You f**king nailed it. I just saw this movie and was surprised the masses lapped it up so readily. Aside from some editorial input your post is spot on, I’m just disappointed more people don’t see it for what it is.

numb3r_5ev3n wrote:

I found this entry while doing a search on “practical hacking in Live Free or Die Hard,” fully expecting whoever would write such an article to tear the movie apart, as you have done. My mom roped me into seeing this last weekend, as a “real hacker movie” to share with her techie offspring.
The film lost me at the point that keyboards were wired to explode (without the user noticing that it had been tampered with?) I mentioned this to my mom, and she asked why I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief for the film. But as someone who works with computers every day, it still rankles to see hacking still confused with cracking, and to see either/both so misrepresented in film as a plot device (hackers are EVAL DEMIGODS who are SMUG AND CONCEITED and will HAXX0R THE COUNTRY to prove how superior they are!!!!!111) Hasn’t there been enough of that in cinema?

The keyboards weren’t wired to explode. The bad guys sent them a “virus” that blew up their computer when they hit the delete key. Too bad the virus couldn’t manage to do that by itself lol…

jdogsquareawesomenessmofo wrote:

It is a movie – don’t break it down so much you little cry baby.

By that logic no movie ever made could be criticized for it’s flaws. “It’s a movie” is not an excuse. There are movies out there that do a much better job than this, and I will praise them. On the other hand, when I see flaws, I point them out.

jdogsquareawesomenessmofo wrote:

What did you expect? For hollywood to show you how to hack?

I expected them to at least make an attempt to make it look like they are using real computers. It can be done. Matrix Revolutions for example shown an entire hack sequence in which Trinity uses nmap (a real, existing port scanner) and then exploits an old ssh buffer overflow bug to get access to a power plant control computer. It was realistic, believable and it actually conveyed the message perfectly without confusing the viewers.

The entire opening sequence of The Social Network is a beautifully realistic portrayal of hacking/programming. They don’t show exactly what he is doing, but his monologue does reveal a lot of the security holes he used. The entire scene is unambiguous and the technical jargon is not only accurate, but it also serves to establish the main character as a highly intelligent, and skilled computer guy.

Hell, Tron Legacy has a lot of sequences that are just unix command prompt, and actual real commands being typed.

It has been done properly in quite a few movies. In this one they did not even try.

jdogsquareawesomenessmofo wrote:

I didn’t come to see a movie to make sure that they portray hackers in a realistic way.

Me neither. Honestly, I do not want to see hackers and programmers in action movies at all. I prefer if the plots do not involve my life long passion and my industry. That’s because Hollywood is notorious for getting it wrong. But if they insist on injecting a “hacker” into their movie, they might as well do it right, rather than half-ass it.

jdogsquareawesomenessmofo wrote:

I personally like it when Hollywood does this as it sheds less light on things.

How is that a good thing? Do you mean hacking specifically? I mean, it’s not like it’s some mysterious arcane discipline. The main reason things are “hackable” is because people are lax with security and irresponsible. Shedding less light on the techniques used to commonly exploit systems is actually counter productive.

We don’t need to shed less light, we need more. We need a halogen lamp pointed at buggy implementations, and common mistakes so that people learn how to plug them.

it is a movie – don;t break it down so much you little cry baby. What did you expect? For hollywood to show you how to hack? You are a douche nugget. I liked the part where bruce willis took down a motorcycle with a car….that was badass….I didn’t come to see a movie to make sure that they portray hackers in a realistic way. I personally like it when hollywood does this as it sheds less light on things.

Luke Maciak wrote:

Personally I thought that Willis’ character was neutered and tamed down to an almost intolerable level compared with the other installments in the series. He didn’t even say his catchphrase in this one. He was far from kicking butt. But again, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

He did say his catch phrase when he got shot in the shoulder. They said “Your tombstone should read always in the wrong place at the wrong time….to which he replied, “How about yipee kay ay mother fucker” and shot himself to get the other guy….

@ Jerry P.:

No, I will not. You see, your attitude is exactly why Hollywood gets away with shit like this. Please stop defending them. They just don’t give a shit about technology, and this annoys me. I write software for a living, and I worked in IT all my life. I have masters in Computer Science and I published peer reviewed papers. Every single job I held in my life dealt with technology – it’s my life long passion, my profession and my hobby. So when movies get the stuff I leave and breathe every day so horribly wrong that it is completely unrecognizable, it annoys me.

No it does not cost a lot of money, nor does it take a lot of work. When you do it right, it makes a world of difference. And it has been done in some huge movies.

Have you watched Matrix? Yeah, most of it is science fiction, but when they hack you actually see real unix terminals. Hell trinity even uses real security tools and exploits.

Have you watched the new Tron? Every single time they use a computer console you see them typing real unix commands.

Have you seen Social Network? The entire opening sequence in which he “hacks” the university servers is absolutely plausible, and very very realistic.

These examples above are also “only movies”. They are also blockbusters. They are also targeted at “us schmucks” but at everyone. If they can do it right, why other movies can’t?

Seriously, ask your doctor what does he think about how medicine is portrayed in the movies? Ask your lawyer what he thinks about Hollywood portrayal of courtroom proceedings. Ask astronomers and physicists what they think about the horrendous pseudo-science in most movies. Pretty much every professional will probably have a bone to pick with something in some movie.

Also, regarding online forums: you must be new here. Please look up eternal September.

Will you guys lighten up and get a grip? It a stinking MOVIE. it for ENTERTAINMENT! It wasn’t made for all you schmucks to show each other how much sarter you are than the rest of the world. Get a freaking life. Geez, that’s why I hate looking for tech info in bulletin boards and forums. You get 1 or two answers and 37 people cat fighting why the other two are right or wrong and who is the smartest idiot on the forum.

To be completely honest, I don’t think you understood this movie very well. Most of what they did is “theoretically” possible with rootkits and such, but it would take a lot longer, but it’s a movie so you need to make exceptions. I recognize that the odds of something like this happening are absurd, but you should probably recall that this is a “movie” and not a “documentary.” I think you were probably talking to your friends about how bogus the stuff was the whole movie instead of watching due to all the facts about it you missed. For example Willis destroying 2 helicopters, they were the same one and the first attack only knocked a guy out of it.

As a conclusion, I suggest u learn a little more about what is possible with computers before you down on a movie that was clearly all about the thrills and not the realism. If you do have any significant computer knowledge, use this as a launch point to educate your friends and family so as to give “hackers” a better name than what they currently have.

god wrote:

people who are like, CIA, or specialize in computers and programming in the CIA, most likely have programs and have the education far beyond your average “hacker”

And they get that “special” education from where exactly? Are there special schools where you can learn computer science the CIA way? No. They recruit computer specialists from the same pool of candidates other organizations do. The people who work on technology in CIA are not some genetically modified super-geniuses who were trained to be hackers from birth. They are normal people with CS degrees from US universities. They don’t have special skills or knowledge.

Now I’m sure they have some in-house tools they use to collect data, brute force passwords and etc. So do commercial computer security firms for that matter. And research teams at universities. Chances are though they all are using similar open source tools that are currently out there.

Their main advantage is that they can work with various corporations and organizations to fuck you up. Your router for example may have a built in back door you don’t know about placed there by your ISP. The same ISP may be tracking you without your knowledge and handing over all your info to FBI, CIA and whoever else asks and shows them a badge of some sort. They may have put a van few blocks from your house and are snooping on your wifi with a directional antenna.

Essentially they have contacts, resources and manpower beyond that of an average “hacker” but not necessarily the education.

Lol, i think you kind of failed to realize that they are in the CIA or w.e that top high up government department is, Point is….people who are like, CIA, or specialize in computers and programming in the CIA, most likely have programs and have the education far beyond your average “hacker”

but im just saying, CIA can fuck anyone’s computer up…