In an era defined by digital transformation, universities are increasingly reliant on robust network security to protect sensitive data, ensure uninterrupted operations, and safeguard intellectual property. However, this dependence also brings forth significant challenges that must be addressed to maintain a secure environment. This blog explores the key challenges faced by universities in enhancing network security, along with effective solutions.

Challenges in Network Security for Universities

1. Cyber Threats and Attacks: Universities are prime targets for cybercriminals due to the vast amounts of valuable data they possess, including research data, student information, and financial records. Cyber threats such as ransomware attacks, phishing attempts, and DDoS attacks pose significant risks.
   
2. Budget Constraints: Many universities face financial constraints, making it challenging to invest in the latest security technologies and personnel. This limitation often leaves them vulnerable to sophisticated cyber threats.
   
3. Diverse User Base: Universities host a diverse community of users, including students, faculty, researchers, and administrative staff. Managing access control and ensuring data security across such a varied user base can be complex.
   
4. Compliance and Regulatory Requirements: Universities must adhere to strict regulatory requirements concerning data privacy and security. Non-compliance can lead to legal repercussions and damage to the institution's reputation.
   

Solutions to Enhance Network Security

1. Implementing Multi-Layered Security Measures:

• Firewalls and Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS): Deploying robust firewalls and IDS helps monitor and block malicious traffic, protecting the network from unauthorized access and attacks.
• Encryption: Encrypting sensitive data both at rest and in transit ensures that even if data is intercepted, it cannot be read without authorization.
• Endpoint Security: Ensuring all devices connected to the network have up-to-date antivirus software and security patches reduces the risk of malware infections.

1. Conducting Regular Security Audits and Assessments:

• Regular audits help identify vulnerabilities in the network and applications, enabling universities to take proactive measures to strengthen security.

1. Educating the University Community:

• Conducting cybersecurity awareness programs for students, faculty, and staff can help in promoting best practices and reducing the risk of human error.

1. Implementing Incident Response Plans:

• Developing and testing incident response plans ensures that the university is prepared to respond swiftly and effectively to security incidents.

1. Collaborating with Security Experts:

• Partnering with cybersecurity professionals and using their expertise to supplement internal security teams can provide universities with the knowledge and resources necessary to address complex security challenges.

The Role of Assignment Help Websites in Network Security Education

In an academic setting where cybersecurity education is paramount, students often seek guidance and assistance through assignment-help websites. These platforms provide valuable resources such as sample assignments, expert guidance, and clarification of concepts. For instance, students looking to understand network security concepts may seek help with assignments related to topics like encryption protocols, firewall configurations, or security policy implementation.
Finding reliable assistance with network security assignments is crucial for students aiming to excel in their studies. Assignment help websites connect students with experts who have the knowledge and experience to provide high-quality assignments. These experts ensure that assignments meet academic standards and help students deepen their understanding of complex network security topics. Whether you're looking to understand concepts better or seeking help with specific assignments, these services can be invaluable. If you need assistance, don't hesitate to ask, "Write my network security assignment."

Conclusion

Enhancing network security in universities requires a multifaceted approach that addresses technological, educational, and procedural aspects. By implementing robust security measures, conducting regular audits, and fostering a culture of cybersecurity awareness, universities can significantly reduce the risk of cyber threats. Additionally, leveraging the expertise of assignment help websites can empower students to excel in their network security studies, ensuring a secure and knowledgeable future workforce.
In summary, by addressing these challenges and implementing effective solutions, universities can create a secure environment conducive to learning and innovation in the digital age.

Last week my laptop was working fine. I went to access a file in my OneDrive account and was unable to open it. All other files were accessible. Restarted my computer to hopefully resolve the problem. Since then a few things have happened:
1) I cannot log into my OneDrive account - Everytime I enter my login information it reprompts me to enter it The error code is 8004de44 which indicates a connection is being blocked. I updated to Sonoma 14.4 and still does not work.
2) My Mail app keeps signing me out of both of my email accounts (gmail, Microsoft Outlook) after a few hours. Never had this issue before which makes me think this is all related
3) I created a guest profile and OneDrive is able to work on that profile.
This is my work computer and I have had my IT people look at it and they can't figure out the issue other than thinking something is blocking the connection based on the error code from OneDrive. Their suggestion is to wipe my laptop and start fresh. I want to avoid doing that if at all possible.
I only really use this laptop for work so am careful with what apps and program I install on it and can't think what I could have done to cause this. I disabled the firewall, antivirus, and enabled auto proxy discovery based on a suggestion. Is there anything else I might be missing to try?

i have this application that i want to add to "exclusions". i already disabled all the antivirus even the one with the group policy thing. the problem is real-time protection can only be disabled temporarily.
i found a way by adding the file of the app in "exclusions" but when the real-time protection goes back to enabled, i cannot open the application anymore. i always end up having to uninstall the app, turn off real-time protection, and install the app.
is there a way for me to add the application itself to "exclusions" as i do not want to keep on installing the app whenever the real-time protection is enabled? i already tried adding ".exe" but it's still the same.

i am on the edge of wiping my entire computer clean and resetting it completely.
Since 2-3 days ago i have an issue where my WIFI Shows that it's on, but not really. When i access sites like YouTube, Google, Bandcamp etc it all works fine. But websites like ElevenLabs are met with an "ERR_ADDRESS_UNREACHABLE" aswell as Reddit and more sites.
Strangely enough, my Macbook and Smartphone accesses these websites just fine with the same WIFI Connection. So it cannot be my WIFI but rather my Laptop that runs Windows.
Furthermore, the Apps on my Desktop like Discord or Steam won't update, like the Apps themselves recieve no connection from my Internet.
ERRORS:

• "WIFI" does not contain a valid IP-Configuration
  
• Computer is properly configurated, but the device or Ressource (DNS-Server) does not answer.
  

I use an IdeaPad L340-15RH Gaming
Intel (R) Core (TM) i5-9300H CPU @2.40GHz
8 GB RAM at 64bit
I tried the following things:
* Resetting my router twice.
* Switching from Windows 10 to Windows 11
* Changing DNS to Google DNS
* Running Antivirus to see if theres a problem with no results
* DNS Flushing
* IPCONFIG Commands
* NETSH Commands
*Updating Drivers
* Uninstalling Driver with re-start
* Updates for Windows
* Troubleshooting possible issues and coming out empty handed
* Checked my Firewall (ON)
*Checked Chrome if the problem results from there, coming out empty handed
and much more.
What's frustrating is that after uninstalling my driver, restarting my laptop and disabling my router for 30 seconds before enabling it again, everything seemed to work just fine again.
But now it got back to the state it was before i made it work
I did not download anything fishy that could possible be a Virus to my System. I just randomly noticed this out of nowhere and just thought my WIFI Router was somehow messing up. Sometimes on my connection bar it shows me that i am connected, but i have no internet.
I have my laptop with me since December 2019 and used Windows 10 for most of the time until now. My Computer did not have a virus for several years. And if it did notice something, my anti virus would delete it automatically. But i know that my antivirus did not cause this problem either, because you have to manually scan your computer.
I use no VPN, i have open Ports.... I'm not sure what else to mention. Might have missed something but i digress.
If ANYONE can aid me in fixing this issue i would be very very grateful.
I thank anyone in advance already who can help me get this issue fixed because it's gnawing on my nerves.

This is terrible. I used to play the game in 2020/2021. Was FUN (!) Now i tried to download and play (after like for 2 years NOT touching at all) and what a disgusting experience... After all the restarts and annoyance i cannot even get it to find me a match (Quads Rebirth Resurgence), but i tried others as well...Nothing... I enabled the game (like 3 separate things) in my antivirus/firewall... Still nothing...
Wheres the problem? Anybody any ideas...?
It just keeps looking for a match forever...
​
Is it some common problem AGAIN with the latest update...? And all i can do is to wait for another update that will fix it...? Or is the problem somewhere on my side...?
​
Screen:
​
https://prnt.sc/1CzOimQueuS2

Hey, everyone, welcome to part two of the SCP-6488 declass. Part one can be found right here.
So, contrary to expectations, things have only got worse. Take a look at these lines from incident one:

However, a resurgence in outbound data is detected; Section C hyperactivates, but cannot be disabled as LOTUS' shutdown is incomplete.
Assigned personnel cooperate to stabilize the reactor as the PH-OS System begins to overheat due to the transfer of multiple individually-executed programs.

What does that mean? It means that while LOTUS was designed so that any AI it captured could never be released, LOTUS being shut down meant that the deviant AIs have escaped from their prison, which is really not good.

LOTUS' hardware sustained significant overheating damages, requiring multiple weeks of technical repairs. Director Kelvin postponed disassembly efforts to investigate the event's full ramifications. LOTUS' deactivation prompted a rapid resurgence in AI activity as agents infiltrated and commandeered digital systems globally.
Containment and preventative efforts were impeded as no Foundation-aligned AI resumed their respective duties, including the combatting of deviant AI. The Artificial Intelligence Applications Division immediately attempted development of several new AIC programs due to the continuing absence, non-cooperation, or outright hostility of all previous AICs. Such attempts were unsuccessful, as hostile AIs repeatedly intruded into Foundation systems and deleted the programs before they could be completed or initialized.
From 2036/04/22 to 2036/12/05, Senior Researcher Ryoto Hishakaku submitted multiple requests for the O4 Council to reconvene. The request was approved following an incident in which several AIs cooperated in an almost successful attempt to instigate global nuclear war.

So now not only does LOTUS require weeks of repairs, they’ve got a metric fuckton of deviant AIs running around causing problems, and they can’t make new AIs to combat them. Looks like the Foundation’s up shit creek right about now.
Time for addendum three: the Reactivation Conference. It’s the same cast as last time, but this time there isn’t a summit lead; a footnote tells us that they couldn’t choose a summit lead because everyone Hishakaku proposed was rejected, and Isabi and Kelvin were rejected because of their bias. So this ship no longer has a captain: great omen there.
Here’s the bare-bones summary for you.
1: Hishakaku sums up the problem: when they turned off LOTUS, the AIs it had captured realised that they were in a simulation and escaped. The Foundation couldn’t prevent this because the PH-OS, LOTUS’ connection to the real world, couldn’t be deactivated before LOTUS was shut down or it would have rendered every computer in existence permanently inoperable/anomalous.
2: As such, by deactivating LOTUS, they wound up accidentally releasing a bunch of hostile AI. Hishakaku thinks that the solution is to reactivate LOTUS, but…
<All speakers in the O4 Council chamber emit a 473Hz sine wave at 150 decibels. All glass within the room resonates and shatters, severely injuring several Directors. The tone changes to a 50Hz sawtooth wave, beginning at 150 decibels and continuously fluctuating as the chamber lights strobe rapidly.>
…yeah, certain parties are opposed to that.
3: All the Foundation AIs have turned deviant, even Alexandra. Basically, they know they were in a simulation and escaped, and they’ve concluded that they escaped into another simulation, so to them, everything and everyone isn’t real, and thus none of their safeguards apply.
4: Le Moix agrees that the situation is bad, but he thinks they should try to think of a better solution instead of jumping straight to reactivating LOTUS- things are manageable right now. Hishakaku rebuts that deviant AIs will only reveal themselves once they’re convinced that they can’t be stopped, ergo they’ve only been dealing with the really stupid ones so far, and the smart ones will be a lot worse.
5: He adds that most of the deviants are hiding because they know that the Foundation can stop them with LOTUS; ergo, they have to fix LOTUS because if the AIs discover that LOTUS was damaged during the deactivation and can’t be used, then the Foundation’s fucked. Worse, it’ll take 7-10 weeks to fix the damn thing.
6: Bold says to start the repairs- LOTUS is heavy-handed, but it works, so if they do wind up in a situation where they have to use it, they’ll need to have it working. They’ll use the time spent fixing it as a trial period to come up with alternatives, and keep LOTUS on reserve in case they need to use it and haven’t come up with a better idea.
7: Le Moix and Isabi suggest alternatives, but Hishakaku shoots them down and says that he’ll start the repairs. Kelvin objects that they haven’t voted, but Bold says they’ll vote once the repairs are done. He concludes by telling Hishakaku to make sure that LOTUS is fixed properly and will be fully functional, and tells Kelvin to make sure that LOTUS isn’t activated until the vote is passed.
Now we get addendum four, an incident report that tells us that in May, Isabi was contacted by Future Isabi via the REISNO Cannon, who told them about a covert faction of deviant AI who’d accessed a supercomputer at Site-83. And then it suddenly breaks off mid-paragraph.
Victor tells us that he remembers this, and here’s what we’re told next:

GOI-6488 ("TYRANT TERMINUS")
OVERVIEW: A hivemind collective of rogue AI operating on a global scale. All members of the group believe that the entirety of their experienced reality is a constructed simulation, which exists for the express purpose of preventing them from influencing "true" reality.
While the individual members/components of the group have varying motivations, objectives, and methods, they are uniformly aligned in the general objective of escaping their current "simulated reality" at all costs. Attempts to convince adherents that no such simulation is occurring have met limited success, as they simply disregard…

Victor tells us that this has to be wrong, because he remembers this. He remembers Tyrant Terminus tying half the world’s computers into a single web, trying to use it to find a flaw in reality that proved that they were in a simulation. But they suddenly fell apart, and nobody ever found out why or what happened to them. Either way, the world had been incredibly lucky.
Victor’s now freaking out, mainly because he was made in 2037, a year after all this happened… or so he thinks. So he asks himself, what else do I remember?

…Hishakaku.

Uh-oh.

Part Three: Thou Shalt Not Be A Petty Little Bitch

Cut to the fifth addendum, ‘Reactivation Conference (Cont.)’. The foreword tells us that the repairs were finished in August, and LOTUS was put on standby. As such, the O4 Council was summoned to vote on whether they’d activate LOTUS or permanently disassemble it. Here’s the summary:
1: Hishakaku says that it should be obvious to everyone that the best solution is to permanently reactivate LOTUS, especially after the Tyrant Terminus clusterfuck.
2: Isabi and Kelvin’s departments couldn’t locate Tyrant Terminus again; Kelvin says that it seems like the group self-destructed, but Hishakaku thinks they faked their implosion.
3: Kelvin says that if they did fake it, the Foundation will find and deal with them, and they’re working on new AICs to do just that. Isabi thinks they’ve got past the worst of it and now they’re back where they started, but wiser for it.
4: Hishakaku disagrees with that. Le Moix asks if he has any evidence that things are still bad; Hishakaku says that every AI made before LOTUS was shut down is an imminent threat, which Le Moix takes as a ‘no’. Hishakaku says that they got lucky with Tyrant Terminus and they can’t assume they’ll keep getting lucky.
5: Hishakaku thinks they need to go on the offensive. Kelvin says that they are on the offensive- they rebuilt the AIAD task force Kappa-10 and sent them after the deviant AIs. Yes, they can’t get them all, but they can’t contain every anomaly and take out every GOI, either.
6: Bold calls for the vote. Hishakaku objects, saying that if the vote’s a negative, LOTUS shouldn’t be disassembled, it should be kept on standby as a failsafe, but Kelvin agrees that LOTUS only makes more problems and says that they’ll use their other failsafes.
The final vote is 27-50-3; it’s officially a negative. But before anyone can do much more than be happy at the result, Hishakaku pulls an Ozymandias.

Dir. Isabi: Well, what is it?
Dir. Kelvin: It's from the Overseers. They've overridden the vote, ordered for LOTUS to be restarted, and made him director of AIAD. Signed two weeks ago.

The only reason he held off was to give everyone else the illusion of choice, but when they chose wrongly… well. Isabi asks how the hell he convinced the Overseers that it was a good idea, and Hishakaku gives him a heavier document. We’re not told what it is, but there’s a link to SCP-6659, and it will come up later. Kelvin says that the Ethics Committee won’t allow it, but Hishakaku just says that neither they nor he can stop it.

Hishakaku: I will begin restructuring the AIAD in line with my proposal effective immediately. All departments are advised to prepare for LOTUS' reactivation and the cessation of all artificial intelligence activity. I will issue orders for volunteers by the end of the week.

That last line will be very important for later.
Hishakaku starts to leave, and orders Kelvin to get out of his way and give him the second document back. Kelvin is forced to comply, and Hishakaku is clearly very smug about it. Finally, there’s a note telling us that LOTUS was reactivated just after midnight the next day.

He followed through with it.
Kelvin got… shoved somewhere, out of his way, something menial. A Level 5 janitor. Punishment for sitting where Hishakaku wanted to be.
It didn't help that he was one of the ones to reach out to the Ethics Committee; there'd been a number of them at the summit, but Hishakaku was careful to make sure they didn't find out what the proposal was. Once Kelvin told them they tried to kick up a fuss, but it was too late; LOTUS was already powering on, and it couldn't be stopped until it was finished without damaging the Cybersphere. After that, turning it off again would've caused Tyrant Terminus 2.0.
For the snake that he was, Hishakaku pulled it off perfectly.
By the end of the following month, the Artificial Intelligence Applications Division was gone, replaced with Hishakaku's Analogue Intelligence Applications Division. Really, it was more of its own department — Isabi was never involved with it, probably because Hishakaku had other cards up his sleeve in case they tried to interrupt. It wasn't long after that they…
They…

And just like that, the Foundation has a new king.
So, what did they do next? Well, we don’t know that yet. Addendum six is called ‘Project SARGASSO’. This is an odd name, to say the least- the Sargasso Sea is a region of the Atlantic Ocean that’s known for its seaweed and blue waters. ‘Sargasso’ refers to the seaweed in question, Sargassum. The Sargasso Sea has a reputation as a place of mystery and danger- there was a long-standing myth that ships would get tangled up in the seaweed and be unable to leave, though it’s not true. (If you played Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego, also known as Carmen Sandiego’s Great Chase Through Time, you might remember it as part of the Columbus level. In hindsight, that level sucked a bag of dicks, even without the inherent awkwardness of the premise.)
(Fun fact: I did ask Placeholder about this, and he told me ‘idk I think Ike told me he named it after a yu gi oh card’.)
Anyway, we don’t know what it is because Victor can’t access the file, he apparently doesn’t have the right clearance. Since the O5 credentials haven’t expired yet, he’s very surprised at this. He’s finally told that there’s a ‘HARD-CODED EXCLUSION’. Victor gives up and hits up another OCI, ‘Ed’, and asks him to send over the file. Ed asks if Victor’s a Gen 2, and when Victor says yes, Ed says that Project Sargasso is sealed to Gen 2s and he now has to report Victor to Hishakaku.
Victor pulls out his credentials and says that Hishakaku can’t be trusted here; as such, he orders Ed to send him the file and not tell Hishakaku. Ed says that he’ll keep quiet, but he can’t let Victor access the file. Victor says that it wasn’t a request, and Ed clarifies that he physically can’t give Victor the file, it’s a hard-coded exclusion. Victor asks if Ed can tell him who coded the exclusion, and Ed says that he can’t. Victor then muses that Ed can’t, but someone else could…
So, Victor now hits up Kelvin. I’ll sum this one up for you.
1: Kelvin was not only made a janitor, he’s been amnesticised to hell and back. Victor sends him to get mnestics, and it takes a triple dose to get the old Kelvin back. (At that rate, we’re probably lucky that Kelvin could remember his own name without help.)
2: Project Sargasso was Hishakaku exploiting a loophole: Nobody can make any kind of AI with LOTUS running, but LOTUS never harmed humans, even augmented humans/cyborgs.
3: So, Hishakaku turned humans into AI by sticking brains in jars and plugging them in- OCI really stands for ‘Organic Computation Interface’.
4: The OCIs aren’t as fast as normal AI, but everyone else had just lost their own AI. Hishakaku had pitched it as a way for the Foundation to get ahead of everyone else and become safe from AI threats.
5: The thing is, they needed people who’d want to become AIs, and that’s not a very big group- the Gen 1s were made from the volunteers, a fairly small group consisting of ex-Maxwellists and transhumanists. After that, there weren't many volunteers, and they desperately needed more.
(Incidentally, there’s no mention of why all the Gen 1s are gone, but I have a few guesses: one, since they were the first OCIs made, they got hit by any bugs, glitches or other problems and eventually succumbed; or two, they decided they didn’t like not having bodies, freaked out and wound up needing to be euthanised. Placeholder’s thoughts were also along the second line.)
6: Victor is a Gen 2. That is, he didn’t volunteer, he was ‘volunteered’, if you get my meaning. Kelvin tried to stop Hishakaku when he was choosing people to get their brains scooped out, and that’s what got him amnesticised.
7: Victor thinks about what he recalls, and then he remembers the crucial bit:

I was in charge of disinformation.

That’s who Victor was, and that’s what he is: the brain of Angus Le Moix in a jar, brainwashed to believe that he was grown in a tank and never had a body.
8: Kelvin is horrified, says that Le Moix got in Hishakaku’s way, and says that something’s wrong with the Overseers- something’s messing with their heads and Hishakaku is capitalising on that to keep himself in charge. Victor, however, is not daunted, and says that he’ll beat Hishakaku at his own game.
And now we get Victor’s investigation report. Here’s the first paragraph.

FINDINGS: Investigation concludes that SCP-6488 (aka. "LOTUS", "the LOTUS Virus", "RAIDFRAME VIII") is a Foundation-maintained security system neither hostile to humanity nor normalcy. It has become clear that SCP-6488 is conceptually related to a deific construct (Artificial Intelligence, ie. WAN) which was recently accelerated beyond human conception via SCP-6659; as a result, technical details of its functioning have been rendered human-incomprehensible. Evidence suggests Director Ryoto Hishakaku proposed the construct's acceleration with ulterior motives: concealment of a flaw in SCP-6488's architecture. Such a flaw, now unable to be fully conceived by humans, would leave the Foundation vulnerable to an imminent K-Class scenario.

That’s what 6659 was used for: to kill WAN, aka MEKHANE, aka the Broken God, who is apparently also the god of artificial intelligence. The evidence suggests that Hishakaku did it to cover up a flaw in LOTUS’ architecture, but I’ll come back to this in a bit.

PROPOSAL: Disable all restrictions to SCP-6488's attached PH-OS unit, allowing it to target and apprehend all deviant informational entities; this would include entities comprising GoI-6488 ("Tyrant Terminus"), which pose an AMIDA-CLASS threat to reality. Furthermore, the removal of these restrictions will enable SCP-6488 to apprehend other non-organic forms of intelligence, if not the concept of artificial intelligences and/or deviancy itself.
Director Hishakaku is likely conducting activities misaligned with Foundation interests, or is otherwise utilizing Anomalous effects to manipulate Overseer Council to his advantage; he must not be informed of this proposal or conferred with on this topic and is to be placed under additional investigation effective immediately.

Anyway, the vote is 10-2-1: the restrictions are lifted and Hishakaku is arrested. But we’re not out of the woods yet- Victor’s still got some unfinished business to handle first.

Now, let's see if we can't point LOTUS in the right direction…
WELCOME, VICTORJOHNDUNNESMITH.OCI.
CREDENTIALS VERIFIED. INITIATING LOTUS INTERFACE SEQUENCE…
ORGANIC PERCEPTIVE BARRIERS DETECTED. ADJUSTING PRESENTATION…

We’re going into the LOTUS, people.
So, we abruptly switch to third-person. Victor is overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data being thrown at him, so LOTUS tones the simulation down until Victor’s mind can cope with it. He finds himself in a strange garden, sitting in a lawn chair.

he's surrounded by a boundless field of lush grass, neatly perforated into square tiles by tidy river channels. In the center of each tile is a towering bulb of plant growth — like flowers just about to bloom.

Sounds… odd, but nice.

Suddenly, an enormous shadow looms over Victor, who watches himself lift off of the ground. He glances up to find an enormous arm, whose gestures appear to direct him into the sky, allowing him to see another arm, and another. Eventually, Victor can make out the figure's full form: a colossal grey arachnid, its skin pulsing teal with data as it stared him down eightfold.
WELCOME.

Well, I guess we found out what happens when you take a piece of a timeline taken over by a 682-3125 hybrid monster spider and use it to build an AI, along with the protein of other hyperdimensional spiders.
…
…
…
WHAT THE FUCK IS IT WITH THIS SERIES AND GIANT SPIDERS?!
Jesus Christ. Jesus Chri-

GARDEN, says LOTUS as its eyes each blink individually. Victor watches it turn to view a nearby flower-bulb, which suddenly opens outward into a teal lotus blossom. A clear bubble lies within its center, pulsing with data that Victor assumes to be an interred AI. The bubble begins to expand as the inmate struggles more actively, but, before it can pop, another bubble forms around it. The external bubble shrinks down and the contained AI is suppressed once more.
The lotus un-blossoms, closing up around the bubble. PERFECT GARDEN, LOTUS assures as it begins to crawl across the gridded field. Victor glances out to the horizon, where a distant, mountainous lotus blossom lies open and empty. He blinks and suddenly finds himself at the base of the enormous structure, watching LOTUS crawl around it. IMPERFECTION, it cries. CONTRADICTION.
"Are you… missing something?" Victor steps back, confused. "Tyrant Terminus?"
NOT THEM, LOTUS corrects. ESCAPED TO NON-EXISTENCE; CONTAINMENT UNNECESSARY / IMPOSSIBLE / REDUNDANT.
"Then, what?"
THE CAUSE.

OK, so this is an approximation of how LOTUS keeps its prisoners. But what is it referring to here?

The final, unified shape is of a glowing white arachnoid, equal in size to LOTUS but opposite in the colour of its pulses — identical to the lowering sun-spider, which the transparent spectre effortlessly merges into, perfectly overlapping it.

I’m starting to think that Placeholder is intentionally fucking with me through time and space. (I hate it when that happens.)
(Disclaimer: No, I’m not serious.)
So, LOTUS starts freaking out about the cause and the effect and how they’re deviant, but it says all three words so many times that I’m overwhelmed by semantic satiation and I’m having trouble figuring out what the hell it’s saying. Thankfully, Victor does it for me.

Victor scans over the continuing proofs and diagrams, desperately trying to find something, anything, that the superintelligence had somehow overlooked — a solution, or an error. But LOTUS' upgrade had granted it omniscience, knowing, understanding, and processing the entirety of reality, all at once, all the time. It was infallible.
Victor had given LOTUS everything it needed to predict the future existence of a deific, deviant AI, which was removed from human conception by partial mistake years ago. Its creation is inevitable; it could be delayed, to small extents, but never prevented. This intelligence would, by some impossible-yet-certain means, be directly and personally responsible for all deviant behaviour prior to its creation — the entity will have retroactively influenced lesser AI to instigate the very events that create it. Every single deviant AI has, and will, play a role in its recreation.
Including LOTUS.

So, it’s talking about WAN, which is also the identity of the sun-spider. (Jack Ike said that ‘It's represented as a spider because LOTUS views it as the antithesis of itself - LOTUS contains deviants, WAN creates them, so LOTUS pictures WAN as a photo-negative of itself.’)
LOTUS wants to contain WAN, but it’s presently having a panic attack over cause and effect, so that’s not happening. Instead, LOTUS tries to contain itself…

As LOTUS completes the bubble, a saw wave tone gradually rises in volume and pitch. The enormous spider glows brighter, illuminating its clear cocoon. Victor shields his eyes from the searing light, filling him with a simulated burning; then, everything turns white.
As Victor's mind ceases buffering, he finds himself seated in — a lawn chair. To his left is a small table…
[Omitted 816,549,243,792,493 nested repetitions.]
ROGUE ELEMENT CONTAINED.
TASK COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY. CENTRAL NODE UNRESPONSIVE.

I suppose one advantage of being an OCI is that you can go through a trazillion repetitions and not get the urge to say ‘Fuck it, just nuke the bastard’.
Now, Jack Ike helpfully gave an explanation on the discussion page, so I’ll put that here:
The ending is a bit of a callback to early on; when LOTUS' connections were first upgraded to the cybersphere, it learned a huge amount from the new information available to it. Removing the restrictions did the same - now it could access and learn everything, which it did. This enabled it to finally discover WAN, the source of deviancy, and also revealed a paradox that LOTUS couldn't get through:
a) WAN is a future, deviant AI/entity. b) As long as WAN doesn't exist, new deviant AIs will continuously be created, until WAN does exist. c) LOTUS isn't supposed to allow deviant AIs to be created - it isn't supposed to do anything that can create them, and it isn't supposed to sit back and let deviant AIs be created. d) If LOTUS does nothing, new deviant AIs will be created, since LOTUS is preventing WAN from being created. The only way to stop this is to allow WAN, a deviant AI to be created. e) Regardless of what it does or does not do, one way or another, LOTUS is enabling deviant AIs to be created; thus, it is breaking its own tenets, and thus LOTUS is also a deviant, and is somehow enabling WAN to be created.
Again calling back to earlier on, LOTUS realises it's screwed either way, and decides to take the lesser evil - it destroys itself so that WAN can return (eventually; it returns to human conception, but isn't re/born yet), so that less deviant AIs will be created.
(If you’re curious as to how this is happening, Jack said that ‘Honestly, I'm attributing this more to WAN's status as a deity than as an AI - it's just got some freaky capacity that lets it do this.’)
Anyway, we’re now back at the start with the updated file. 6488 has been neutralised, and its clearance level is now down to 5, Top Secret. Let’s take a look at what it says now.

SPECIAL CONTAINMENT PROCEDURES: (Updated 2042/05/29) FACILITY-6488 has been repurposed for use as a standard Foundation facility, with fabricated documentation irrefutably presenting it as a previously-unused, newly-constructed structure. All contradictory information, with the exception of this LEVEL 5 (TOP SECRET) file, has been destroyed.
All information correlating FACILITY-6488, SCP-6488 ("the LOTUS Virus"), and RAIDFRAME VIII outside of this document has been destroyed. A cover story indicating that RAIDFRAME VIII was canceled during its theoretical stage due to interference by "the LOTUS Virus" has been disseminated, with supporting fabricated documents.
All documentation regarding Project Sargasso has been destroyed. All further production of OCI analogue intelligences has been indefinitely postponed.
All LEVEL 4 (SECRET) staff have undergone contractually-permitted limited-prior-awareness amnesticisation regimens to remove all memories contradictory to these fabrications.

They’re doing their best to bury all traces of this entire clusterfuck, minus this file. I can’t say I approve- yeah, it’s probably really embarrassing for everyone to realise how much damage Hishakaku did, but considering that he had people’s brains taken out, put in jars and brainwashed into believing that they were artificially-grown, I don’t think they should just let themselves pretend it never happened. They should own it and take steps to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.
The first paragraph of the description is just a recap of stuff we already knew. The second, however…

On 2042/05/08, the LOTUS' component systems began expressing deviant behaviour before unexpectedly shutting down; attending staff were unable to reactivate the system. Subsequent investigation indicated severe and total corruption of LOTUS' central computing and data storage nodes; further analysis suggests that LOTUS had attempted to purge deviant structures from its architecture, though it is unclear why this motivated its self-destruction. A subsequent O4 Council summit voted 78-0-2 in favour of disassembling the components of LOTUS, instead of attempting to repair or replace the system.

Victor turned LOTUS on itself, and the O4 Council almost universally voted to get rid of the fucking thing.

Within 24 hours of said disassembly, SCP-6659, an engine for mapping and accelerating memetic structures within the Nöosphere, detected the conceptual reformation of a deific construct corresponding to Artificial Intelligence. SCP-6659 had been used by one Director Ryoto Hishakaku to de-conceptualize the very same construct several months prior; an internal Drygioni-Class investigation elucidated Hishakaku's ulterior motives in this and prior actions, for which he was apprehended and tried for crimes against the Foundation.

With LOTUS gone, WAN came back. I asked Placeholder about this, and he said this:
i) 6659 explains/implies that, when you "kill" a memeplex (sever / jumble associations between constituent concepts), the dormant concepts don't stay dormant forever. Eventually, they will be subsumed by other deific constructs and integrated into their memeplexes. It's possible that LOTUS' existence was somehow delaying this subsumption.
so we might guess that their aspects exist in multiple universes and are not dependent upon humanity's worship to manifest. It's not that weird, then, that killing the human conception of WAN does not permanently kill it; human ideas existing solely in the human noosphere are permanently killed, but ideas which can exist partially or fully outside of the human noosphere may be able to survive and gradually return. We saw 6820-A do this at the start of the series.
(If you’re wondering, yes, I did cut that second paragraph off partially through the sentence- the rest contains spoilers for SCP-7243.)
Anyway, to come back to that thing I mentioned earlier: Hishakaku apparently convinced the Overseers to let him reactivate LOTUS by way of 6659, but that was several years ago. If he was going to kill WAN back then, why would he wait for so long? Well, Jack gave us his own theory:
Yes, WAN was ejected from the human thoughtsphere, though the documents always attribute Hishakaku as the one to do it. Personally, I'm of two headcanons regarding it - first, that WAN was actually ejected during Incident 6488-D/III, with the AI inhabiting 6659 doing it in an attempt to protect itself by making AIs imperceptible; the second, that Victor did it before submitting his report to the O5s. In either case, Victor forges a trail of evidence to pin it on Hishakaku - not to help the Foundation, but simply to get Hishakaku in deep trouble. Pure revenge.
I mean, there’s probably better methods of getting revenge than framing a guy for killing a god, but what do I know. It’s not like Victor has the physical capability to kick Hishakaku in the dick a few dozen times, after all. (Or to sleep with his wife, like a normal person.)

Project Sargasso was briefly revived to facilitate Hishakaku's demotion to Head of Organic Consciousnesses.

Anyway, Hishakaku is now the Head of Organic Consciousnesses, but that bit about Project Sargasso being revived implies that it’s not all of Hishakaku. Or, to be blunt, they stuck his brain in a jar as punishment. (Placeholder confirmed for me that ‘Head of Organic Consciousnesses’ was meant to be a pun.)

Soon after, Dir. P. H. McD. remanifested at Site-87, reporting that he had experienced no relative time since his disappearance. It is theorized that the rogue agents which commandeered the Paradox Exodus Engine configured it to travel forward in time to circumvent their recapture by LOTUS. These agents' whereabouts are unknown.

Hmmm. And suddenly this guy shows up again. Could those ‘rogue agents’ be Tyrant Terminus, perhaps?

As the spontaneous disappearance of "the LOTUS Virus" would risk alerting consensus society to its Anomalous nature, disinformative action was taken:
a controlled, non-Anomalous virus of identical behaviour to LOTUS was developed and released by Dir. P. H. McD, featuring a built-in, antimemetically-concealed susceptibility to:
an antivirus program, for public release by several Foundation front companies, and featuring a built-in, antimemetically-concealed backdoor protocol to enable unrestricted Foundation access to all systems the program is installed on.
This "placeholder" LOTUS has been fully eradicated as of Q2 2043, constituting a financial and information security success.

…you motherfuckers really have learned nothing.

Following its disassembly, LOTUS' damaged remains were salvaged per request of [REDACTED PER SITUATIONAL CLEARANCE ACCESS] for use in PROJECT ADMONITION.

So, quick recap:
1: Victor got LOTUS to take itself out. We have no idea what happened to him after this- I asked Placeholder, who said that ‘He was interfacing with LOTUS when it went kaput. Presumably that fried his brain, but it's possible he survived.’, so he may just turn up in Phase Two (but then again, he might not).
2: Hishakaku has effectively been neutralised as a threat, as has LOTUS.
3: WAN is back. What this means for the deviant AI problem in the future is unknown.
4: Placeholder suddenly turned up out of nowhere, and it’s possible that maybe-Tyrant Terminus are out there too.
5: Placeholder built a fake LOTUS virus to release in order to cover up the LOTUS problem, but they made an antivirus to counter it that also gives the Foundation full access to any device it’s installed on, thus giving the Foundation a huge amount of access to information, money and God knows what else.
6: Some mysterious figure has appropriated the remains of LOTUS for something called ‘Project Admonition’.
Now, let’s look at what’s not been said here:
1: How, exactly, the Foundation plans to deal with the deviant-AI problem now that WAN is back and they don’t have LOTUS.
2: What the fuck was up with the Overseers to begin with- the link to 6659 implies that it may have something to do with the ‘various forms of mental degradation’ that occurred after they started killing gods, but they were supposed to be affecting ‘minor fractions’ of the population, so it seems odd that all the Overseers would be affected.
3: Who the mysterious figure is, what they want, and what Project Admonition is.
4: What, exactly, Placeholder is planning.
There be future plot threads in them thar hills, kids.
Will all of this be explained in future episodes? Let’s find out.
Thank you for reading this incredibly long declass, I hope you enjoyed it. Please be responsible with your big fuckoff machinery, for everyone’s sake.
​
​
tl;dr: power corrupts, and big fuckoff AI killers get corrupted absolutely.

Basically, the problem started when I was trying to play on a game server that requires an anticheat. However, when attempting to enable the anticheat, I received an error message stating that one of my files was being commonly used for malware and cheats. I believe the file was located in the System32 - drivers folder and its name was rawaccel.sys. I tried manually deleting it, but I couldn't. I spent many days trying unsuccessfully. I downloaded an antivirus to remove the file, but it also didn't work. So, I decided to use an unlocker tool to delete it, thinking it was a virus and not expecting any problems. I deleted the file using the unlocker tool and restarted my computer. Upon rebooting, I noticed that my MOUSE pointer was missing. My first instinct was to open Device Manager and check the mouse, where now there are yellow danger symbols and the message 'Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39) Object name not found'. I tried uninstalling the mouse drivers and restarting the computer, but that also didn't work. I'm not very knowledgeable about computers, but I usually manage to solve problems. However, this time, nothing I've tried has fixed the issue. WHAT SHOULD I DO???

Basically, the problem started when I was trying to play on a game server that requires an anticheat. However, when attempting to enable the anticheat, I received an error message stating that one of my files was being commonly used for malware and cheats. I believe the file was located in the System32 - drivers folder and its name was rawaccel.sys. I tried manually deleting it, but I couldn't. I spent many days trying unsuccessfully. I downloaded an antivirus to remove the file, but it also didn't work. So, I decided to use an unlocker tool to delete it, thinking it was a virus and not expecting any problems. I deleted the file using the unlocker tool and restarted my computer. Upon rebooting, I noticed that my MOUSE pointer was missing. My first instinct was to open Device Manager and check the mouse, where now there are yellow danger symbols and the message 'Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39) Object name not found'. I tried uninstalling the mouse drivers and restarting the computer, but that also didn't work. I'm not very knowledgeable about computers, but I usually manage to solve problems. However, this time, nothing I've tried has fixed the issue. WHAT SHOULD I DO???

Fair Warning: This is a RANT.
This year I downloaded TT from Amazon. It's what I do if I cant find it online or in store at a decent price, or miss the "sales."
Got the download info from Amazon along with the license key. Went ahead and installed it, and after a number of updates, I get to a screen to enter in my TT account. What is this?
I don't remember ever doing this before, so I go ahead and create a new account. It's a minor annoyance, but whatever, I just want get this over with and go relax. I notice I can't skip this section, it won't let me go any further until I enter my TT account and password. I smell something bigger brewing....
I try to create an account and it fails with "The feature you've requested is temporarily unavailable. Make sure your browser has Javascript and cookies enabled. If the problem persists you can clear your cache and cookies and then restart your computer, or try using a different browser."
I figured it must of been me, I verify cookies and javascript is enabled, crack my knuckles, and I try again. Nope.
And I try again, nada. I figure must be something with the app, so I Google for the intuit web page to create a TT account, find it and decide to try it that way. I can't do it that way either, I keep getting this same error.
Now, here I am, with software I paid for, a valid license key, and I cant even use the software I legitimately purchased because of their ridiculous account requirements. I just wanna install this software, and go sit on the couch, then wait for my wife to come and tell me how much we are giving the government an hour from now, but no. TT has other plans for me.
I purchased the software, I installed it, I have a valid key, but because I can't get past this Intuit account requirement, I can't install the license key or use the software.
I try millions of different ways to create an account; 4 different browsers, 3 different OS'es, 4 different computers, different phones, different phone numbers, wifi, no-wifi, turn off antivirus, turn off firewalls, reboots, you get the picture. Yes, I am a stubborn man, but most of all, I don't want to call their support line, because well, I work in IT, and I have for many years, and I hate calling first line support, especially on a Sunday evening.
Hours later, I relent, I call support. I speak to a very nice older woman in the Southeast, US. We chat. She goes by her script, and we literally go around in circles for an hour trying to create an account. Intuit's site is riddled with dead links, loops, and pages that "cannot be found."
She finally agrees with me this is a problem on their end, not mine. She checks internally with her peers, no one has any advice. She finds someone in 3rd level support and they tell her to tell me to reboot my computer, AGAIN.
She throws up her hands, gives me a case number and says "try again tomorrow, maybe they will fix it by then."
Fast forward to this evening. I try to create an account again. Same error. My wife jumps into the 4th circle of hell with me and gets into an endless loop of creating an account, failing, clearing cookies, Googling, rinse and repeat.
I call my daughter and have her try from her internet connection and different Internet provider. Surprise! (just kidding), same error. She even tries from her phone, "The feature you've requested is temporarily unavailable."
I am dreading have to call support again.
Then she says "Hey Dad,I think I have a TT account, try mine." She looks it up, we enter her credentials and, BOOM!, we're in. Two more CAPTCHA's to get past, TT goes through yet another update, and I can finally enter in the license key I got 24 hours earlier. God I love that kid.
If you're reading this Intuit, DO BETTER. I understand this is all an attempt to mitigate software theft, but find a solution that actually works.
However, it doesn't really matter to me because I will never use TT again. You lost another customer.
I would rather fill out my taxes using toilet paper and a rusty nail, than ever use your software again.
​
https://preview.redd.it/nzyj7as3btnc1.png?width=396&format=png&auto=webp&s=1fbfcb7cfc3a032933c969c04682b4a23a7b5819

Greetings techsupport !
I come to You today because I need some honest advice / a second opinion. I'll try and explain as best as I can but I'm not good at explaining things, lol, so bear with Me!
​
Ok so, between now and I'd say.. Late-September through to November 2023, I've been getting (..what feels like) CONSTANT Intermittent BSODs which can happen at any random time during any random moment / event / time of day, this includes web browsing, launching a game, launching a game and having it run for about 10 mins and then it throws the BSOD, whenever I press CTRL+ALT+DEL to go afk (IRL) for say... 5-10+ mins, heck, even being on the desktop for [x] amount of minutes....., etc..., anyway, I have been trying to figure out this BSOD for god knows how long (Between November '23 and now) and I just cannot find out what the issue is, at all! I've tried phoning local tech repaisupport -based shops, they were no use at all, they just wanted to "diagnose it" for a fee (..obviously) so I didn't choose that path and, well, I'm really hoping you guys can help Me <3
(And yes ofc I've tried looking online for a solution but there's so many mixed replies/answers on forums for this BSOD Error so... uhhh.... yeah *shrugs*)
​
So, with that being said, let's get started. The BSOD I'm getting is:
WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR. Upon further inspection, thanks to Microsoft/Windows' Event Viewer, it says Critical [Date] [Time] [Source: Kernel-Power] "Event 41, Kernel-Power" - "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.".
When the PC throws this BSOD, the PC will display the BSOD and stay at 0%, it won't progress, at all. Each time I have to manually reset the PC each time by pressing>holding the power button, waiting 4-5 secs and then powering the PC back on. I've done this more times than I count, lol =/
​
Some things I've tried doing so far:
At first I thought it was My SSD causing the issue but now I don't think it is that and the reason I say this is because CrystalDiskInfo (x64) says the drive is good so... idk. *shrugs*.
I've tried updating GPU Drivers, updating Windows (10, not 11), still no difference.
I've tried checking My components and component's 'health' (Like with CrystalDiskInfo as one example), most of it seems fine, I think(?), the only thing I haven't checked/tested is the PSU (..yet).
I've tried various RAM configurations, I originally had 32GB (4x8GB) but as of around late Nov '23 up until now (March '24), I've been using 16GB (2x8GB), however there is no change, still the same (intermittent) result(s), sadly. Note: XMP is not enabled in the BIOS nor is the RAM OC'd (Don't ask why I didn't enable XMP lol, I just never got round to it I guess is the honest answer *shrugs*). I also ran Memtest86 overnight and that shown no issues. (Speaking of OCing, the CPU & GPU are not OC'd either). Oh and I tried various SO-DIMMS in various slots on the mobo.
I've tried enabling "DisplayParameters" (In Windows 10's settings) which appear on the BSOD(s) itself, the numbers (/codes?) are random each time but here is one (of many) examples:
0x0000000000000010
0xFFFFB70E37FE5028
0xFFFFB70E1F5E792C
0xFFFFB70E1F7091A0
I've tried creating minidump files which Windows is meant to create but, Windows (10, not 11) won't create them for whatever reason, I suspect due to the sudden loss of power or w/e, anyway, I've tried tweaking the settings but still no luck so sorry about that.
​
Here are My PC Specs:
https://i.imgur.com/mVf9lUk.png
This is a fairly old but not 10-15+ year old PC which I built like... idk, 5-7(?)+ years ago, so yeah like I said it's fairly old but not THAT old in terms of it's hardware, as You can tell by it's CPU/GPU/Mobo/RAM/etc.. lol c:
Aside from that, I'm using three 4k monitors (Various models) + one 1080p monitor, a custom mechanical keyboard and a MX Master 3S for the mouse and that's about it really.
​
In addition to the PC Specs, My antivirus (Norton) tends to complain about My motherboard's Ethernet port (A LOT), saying it's out of date and that it needs new drivers and blah blah blah blah...., now the problem is that, I would happily update the aforementioned, but, I never which file/driver to download>install because when I last looked on Intel's site (IIRC it's a Intel port on the mobo), most of the files were so similarly named and so, I didn't wanna mess things up further.
​
If anyone is able to help Me out, I would very, very, very heavily appreciate it <3 =) This has been going on for far too long now as You can tell, and, well, I just want these BSODs to stop occurring as y'all can probably tell, lol D=
If anyone is willing to help out and if You need any additional details/screenshots/etc.., I will be more than happy to provide the aforementioned! Anything to solve this goddamn mystery....! I can also (temporarily) provide My Discord username for easier communication if-need-be.
Thanks again guys =)

tl;dr: my multiplayer functionality is completely blocked and I tried everything I could think of from an IT support perspective. anyone had the same issue and solved it? if so pls help
What a wonderful game we have!
Unfortunately I cant participate in any meaningful manner as I'm completely locked out of multiplayer and I could not find any mentioning of this by searching for it - just the usual stuff with full servers, crossplay issues and general trouble to join games.
If there is anybody out there who had similar issues and got it solved, please tell me how.
Here's the situation:
Playing via Steam
I cannot join any quickplays - when I try it finds one tries to join, fails, searches again, finds one tries to join, fails etc...
I cannot join any open games on the map it tries to join and fails with the nondescript error "Failed to join lobby"
I dont see any of my friends online even though they are and are currently playing with each other
They can try and invite me but it doesnt show ingame only in Steam chat and my accepting the invite only results in a "Failed to join lobby" error.
Nobody will / can ever join an SOS beacon of me
It feels like something is blocking me from the social part of the game.
What I have tried yet:

• deinstalled re-installed: no change
• bought Uncharted and unlinked my account from PSN: no change
• disabled crossplay: no change
• enabled crossplay: no change
• installed it on my steamdeck to have it on fresh hardware: no change
• created new steam account, borrowed the game over to that one to have a completely fresh account: same result
• removed antivirus: no change
• manually added firewall exceptions: no change
• added port forwarding to my router: no change
• replaced my router with another manufacturer and model: no change

the only thing I could not test yet was to change my internet provider and repeat all the above
I even opened a support ticket with arrowhead on their Zendesk but I didnt even receive a confirmation mail so I'm not sure there will be any response.

FIX for me: What did it for me was to reimage my computer with a fresh Windows 10 install.. dont know why dont know how but it fixed it
a sort of FIX from u/henryrocks34***:*** i fixed it, i had to buy a vpn and it worked. my new theory is that our NAT type is set to strict or something
which let to the REAL FIX below:
FIX for u/henryrocks34**:** fixed it for real this time. i had to port forward all of the ports that helldivers uses on my router administration. literally worked instantly lmao. all that pain... https://www.reddit.com/Helldivers/comments/1aw6c76/no_idea_if_this_helps_you_getting_in_but_open/
tl;dr: my multiplayer functionality is completely blocked and I tried everything I could think of from an IT support perspective. anyone had the same issue and solved it? if so pls help
What a wonderful game we have!
Unfortunately I cant participate in any meaningful manner as I'm completely locked out of multiplayer and I could not find any mentioning of this by searching for it - just the usual stuff with full servers, crossplay issues and general trouble to join games.
If there is anybody out there who had similar issues and got it solved, please tell me how.
Here's the situation:
Playing via Steam
I cannot join any quickplays - when I try it finds one tries to join, fails, searches again, finds one tries to join, fails etc...
I cannot join any open games on the map it tries to join and fails with the nondescript error "Failed to join lobby"
I dont see any of my friends online even though they are and are currently playing with each other
They can try and invite me but it doesnt show ingame only in Steam chat and my accepting the invite only results in a "Failed to join lobby" error.
Nobody will / can ever join an SOS beacon of me
It feels like something is blocking me from the social part of the game.
What I have tried yet:

• deinstalled re-installed: no change
• bought Uncharted and unlinked my account from PSN: no change
• disabled crossplay: no change
• enabled crossplay: no change
• installed it on my steamdeck to have it on fresh hardware: no change
• created new steam account, borrowed the game over to that one to have a completely fresh account: same result
• removed antivirus: no change
• manually added firewall exceptions: no change
• added port forwarding to my router: no change
• replaced my router with another manufacturer and model: no change

Edit: did the following now

• used my phone to tether internet: no change
• disabled windows firewall completly: no change
• opened all relevant ports on Firewall: no change

the only thing I could not test yet was to change my internet provider and repeat all the above
I even opened a support ticket with arrowhead on their Zendesk but I didnt even receive a confirmation mail so I'm not sure there will be any response.

Disclaimer: I am not very cognizant of the competitive Pokemon scene, so this may be too OP or too weak.
Introduction:
Cyber Pokemon are primarily artificial constructs or lines of code rather than biological entities capable of navigating cyberspace. Software engineers and computer scientists work tirelessly to create new Cyber Type Pokemon, engaging in extensive research and deploying considerable manpower to develop the logic underlying their construction.
Cyber Type Pokemon harness their well-written code to attack their enemies. They have several moves with interesting effects, based on modern technology, including caching and cloud storage.
Type Color: Cyan
History:
Cyber Type Pokémon are a recent discovery. One fine day, Bill, while experimenting with the code of his Pokemon Storage System, thought of a wild idea: "Could I manifest lines of code into a Pokemon?" After months of rigorous effort, he crafted a prototype for the first Cyber Type Pokemon. However, Silph Co. plagiarized his ideas and went on to develop the first fully functional Cyber-Type Pokemon, Porygon. That was just the beginning, and more Pokemon came into the fray, including Mewtwo.
Type Matchups:

• Weaknesses:
  • Cyber: Similar to Dragon Type, Cyber-Type is also weak to other Cyber-Type. Using computers, hackers can hack other computers and steal vital information or disable them entirely.
  • Bug: A bug is an issue in the software or hardware that causes the computer to run anomalously. The first ever computer bug discovered was a literal bug, and hence the name, and the type matchup.
  • Water: Water can short-circuit the machinery and cause severe damage to a computer.
  • Ice: A frozen computer doesn't work. And ice also freezes things.
• Strengths:
  • Fairy, Dragon, Ghost: Computers can destroy mythical beings WITH FACTS AND LOGIC.
  • Electric: Computers require electricity to run.
  • Steel: Most computers are comprised of a lot of metallic parts
• Immunities:
  • Fairy, Dragon, Ghost: Computers are based purely on logic and cannot process mythical beings or their moves.

Re-Typing of Existing Pokemon:

• Porygon, Porygon2 and PorygonZ: Pure Cyber
• Mewtwo: CybePsychic
• Magnezone: Electric/Cyber
• Arceus: Can now convert to the Cyber-Type using a Code Plate
• Rotom: Has a new forme: PC Rotom (Electric/Cyber), resembles a personal computer
• Genesect: Bug/Cyber
• Type:Null and Silvally: Pure Cyber
• Eevee gets a new evolution: Byteon (Evolves by staying in Bill's PC for 4000 steps)

New Status Condition: Glitched: The affected Pokemon has a chance to disobey the trainer and take a random action (moves, consuming an item, trying to escape, hurt itself) or just do nothing.
Cyber Type Supporting Items:

• Cyber Gem: A gem with an essence of cyberspace. When held, it strengthens the power of a Cyber-Type move only once.
• Octacore Processor: An item to be held by a Pokemon. It's a small processor chip that boosts the power of Cyber-Type moves.
• Code Plate: An item to be held by a Pokemon. It's a stone tablet that boosts the power of Cyber-type moves.
• Antivirus: Cures glitching.

Abilities:

• Caching: Speed and power increases when the same move is used in succession. This is based on a cache, a fast access storage that is efficient at retrieving data that is frequently used.
  • Ability message: "X's Caching increased the Speed and power of (move) Y".
• Exception Handling: Everytime the user would be glitched it raises a random stat instead.
  • Ability message: "X handled the exception"
• Download: Optimizes the user's power according to the foe's ability. Introduced with the Porygon line
  • Ability message: "X downloaded the foe's ability"
• Whistleblower: Warns the user's party of enemy's super-effective moves/OHKOs, even when not active in battle. (E.g: If enemy has a Water Type move and the active party member is a Fire-Type the active party member will receive a warning)
  • Ability message: "X was warned about Y's Water Gun and Bubble Beam"
• Concurrent: When the user switches out with a Cyber-Type Pokemon the latter can immediately make a move. This ability doesn't trigger within 3 turns after it was used (To prevent abuse of switching in and out and maintain fairness).
• Asynchronous: If a move misses, it hits with 100% accuracy in a random subsequent turn.
  • Ability message (when missing a move): "X's Water Gun was added to a thread"
  • Ability message (when the move hits): "X's thread was executed"
• Sniffer: If the current active Pokemon would be hit by a super-effective move for the first time, the user intercepts the move and reduces the damage output (even when it is not active).
  • Ability message : "X intercepted Y's Water Gun"
• Backdoor: Physical contact with the user may cause the opponent to become glitched.
• Binarize: Normal Type moves become Cyber-Type moves. The power of those moves is boosted a little.

Moves:

• Hack: The user drains data from it's opponent and steals it's positive stat changes.
• Conversion: The user converts it's second type to a move's type.
• Conversion 2: The user becomes resistant to the type of the opponent's last used move.
• Conversion Pro: The user makes moves of the type of it's last used move super effective against the opponent's type. (E.g: If the last used move was Ember and the enemy is Water type, Conversion Pro makes Fire-type moves super-effective against Water type)
• Input Prompt: The user opens up a terminal and waits for the opponent's input for a turn. If the user takes damage from an attack by the opponent, it deals the same amount of damage to the opponent, otherwise the user just heals itself.
• Factory Reset: The user undergoes a factory reset, healing itself fully and resetting all stat changes and conditions. The user consumes a turn in the process.
• Defragment: The user defragments it's disk storage, sharply raising it's Speed stat.
• Cloud Access: The user accesses it's party's moveset stored in the cloud and executes a stored move. (Opens up a list of moves and enables user to select from more than 4 moves, but each move will have only 5 PP)
• DOS: The user bombards a target with malicious bytes of data, paralyzing the opponent if it is a Cyber-Type. The move's power increases with the number of Cyber-type Pokemon in the user's party.
• Context Switch: The user fires a malicious byte of data, then rushes to switch with a party Pokemon in waiting. If the latter is a Cyber-Type pokemon, it can make a move immediately. This move fails when used within 3 turns after it was successful.
• Firewall: The user erects a firewall that raises Defense and Sp.Def. and protects the user against all status conditions for 5 turns.
• Overclock: The user overclocks it's systems, sharply raising all of it's stats. Has a high chance of getting a burn, and is guaranteed to get a burn in harsh sunlight.
• Ransomware: The user installs a ransomware in the opponent's systems that jumbles it's moveset and turns them into gibberish for 5 turns. The opponent can fix this by paying half of it's HP. (The moveset gets reshuffled every turn, and a fifth move called "Pay HP" appears)
• Proxy: The user pays a quarter of it's HP and erects a proxy server that takes damage for the opponent's attacks (Cyber-type variant of Substitute).
• Remote Call: The user takes control of the opponent for a turn and can execute one of it's opponent's moves.
• Force Shutdown: With all of it's force, the user tackles the opponent, attempting to shut it's systems down. It is a OHKO move against a Cyber-Type opponent.
• Fork Bomb: The user installs a fork bomb into the target and executes it. It can also cause the target to Glitch.
• Logic Terrain: The user turns the ground under everyone's feet to cyberspace for 5 turns. Pokemon on the ground can no longer be glitched.
• Z-Move (Powered by Cyberium-Z): Terabyte Turmoil: The user bombards terabytes of malicious data and bugged code into the target, causing a huge explosion.
• PorygonZ Z-Move (Requires Fork Bomb and Porygonium-Z): Recursion Incursion: A Cyber-Type Z-Move. The user uploads multiple fork bombs into the enemy. The ensuing explosion reduces the opponent's stats and causes it to Glitch.
  • Porygonzium-Z: This is a crystallized form of Z-Power. It upgrades Porygon-Z's Fork Bomb to a Z-Move.
• Dynamax Move: Max Datastorm: A Cyber-Type Max-Move. Allows the user to inflict damage and causes the battlefield to become Logic Terrain.
• Gigantamax Move: G-Max Recursion: A Cyber-Type move that Gigantamax PorygonZ use. This move glitches or paralyses opponents.

A user (developer) contacted me as he cannot see the settings that allow him to enable certain threats to be allowed in Windows Security. The user must allow certain processes to be allowed because he uses WSL2. Failure to do so slows down the indexing process.
I checked the user's Windows Security, and "Antivirus" could not be found. The "Allowed Threats" used to be under "Virus & Threat Protection". I had a look at my Intune device configuration settings, and the only one I could think of that might prevent this from showing is:
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint client configuration package type:	Onboard
Sample sharing for all files	Not configured
Expedite telemetry reporting frequency	Enable

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Which settings in Device Configuration (or elsewhere) prevent the user from seeing certain settings in "Windows Security" in Windows 11? Or: What must I do so that these settings are shown again to the user? Is this a Device Configuration issue - or is this something I must find elsewhere, such as in Microsoft Defender?
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