Practiscore - Maintaining score integrity

[uod]

I have been messing around with Practiscore a bit using a personal tablet --- trying to get used to it so that we can move our matches to electronic scoring. I've thought of something, and have been unable to determine how to fix this (or if this is actually even a problem to worry about). I don't really have the equipment available yet to do a hands on test necessary to see what kind of outcome I would get.

Here's the setup to the scenario : Use a master tablet for registration and stage setup. Have a set of Nooks for the squads to use. Use sync to pull data down from master to Nooks before handing them out. At end of match, use Master to pull data from each Nook. Correct process, right?

So --- here is where I am wondering how to prevent or protect against a potential problem. Let's say that a malicious actor (MA) with squad 2's Nook decides to screw with some random shooter (RS) on squad 1. MA enters a horrible score for RS on a stage (some mikes and a time that makes it seem as if the person fell asleep at some point in the middle of the COF). I use the sync function to pull squad 1's Nook data to the master. Then, I use the sync function again to pull squad 2's data to the mater. This means that I received RS's good score, but then I synced with a tablet that had RS's bad score. Is there a way for me to detect this once I use the master to pull all the scores from the Nooks? Does the sync alert to the fact that there is already a score -- and allow me to view both to see which is correct?

I am assuming that everyone I shoot with is honest enough to never do such a thing, but I'd like to know if there are any integrity checks built in -- just in case.

[pcarst]

All scores are logged along with time stamps. The most current time entry will be the one that is used for results but the history of any change can be looked up.

We use stage tablets instead of squad tablets. Only the results of the assigned stage are on the units and are only consolidated on the master when synched.

Just remind those nefarious characters that are messing with scores that shooters, by definition, have guns. 'nuff said.

Pete

[Mark R]

Yes...your process in your scenario is the correct way to run Practiscore.

As for the possible cheater, If I discovered someone messed with the scores illegitimately, then he/she would get a dig fat DQ IAW 10.6 and I'd ask them to not come back to the club.

Another way to head off this type of cheating would be to run paper backups of the scores. Then you have a hardcopy trail. I run paper backup just because I have had issues where a stage was not recorded for an entire squad during a steel match. Now I run them routinely until I can get confidence back.

There are logs built into Practiscore, but the Practiscore guys would have to chime in.

[Ken N.]

Logs are there, and you can look for score changes by delay (for instance scores changed over 1 hour, 2 hour after previous edit).

Apparently this is more common in Cowboy Action Shooting (SASS), so when we did that scoring we have a mode where you can lock devices to a stage or a squad (posse).

Ultimately, though, it does take some trust and severe consquences.

[uod]

Ok -- simply knowing that logs are there with timestamps is enough to know that I could sniff out a problem and come up with a fix.

Thanks for the responses guys.

[Trent1k1]

The logs are there but what information is in the logs? More than likely, it is only the name of the tablet that changed the score. Since there is no login to the tablet at each stage, anyone could pick it up and make changes.

If a shooter had a target pulled for the RM to review, you may have more than one score, but even if someone puts in or misses a NoShoot or Procedural, there isn't any way (that I have found) to track down who actually entered the score.

[uod]

I am more worried about someone on one of the other squad's tablets entering a score for a shooter not in their squad. Not sure if there is a list of future update requests --- but, one way to solve this would be to have the ability to lock a tablet into a certain squad to that the tablet can only enter scores for that squad.

Again --- I don't really expect to ever have problems with this.... it's just my infosec background whispering in the back of my mind.

[Ken N.]

we have stage locking on our short list in support of open squadding.., stage lock is easy add as part of that. But ultimately, gotta have trust with a little verification.

[uod]

It's good to know that locking will be a future feature. Trust is key though -- and I know we've got a trustworthy group that we shoot with.

[Phong Nguyen]

Hey fellas - where are the score logs found? And does the Score Logging option under Match Menu have to be enabled?

On a related note, what does the Read Only option do? I set it and was still able to go back to a shooter and Edit Score.

Sorry about the thread bump but the manual is limited and out of date.

[ZackJones]

Scorelog.practiscore.com