_PRIVACY INVASIONS

OVERVIEW: THE END OF SECRETS

In a privacy invasion, you intrude into a stranger’s home network through an unsecured router. This allows you to get some quick cash, earn XP, and get a brief glimpse into what’s happening in someone else’s life. If you happen across a vulnerable router, you can carry out a privacy invasion at any time, but they’re difficult to spot if you don’t already know where they are. Privacy invasions are highlighted on your map when you capture ctOS towers. Complete all of them once Act I / 3. Backstage Pass has been completed.

A successful invasion allows you to take control of a camera inside a nearby building. You can watch each privacy invasion for up to 60 seconds before you’re permanently forced out of the network. It’s handy to pay attention to the information from your profiler when you’re watching an invasion, as the biographical data from the ctOS facial-recognition software often gives you another layer of context for what you’re seeing. A 10-second timer starts at the end of each invasion so you know how much time you have left.

You usually have the option to steal some money (usually $700–$2,200, but occasionally up to $5,000) by hacking a smartphone or tablet computer that’s found somewhere in the room you’re watching. You may need to change to a different camera feed before it’s visible. You must withdraw the money from an ATM before it’s available for you to spend, just as with bank accounts hacked from citizens of interest. You also receive 200 XP for a successful privacy invasion, whether you take the money or not.

PRIVACY INVASIONS / PARKER SQUARE (5)

01 // Near the Church: Neighborhood Homes

The two ctOS boxes linked to this router are attached to two other houses in the neighborhood. One is next door, but the other is half a block to the southeast, where it’s attached to the wall on the second floor of a duplex. If you can’t see it at first, back away from the house until your profiler locks onto the box.

02 // Behind Thyla Pharmaceuticals, North of May Stadium

Head just north of May Stadium. The first ctOS box to hack is at ground level, behind an iron fence. The second is on top of the nearby garage behind a short wooden wall; you can hack it from the street if you stand in the right spot (or the camera on the opposite wall). You can also destroy the fence, but in this neighborhood, someone will probably call the police.

03 // Liquor Store Parking Lot, South of Phoebus Theater

You only have to hack one ctOS box to get access to this router (on the “Chicago Garage” building), but getting to the box takes a bit of time. Jog around the fence behind you to the stairs, then steal a van or truck and use it to climb up onto the pizzeria rooftop where the box is located. Or, hack it remotely by accessing the camera on the front of the pizzeria to glimpse the box hidden behind the sign.

04 // Behind “Pilipina Classic,” Near a Digital Trip Vendor

Go up the metal stairs behind the “Pilipina Classic” stone building and hack the router there.

Solution: Hotspot

05 // Vacant Store, Near Cash Run and Shipping Crate Garage

Both the ctOS boxes are wired onto the rooftops of nearby buildings, so you’ll need to use the security cameras to hack them. The nearest camera is just out of range for the first box you can see, but there’s a camera on the wall by that box that you can access and use for the first hack. Once that’s unlocked, use any of the nearby cameras to unlock the second.

PRIVACY INVASIONS / The Wards (5)

06 // Apartment Complex, Southwest of Malinski Station

One ctOS box is at ground level in a doorway on the other side of the building, and the other is on a third-floor exterior balcony that’s just around the corner from you when you spot the router. You can speed up the process by hacking the nearby security cameras.

07 // Old Brownstone, Southwest Wards, Near Ruined Strip Mall

You’ll end up running all over the neighborhood to hack these ctOS boxes. The nearby network of cameras is handy for tracking the boxes down, but it’s difficult to hack them without physically going where they’re located. They aren’t hard to find, especially if you use your profiler to follow the data stream from the router to the boxes.

08 // Housing Complex, Four Y-Shaped Apartment Blocks

Locate the router at the base of the second block, west of the burned down factory.

Solution: Hotspot

09 // Apartment Complex, Central Wards, Near ctOS Center

Hack the first ctOS box by leapfrogging between several cameras in the area, until you can see it in its position on a rooftop west of the router. The second box is easier to reach; either hit it from the same cameras, or simply go stand on the stack of pallets to the south, across from the white metal hut.

10 // Decaying Apartment Complex, East of Rossi-Fremont

This looks a lot more complicated than it is; find the camera pointing across to the third switch on the roof to the southwest, and work back from that.

PRIVACY INVASIONS / BRANDON DOCKS (2)

11 // Umeni Technologies Branch Office, Near QR Code

The first ctOS box is accessible on the opposite side of the chimney stack building; locate the yard with the pipe stacks of different sizes and hack the brick balcony. Run up the pipe steps to the area behind the Umeni Technologies billboard and locate the second box on the low roof; or you can reach it with your phone if you’re standing on the west side of the building, near the chain-link fence.

12 // Metal Warehouse, Near Parkfield Train Station

Locate the router on the northwestern corner of the warehouse, close to the L-Train tracks.

Solution: Hotspot

PRIVACY INVASIONS / The LOOP (10)

13 // The Island, Northern Tip

Find the router on the north side of the large brick apartment building.

Solution: Hotspot

14 // The Island, Hotel and Spa (East Riverside)

Stay on the island and find the large stone hotel overlooking the river.

Solution: Hotspot

15 // Connelly Square and Willis Tower, Near Cash Run

It can be tough to find this router even when you know it’s there. It’s attached to the wall in a narrow gap between the walls of Connelly Square and Willis Tower.

Solution: Hotspot

16 // City Hall, Northwest Loop Near L-Train Junction

This is on the northern wall inside the main foyer of City Hall.

Solution: Hotspot

17 // Shipping Dock Alley, Under QR Code, South of Ambrose Theater

Neither of the ctOS boxes connected to this router are particularly well-hidden (one is at the end of the south alley, and the other is on the low roof in the middle), but you can use the overhead camera at the end of the alley, before it turns left, to save yourself time.

18 // Alleyway Behind Mama Reyn Restaurant, Near Quincy Station

Find the router northeast of Quincy Station, then head down the alley and turn left to find the first ctOS box, which is by the trash bins under the “Chicago Garage” brickwork sign. You probably noticed the second on your way there, which is near a propane tank. The router itself is near a low-positioned camera.

19 // Behind Pawn Shop, Central Loop

Simply locate the router in the corner of an L-shaped alley behind the Pawn Shop.

Solution: Hotspot

20 // Platform Office, South Loop Near Palin Correctional Facility

The nearby cameras will help you trace the signal, but you can’t hack it remotely. You should have the Gates & Garages skill to open the door to the parking garage and access the first ctOS box; you can hit the second and third on your way back to the router. Both are on the wall next to the stairs as you head back up.

21 // South of Bloody Maxwell Police Station, South Loop

Head east from Hollenkamp Station, and find the router south of the Police Station.

Solution: Hotspot

22 // Art Gallery, In Millennium Park, Eastern Loop

Find the Art Gallery building south of the open-air theater to the north.

Solution: Hotspot

PRIVACY INVASIONS / MAD MILE (8)

23 // Franklin Street, Northwest of Ryborn Station, West Mad Mile

Face the router, then turn left and go down the street until you’re facing a noodle shop. Turn left again, hack the security camera on the corner of the Gym Center, and pan left. You probably won’t be able to see the box, but you can still use the camera feed to hack the first ctOS box, which is on the wall on a nearby exterior balcony. Now you can cut the feed and hack the second box, which is at ground level next to the ATM.

24 // Behind The Gas Station Billboard, West of Circle Fountain

Find the gas station to the west and below the circle fountain plaza area, then climb behind the billboard.

Solution: Hotspot

25 // “Rendezvous” Store, Above South Traffic Tunnels Entrance

Both of the ctOS boxes linked to this router are below you, in the underground tunnel. You can hop the nearby railing to get down there quickly, but you’ll take some damage when you land and there’s no quick way back up to the router (take the nearby stairs and circle the block). Or, check the camera on the router building as you emerge from the tunnel, and use that to hack the router.

26 // Bank Building Corner, South of Deavers Station

Head up the steps to the corner of the building with the ATM, just south of the station.

Solution: Hotspot

27 // John Hancock Center, North Mad Mile

Run under this massive skyscraper, through the pedestrian tunnel, to the router.

Solution: Hotspot

28 // Foyer By Chicago World News Tower, South Mad Mile

Find the ornate stone skyscraper’s entrance and locate the router near the statue and planter.

Solution: Hotspot

29 // Cafe Plaza and Car Dealership, Northeast Mad Mile

The first of the two ctOS boxes connected to this router is on a car dealership’s exterior wall at ground level, behind one of the blue sculptures; it’s out of camera range. On your way back to the router, check the plaza and use one of the overhead cameras to access the box on the balcony above you.

30 // Office Gardens, Skyscraper West of ctOS Center

Use the scissor lift on the building’s southeast corner to get up to the gardens at the base of the skyscraper.

Solution: Hotspot