can listen to via your smartphone at any time.

ctOS Breach by location

ctOS Breach 01 / Parker Square // St. Joseph Cemetery

Time Limit: 2:30

The biggest time sink on this run is simply reaching the other side of the small lake, and going all the way around will cost you seconds you can’t spare. From the first box, turn around and swim northwest.

The westernmost of the remaining four boxes is attached to the side of a gazebo. Hack it and turn east, hitting the rest of the boxes while moving at a full sprint. None of the boxes are hidden, but if you lose too much time going across the lake, you won’t be able to hit all four before the clock runs out.

ctOS Breach 02 / Parker Square // Parker Square Marina

Time Limit: 5:00

To reach the first box in the breach, go behind the Fresh Table Dining restaurant next door and use a parked car as a stepping stone to climb onto its roof. From there, you can hack the box, which is sitting on top of the apartment building.

Hop back to ground level and run east across the street. Use the pile of pallets behind the fence to reach the second box, then grab any nearby car and drive north to the marina. The third box is on the wall at the end of the easternmost dock, so hop the fence and hack it from the shoreline.

The fourth box is to the northwest, on the roof of a store. Use the construction gangplanks on its northern wall to climb up, then blow up the propane tank. Hack the box, then drop down and go just a bit farther north. You can use the security camera above the fifth box to hack it.

ctOS Breach 03 / Parker Square // Owl Motel

Time Limit: 3:00

This breach has a short clock, but the real issue is that you have to fire a few shots in a highly populated area, so you may have to dodge the cops while you find and hack the last few boxes. Keep some jam coms at the ready.

After you hack the first box in the breach, sprint north, jump the fence, and head down the sidewalk. The second box is inside a small fenced-in enclosure in someone’s backyard. You can blow up the pallet blocking it with a couple of gunshots to the nearby propane tanks. Do so, hack the box, and then hack the third box on the roof of the next house over.

The fourth box isn’t hard to find, but you did just commit arson, so the cops may be arriving right about now. Destroy the pallet blocking the box with a grenade and hack it, then use the security camera above the fifth box to view and hack it. Now you get to escape from the police.

ctOS Breach 04 / Parker Square // Train Yard

Time Limit: 4:00

The first box is attached to the top of a crossing gate. Hack it, then sprint east and climb the construction gangplank to hack the box at its top. Drop back to ground level and head south; the next box is hidden from view by a stack of concrete bricks, and you can only hack it if you’re standing on top of them.

Run around the fence and climb the short building to reach the storage yard. The next box can be hacked via the camera across the alley from it. Finally, to get to the last box, use the camera on the building on the opposite side of the street from it.

ctOS Breach 05 / The Wards // Metropole Hotel

Time Limit: 3:30

You can hack the first box from the ground, despite how tall the building is. Pivot 180 degrees and go north. When you reach the base of the next box’s building, turn around and hack the camera behind you, to the right of the large For Lease sign. Turn the camera feed to the right until you’re in hack range on the second box, which should be visible through the leaves on the nearby tree.

Hack it, then turn the feed left and hack the camera above the graffiti mural. That camera can, in turn, be used to hack the camera that’s on the wall above the third box.

Back out of the cameras and run north towards the last two boxes, cutting through the basketball court. Hack the camera below the fourth box to discover that it’s pointing at a second, higher camera on the adjacent building. Hack that and you’ll be looking at the fourth box. Take care of it.

The fifth box is tricky, as it’s on the exterior balcony of a third-floor apartment that faces the street. To hack it, use your profiler or one of the building’s cameras to sweep the other side of the street. The camera you’re looking for is above a parking lot, and once you hack it, you can see and access the fifth box.

ctOS Breach 06 / Brandon Docks // Umani Technologies Inc.

Time Limit: 4:00

Steal a truck and use it to reach the first building’s exterior stairwell and the first box. Tag it, then hop the railing and turn left upon landing. Hustle north and run up the stairs attached to the side of the building. Follow them to their top, hang a right, and run north until you find the second box, which is concealed by a stack of debris and a propane tank. Shoot the propane tank so you can clear your line of sight, then hack the box. (They build these things pretty tough, don’t they?)

Go back downstairs to ground level and keep moving north along the river’s west side. The third box is behind a locked fence, but you can hack the nearby forklift and raise its load to achieve a clear line of sight.

The fourth box is overhead at the top of a construction gangplank and is hidden from sight by a stack of wooden pallets. Use the forklift to climb onto the nearby construction scaffolding. Shoot the propane tank to clear a line of sight, then use the nearby security camera on the corner of the next building to get eyes on the box. Hack it, then immediately turn around, hop the fence, and drop into the river. The fifth and final box in this breach is across the water and underneath the bridge.

ctOS Breach 07 / Brandon Docks // Radio Tower

Time Limit: 4:30

After the first hack, run west and jump onto the lift on the alley’s left side. Raise it to reach the roof, then jog north and hack the box remotely once you’re within range.

Drop off the roof and head east, toward the white tower, and look for the lift on your right. Get onto it and it to get some height, then access the security camera that’s just visible on the roof of the building to the north. You can hack the third box via the camera’s feed.

Get off the lift and run north once again. The last two nodes are in the same general area. When you see the billboard advertising “Chicago’s Best Latte,” stop and hack the security camera on that building’s northwest corner. It gives you a clean line of sight to hack the fourth box.

Abandon that camera’s feed and run west through the alley. Turn north and look for the security camera anchored on the underside of the overhead walkway. Hack into its feed and pivot it as far left as it’ll go in order to get eyes on the fifth and final box.

ctOS Breach 08 / Brandon Docks // Umeni Technologies Shipyard

Time Limit: 5:10

From the first box, run west to get around the fence and turn north. Use the tall scissor lift next to the corner of the building to reach and access the second box. Shoot the propane tanks if you can’t get a clear line of sight. Ride the lift back down, get off, and head east into the parking lot.

Cross under the overhang, then turn around and look up to spot a camera you can hack. It’s pointed right at the third box. Hack it, then go back north. On your right, above you next to the Umeni Technologies logo on the wall, there’s another security camera.

Take control of it and pan it to the right to find the fourth box, then use it to hack the camera attached to the nearby billboard. It’s pointed at the final box.

ctOS Breach 09 / Brandon Docks // Empty Office Space

Time Limit: 4:30

To access the first box, either use the camera on the lightpost to the west of the lift, or you can take the lift up to access it directly; then ride it back down and head south into the shipyard. The second box is visible nearby; use the cargo crate that’s in the shipping elevator as an improvised lift to get within hack range of it.

The third box is hidden among the stack of cargo containers south of the nearby road. Move to that stack’s west side to find one that you can climb, then cross it to the open container and drop down to find the empty crate that contains the box.

Once you’ve climbed back out from the stack of cargo containers, cross the road going north and use the cameras on the lampposts in the lumber yard to hack the fourth and fifth boxes.

ctOS Breach 10 // Brandon Docks / L-Train Rhodes

Time Limit: 5:00

You need to keep one eye on the train schedule to reach the first box, which you can only hack if you’re standing directly on the elevated train tracks. After you hack it, double back along the elevated tracks to the L-train’s Rhodes station, hop the fence on its west end, and use the stairwell’s roof to reach the station’s roof. From there you can see and hack the box that’s on the roof to the north.

Use the same stairwell to get back down to the street and open the gate. If you sprint northeast, you’ll spot a staircase that leads up into the filtration plant. Ignore it for now and use the nearby scissor lift to reach and hack the third box on the adjacent rooftop.

With that done, go back to the stairs, climb them, and hop the chain-link fence to the northeast. Turn right at the Thyla Pharmaceuticals building and run east, looking for stairs on your left. Just before you reach them, there’s a camera on a lamppost that you can use to access a camera on the side of a nearby building, which you can then pan left to view and hack the fourth box.

Finally, climb those stairs and keep following the walkway around in the general direction of the fifth box’s icon on your HUD. Eventually you’ll gain enough height to be able to hack the fifth box.

ctOS Breach 11 / The Loop // South Tech University

Time Limit: 4:30

The four boxes are scattered across a kilometer of waterfront, and you have only 4 minutes 30 seconds to reach them all. If you’re having problems, it may be worth bringing a motorcycle with you. Run southwest from your starting point, hop the fences to get down closer to the water level, and hack the second box.

Sprint east along the boardwalk, hang a left to go up the stairs, and head east through the park. The third box is on the side of the building with Greek columns, and you can hack it from the street.

The fourth box is relatively close by, on one of the bridge’s support columns. Hack it, then vault the rail and drop into the water. Steal a boat from the dock, otherwise you’ll need to swim south along the bridge for about 200 meters before you can reach the fifth box, which is on another bridge support.

ctOS Breach 12 / The Loop // Willis Tower

Time Limit: 3:30

The second box is right across the street from the first, to the west on the side of a building. Hack it, then cross the street, going north, and run through the covered alley. Before you emerge back out onto the street, hack the security camera on the building to your right, above the glass awning, and pan upward until you can see the third box.

The last two boxes are just to the east of the third. Cross the street and enter the alley to the north. Activate your profiler and look for the security camera on the wall of the building to the south, behind the filtration unit. Use it to view and hack the fourth box.

Back out of the camera view and keep heading down the alley until you reemerge onto the street. Turn left, keep moving down the sidewalk, and duck into the parking garage on-ramp. The fifth and final box is in that garage on the side of a support pillar.

ctOS Breach 13 / The Loop // Eastern Waterfront

Time Limit: 3:30

You have to cover a lot of ground on this run. After you hack the first box, sprint 90 meters northeast to find the second box, which is next to one of the access tunnel entrances below a transformer.

The next closest box is about 200 meters north of the second, which requires you to run straight along the waterfront; ; this is another breach where it may pay off to bring a motorcycle. The box is on the wall next to a newsstand.

There’s a bridge nearby, connecting the waterfront with a nearby pier. The fourth box is on the underside on the waterfront end. Jump the railing and hack the box, then take a long swim east to the rocks. The fifth box is on the side of one of the signal towers.

ctOS Breach 14 / Mad Mile // Lipstick Killer—Ross Crime Scene

Time Limit: 5:00

The first box is on the roof of a very tall building, and you’ll need to use a scissor lift and a convenient swing stage to reach it; the latter is hanging well overhead and is one of the few hackable objects of its kind in the entire game. From the first box, use the nearby platforms to drop down to the lift and ride it to street level. Run east toward the second box’s location on your HUD.

When you get about 30 meters from the second box, stop and look to your right to find a security camera. Hack its feed and use it to hack the second box, which is obscured by the ornamental foliage on the face of the building to the north.

Run north again. The third box is on the west wall of a covered alley, near a charming ad that reads “F**K YOU.” Hack it from your phone without breaking stride.

The fourth box is on the wall in an office lobby and can be reached very easily just from the street. Finally, the fifth box is on the exterior wall of a the building across the street from the fourth box. You can access it from street level.

ctOS Breach 15 / Mad Mile // Hanson Park

Time Limit: 4:00

This breach isn’t particularly difficult, but you do have to be fast on your feet. You may need a couple of practice runs to get the route straight in your head, and it’s easier if you try this breach during the day. At night, the glass walkways are harder to see.

After the first box, turn east and hack the second box from across the street. Run to the north, hopping railings and using the skybridges between rooftops, and look for the third box underneath a staircase. To reach it, vault the railing to get back down to the street, then climb to it using the garden and ladder beneath it.

The fourth box is a few rooftops to the west of the third, and you may have seen the fifth before now, as it’s locked behind one of the doors you had to open to gain access to this neighborhood’s ctOS tower.

Use the scissor lift and balcony at street level to get back to the fifth box’s rooftop, then use a nearby security camera to find the lock for the nearest door. Release it, then go through the door, vault the fence behind the cooling units, and hack the final box.

ctOS Breach 16 / Mad Mile // Unknown

Time Limit: 4:30

The first box is intimidatingly far away from the other four, but if you know what you’re doing, this can be one of the fastest breach runs. From the first box, get back down to the street and run northwest. The second box is on the side of an apartment building. Use the security camera on the building on the street’s east side to view and hack the box.

The third box is on the wall in an alley behind the second box’s building, to the north. Hack it from the sidewalk and keep moving north, to the parking lot of the Proviblue Bank. Hack the lift to lower it, ride it to the roof, and use the red ladder on the side of the building’s roof access to reach the enclosure that contains the fourth box. If you’re careful, you can get a clean line of sight to the fourth box by standing close enough to the roof’s edge and changing your camera angle.

The fifth and final box is at ground level, behind a stack of cardboard boxes. It may save a bit of time to run around the building and hack the fifth box while you’re waiting for the scissor lift in front of the bank to retract.