So trying to be a bit more serious. Let’s take a look at security on “Hackers.” First of all, the speed at which these hackers are working in real time while they hack is wildly inaccurate. Not only because of the connections that they are using but also I believe hackers write programs that run to find passwords or weakness in a system’s securities. Largely these programs run themselves and there is no updating as the program is running. I also do not believe battles between hackers within a system are inaccurate. You can not fight like you are in a video game. It is not designed that way. I also am baffled by the password, God, used in the movie. This supercomputer used by a global energy company is accessible by simply using the password “God?” Also, the security of an off site oil tanker would not be susceptible to a virus downloaded by a central corporate computer, or at least I hope not. Today we learned that a worm virus is designed to replicate itself multiple times until it eats up all a computer’s memory. The worm virus in the movie was not really a worm. It is a program that steals money from various accounts. I guess worm sounds sexier…ew. Similarly, the DaVinci virus is not a virus and rather a program for the same reasons. DaVinci is not designed to replicate using the programs of the system it has infected. Back to security, I believe that viruses are delivered and active under cover of darkness. If you announce your intention to infect a system, the administrator could just block all access from outside networks. If that isn’t possible, keeping an eye out for possible outside hackers, a security administrator would be able to identify and block possible threats. Finally, it seems that none of the systems in the movie had any security whatsoever. In fact, the only security feature I did see what the God password request in the beginning of the movie and the announcement of anti-virus programming in the final hacker battle. No where else do I recall firewalls, anti-virus programs, or cryptography. Interesting as the main characters are infiltrating different corporations and government organizations without any impediments, but they are “elite.” Once again, I can not argue, Angelina is “elite.” Especially in 95. YOWSA!
2 comments:
You raise some good points, Hamilton, especially about the speed at which the hackers are working. You're correct, it would be much more efficient to run a program that would do most of the work for them.
Are computer tankers susceptable to computer viruses? Sure. But a virus that specifically targets only tankers and causes them to capsize? Not likely, especially given what we know about computer viruses. (Viruses are self-replicating and spead to every computer they can, so how come it only affects five tankers?)
Nice observations. You sound like you know what your talking about. I agree with the point you bring up about the speed of hackers working on the computer as well. The funny thing is, they just took the ideas of Hackers and basically put them in a futuristic world, but with slow computers in the 1990's?! I mean, come on, the crazy cool flat lit up keyboard that the bad guy has... way cool! :)
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