One of the funnier ones is that the matrix actually did hacking right. It was also so quick you don’t notice it.
When Trinity hacks into the power station, it’s legit. She checks the software version, which shows an out of date version. She then uses a known flaw in that version to reset the password.
It’s the only bit of actual hacking in the movie. They obviously knew that geeks would be checking it frame by frame, so they actually did their homework on it.
Hackers shows “real hacking” in the form of social engineering, dumpster diving for passwords, as well as the bit about the pay phones that, once was true if maybe not by the time the movie came out.
Hacking is really a “montage” type activity, but is treated as something you can show in real time.
Like, imagine the A-Team building some weapon out of spare parts but you had to watch the entire build process including measuring, cutting, screwing up the cut, throwing away the part and trying again…
Or, imagine a martial arts film where the hero trains for the big fight… and you include the entire training regimen, showing them getting up at 6am each day to do sit-ups, then following the entire morning run…
Really a hacking sequence should have those zoomed-in calendars with days flipping by and getting crossed out.
If they really need the hack to be in the critical path of the action, it should only be something like:
Boss: We need to hack the satellite!
Hacker: What model is it?
Boss: It’s a… let me see… KU-STRZ-4 out of Azerbaijan.
Hacker: A 4-series? We’re in luck, NSA’s been sitting on a exploit for that model.
Otherwise it’s as stupid as:
Boss: We need to defeat Scar Killer in the Kumite tomorrow.
Soldier: I did some basic unarmed combat in boot camp, but…
Boss: You have 24 hours, get training!
Next day, the soldier is massively jacked and is throwing flip kicks etc.
I’ve love to watch a realistic hacker movie, because the shit that hackers get into is genuinely bonkers. For example, some white hats got all the way into Apple’s inventory system and IIRC they could’ve disrupted all of Apple’s logistics. Imagine if a black hat got into that.
Or the Ukrainian hackers that got into the taxation system of the Russians and were there for a few months. Or the USAians who got into the biggest Belgian telecom and were kicked out years later by a Dutch security company.
Movies or even better TV series showing the time it takes to get into such systems would be amazing. Day 1 phishing, day 40 established beachhead, day 120 gained access to internal system X, day 121 triggered internal alarm and was nearly discovered but was able to cover up traces, etc.
Nobody watches 90 minutes of football matches. Everyone watches the highlights and that’s what movies could be too.
movie about hackers comes out and is extremely realistic
It’s 16 hours long and mostly just of a dude sitting at a computer typing code
It bombs at the box office.
One of the funnier ones is that the matrix actually did hacking right. It was also so quick you don’t notice it.
When Trinity hacks into the power station, it’s legit. She checks the software version, which shows an out of date version. She then uses a known flaw in that version to reset the password.
It’s the only bit of actual hacking in the movie. They obviously knew that geeks would be checking it frame by frame, so they actually did their homework on it.
Hackers shows “real hacking” in the form of social engineering, dumpster diving for passwords, as well as the bit about the pay phones that, once was true if maybe not by the time the movie came out.
Hacking is really a “montage” type activity, but is treated as something you can show in real time.
Like, imagine the A-Team building some weapon out of spare parts but you had to watch the entire build process including measuring, cutting, screwing up the cut, throwing away the part and trying again…
Or, imagine a martial arts film where the hero trains for the big fight… and you include the entire training regimen, showing them getting up at 6am each day to do sit-ups, then following the entire morning run…
Really a hacking sequence should have those zoomed-in calendars with days flipping by and getting crossed out.
If they really need the hack to be in the critical path of the action, it should only be something like:
Boss: We need to hack the satellite!
Hacker: What model is it?
Boss: It’s a… let me see… KU-STRZ-4 out of Azerbaijan.
Hacker: A 4-series? We’re in luck, NSA’s been sitting on a exploit for that model.
Otherwise it’s as stupid as:
Boss: We need to defeat Scar Killer in the Kumite tomorrow.
Soldier: I did some basic unarmed combat in boot camp, but…
Boss: You have 24 hours, get training!
Next day, the soldier is massively jacked and is throwing flip kicks etc.
I’ve love to watch a realistic hacker movie, because the shit that hackers get into is genuinely bonkers. For example, some white hats got all the way into Apple’s inventory system and IIRC they could’ve disrupted all of Apple’s logistics. Imagine if a black hat got into that. Or the Ukrainian hackers that got into the taxation system of the Russians and were there for a few months. Or the USAians who got into the biggest Belgian telecom and were kicked out years later by a Dutch security company.
Movies or even better TV series showing the time it takes to get into such systems would be amazing. Day 1 phishing, day 40 established beachhead, day 120 gained access to internal system X, day 121 triggered internal alarm and was nearly discovered but was able to cover up traces, etc.
Nobody watches 90 minutes of football matches. Everyone watches the highlights and that’s what movies could be too.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Um…
There’s a podcast called Darknet Diaries you might like. Skip the first year or so and start after that.
Yes! I’ve listened to those. Having some of those episodes in an anthology TV series could be wonderful. Some even deserve a series of their own.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0