Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag – Hacking Guide

Hacking will unlocked for your employee in Present Day 2 after your meeting with the CCO and delivery of a file to a courier. They can now force access on the various computers found throughout the area. Each day now, an activate and vacant terminal can now be hacked and accessed for additional data. When it comes to Hacking you will find 3 challenges: Data Sphere, Prime Numbers and Data Stream

The first challenge, Data Sphere, you have already encountered. By moving your avatar around the sphere, you create an infinite loop that will extract the data. This is accomplished by the path your avatar takes around it. When completed, the data is removed and the job is done. If you do not follow a guide, it can get very annoying but it is very easy to reset. If you have botched a run, then exit the station and re-enter it. This will reset the Data Sphere and let you try again.

The second challenge, Prime Numbers, is a mathematical based challenge. These can be solved without much aid but it can take some time. As with any math problem, knowing some baseline rules makes it a lot easier to solve. As a quick reminder, Prime Numbers can only be divided by themselves and 1.  In no particular order, here they are:

If the last digit is even, then at least one of the multipliers is 2
If the last digit is odd, then none of the multipliers can be 2.
If the last digit is 0 then at least one of the multipliers is 5 or at least 2
If the sum of the digits is not divisible by 3, then none of the multipliers are 3.
If the sum of the digits is divisible by 9, then at least two of the multipliers are 3.

The final challenge is referred to as Data Stream. This challenge is more reminiscent of arcade games then any challenge. This means it is not something that can be explained as well. It is very much a frogger game. You need to jump from one line to the next and make it to the far end. Be sure that you also study what is happening on the field before you start. This is one of those that a break can make a world of a difference if you are getting frustrated. It is highly suggested to go through the tutorial so in the later rounds, you know what you are going against.

That gives a summary of all 3 kinds of challenges that you will encounter while hacking the various computer terminals. Each gave a summary of the rules that the challenges are governed by and suggested on how to manage them each in turn. In all cases, you have unlimited time and ties during any given day. Good luck with your exploits to recover more of the history behind the Animus and the fate of Subject 17 and Subject 0.