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adamwatchesmovies · 1 year

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Hackers (1995)

Hackers is on the cusp of being a good film. Even if you don’t like it, you can understand its appeal. A product of its time (for the better I say) it may in no way reflects what computer hacking is actually like but the picture’s got plenty of style.

Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller) is a prodigal hacker who has finally gotten off of his no-computer parole (as per a judge ruling). Now 18, he befriends a group of hackers at his high school and, while proving his computing skills, stumbles upon a corporation's extortion scheme.

In reality, hacking more often than not consists of guesswork. Is the password their birthdate? The name of their first pet? They seem to have a strange fascination for Deep Blue Sea, so perhaps you should try “shark”? Hackers dips its toe in this reality but if you can operate a computer in this film, you’re basically a wizard. Turn traffic lights on and off? Sure. Alter someone’s criminal record? Easy peasy. Why not go all the way and pronounce them dead? No problem. You'll either cringe at the inaccuracies or appreciate the 90’s-ness on display. Today, hackers are stealing your credit card information or locking you out of your computer unless you pay a ransom. Back when the internet was a new thing, being a hacker meant you were part of this elusive group that was “In the know”. It meant you knew how computers worked and that - if you were stealing from anyone - it was from a big corporation that was probably up to no good. You were a criminal, sure, but really, you were someone who had a cheat code to life, a person to be admired. That’s the headspace you have to put yourself in while watching this Iain Softley picture. If you can manage that, you'll have fun.

Even for the time, aspects of "Hackers" are flimsy. The characters are flat. Aside from liking computers and having a certain disregard for authority figures, you don’t know much about Dade. Similarly, his new friends Ramon “The Phantom Phreak” Sanchez (Renoly Santiago), Emmanuel “Cereal Killer” Goldstein (Matthew Lillard), Paul “Lord Nikon” Cook (Laurence Mason) and Joey Pardella (Jesse Bradford) are so thin they basically become generic hacker stand-ins. Angelina Jolie as Kate does a little bit better, mostly because she's the only female in the group and has more screen time than the rest, but even then, you wouldn’t know what to bring up in a conversation. At least they fare better than the picture’s villain, Eugene “The Plague” Belford (Fisher Stevens, looking an awful lot like Billy Mitchell). They all fit in this era of filmmaking, but there’s much more that could’ve been done with them.

One of the film’s most notable aspects has to be its visuals. “Wait, what? Isn’t this film about people typing on their keyboards?” Yes, but that’s not what you see. It’s not quite on the same level as Tron, which is really a fantasy film with a coat of “computer jargon” on top, but it’s getting there. When Dade and his friends hop online, the audience is treated to cool sights as city blocks turn into visual representations of what it would be like to navigate the web if websites where three-dimensional. We all know it’s nothing like that in real life, but it sure makes for some interesting images.

While Hackers does not reflect what breaking into a corporation’s server is really like, it does understand the mindspace of its people. It shows you that desire to stand out from the crowd, the need to create a new identity via handles, breaks down why someone would find it so exciting to spend hours (theoretically) pouring through code to find that one line that allows them access into a backdoor in a program. This is a wild exaggeration, but it has some distant ancestor that was the real deal. There are a few too many parts that’ll make you go “Come on, REALLY?” but I can still mildly recommend Hackers. (On DVD, May 4, 2018)

#Hackers #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Iain Softley #Rafael Moreu #Jonny Lee Miller #Angelina Jolie #Fisher Stevens #Lorrain Bracco #1995 movies #1995 films

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sealinne · 3 years

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Eugene "The Plague" Belford

Hackers (1995)

#Hackers (1995)#Eugene The Plague Belford #movie #movie in gifs #hackers #sci fi #cyberpunk #my edits #leona makes gifs

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mechaniz89reviews · 5 years

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Oh 90s, how i will forever love and miss you. Thanks to amazon prime, i had the pleasure of watching yet another 90s hidden jewel. Now i’m sure i saw this somewhere in my near 30 year existence but oh well. I’ll be watching this one a lot more.

Anyways, HACKERS, a crime film directed by Lain Softley and starring A young Angelina Jolie as kate Libby, a student at the same high school as the films lead, Dade Murphy, played by Jonny Lee Miller. Dade is freshly 18 years old and just got off probation for a computer hack he did when he was younger.

He slowly starts to toy with computers again, being the first thing he does when he turns 18. He quickly warms up to the crowd at his school when he starts showing off his hacking skills to the others. He eventually starts hanging out with Libby aka Acid Burn. Emmanuel aka Cereal Killer, who is played by the awesome Matthew lillard. There are others, but lets move on.

In a moment of stupidity, one of the younger hackers hacks into a place that...well lets just say, wrong place, wrong time. What follows is a plot uncovered, people getting arrested and all other kinds of tom-fuckery.

This causes Dade and the others attempting to clear their names and take down a greedy hacker named Eugene “The Plague” Belford, played by Fisher Stevens. I swear that dude was born to play snake type characters. He always looks evil and i don’t know. you just don’t wanna trust him or get near him.

You get my point.

As usual, i’m not going to spoil much. If you wanna know more go watch it.

I honestly had very little to complain about with this film. To me, this looks like a film that didn’t take itself to seriously and just wanted to have fun. I can get behind that. Acting wise, everyone did an awesome job. Whether it was the new guy, hot chick, annoying little brother type, whatever was cast, was cast well.

The acting highlights for me was Cereal Killer and the plague. These were the craziest characters all the way and you can tell Lillard and Stevens had a lot of fun playing these guys. OF course i like Angelina Jolie. Her performance isn’t anything to be wowed but still fun and she was still coming into her own back in the early-mid 90s.

Story is of course cheezy 90s at it’s best. Directing, editing and cinematography looked pretty good. Have to watch it again to catch any errors. Effects wise, there were a few bad green screen effects here and there. Nothing too bad.

I think that’s it folks. Another movie watched, another world explored. Wish i would have had this in my collection sooner. If i could travel back and be apart of these movies. ;-)

I give HACKERS a 9/10.

#hackers #hackers 1995 #hackers 95 #90s #90s film #90s movie #matthew lillard #angelina jolie #review #film review #movie review

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cosmolab · 3 years

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Por qué Hackers fue la película más importante de los 90 / Parte 3

Crayola Books

En una escena de unión en Cyberdelia, Dade es presentado formalmente a los otros hackers (hombres). Ramón «The Phantom Phreak» Sánchez, «Emmanuel Cereal Killer» Goldstein y Joey Pardella. Cereal Killer saca un montón de libros útiles para los piratas informáticos, que Dade luego debe nombrar para demostrar sus conocimientos de piratas informáticos.

Las descripciones de los 6 libros están disponibles aquí. Muchos de ellos son anteriores a mi época, pero he leído el Libro del Diablo y el temido Libro del Dragón, ya que ambos son útiles para los científicos de la computación incluso hoy en día. Suena tonto, pero tener un concurso de machos agitando pitos sobre los manuales técnicos que ha leído es algo que los hackers de cierta generación pueden relacionar.

Que el nombre real de Cereal Killer sea Emmanuel Goldstein debería activar el sentido de araña de cualquier hacker, ya que es el nombre de un hacker de renombre de la vida real que fue un consultor técnico no acreditado en la película (y él mismo lleva el nombre de un personaje de Nineteen Eighty-Four ). Es el editor de 2600: The Hacker Quarterly y el organizador principal de la convención bienal de piratería HOPE. Este tipo tiene habilidades serias, y debería ser una pista de que la piratería en esta película está lejos del habitual h0llyw00d h4x1ng.

La escena también presenta a Joey «mamá me viste» Pardella como un neófito relativo, que ni siquiera tiene su propio control de hacker y aún tiene que probarse a sí mismo con un «truco justo».

Lo que nos lleva muy bien al próximo truco de la película.

Hackear la Gibson

Quizás la exportación más famosa de la película es la idea de piratear la Gibson, que se ha filtrado en la conciencia popular de Internet en general.

La metáfora visual de la supercomputadora Gibson es el logotipo de este blog, y aunque en realidad no vemos el truco en sí, el hecho de que se vea increíble significa que lo perdono. Sin embargo, se explica claramente más adelante que irrumpió en el sistema simplemente adivinando la contraseña de una cuenta (Dios), que resultó ser una de las contraseñas más utilizadas discutidas en la escena de Crayola.

Como prueba del hackeo, Joey descarga un archivo de la supercomputadora. Desafortunadamente, Joey no cubre sus huellas, por lo que es detectado nada menos que por Pen Jillette, quien juro que es el tipo más genial de este planeta y el más raro.

Esto lleva a Joey a pasar por el aparente rito de iniciación para cualquier hacker serio: que los federales derriben su puerta.

Hackear el NCIC

Esta vez el truco es del malo: Eugene «The Plague» Belford. Es el oficial de seguridad de la empresa en la que Joey ha pirateado (Ellingson Mineral Company), y un hacker no tan antiguo.

Él irrumpe en NCIS con el fin de analizar los antecedentes de la familia y la historia de Dade, con la esperanza de poder usarlos para extorsionar a Dade para que lo ayude a recuperar el archivo, que en realidad contiene evidencia incriminatoria sobre un fraude que ha estado ejecutando. No cubriré el esquema de fraude en sí, ya que es bastante complicado, ya que involucra un «gusano» que vuelca los barcos que se utilizan como cobertura para transacciones de centavo (roba pequeñas cantidades cada vez que se redondea una cantidad). Si eso le suena familiar, también es un punto de la trama.

No vemos mucho del hack de The Plague, aunque sí dice que usó la ingeniería social para hacerse pasar por un policía estatal de Alabama. Lo ideal sería que me hubiera dado más información, ya que pasar de policía estatal a acceso completo al NCIC parece un pequeño salto. Sin embargo, este tipo debe tener mucho talento. Después de todo, estos años 90, ¿seguramente no dejarían que cualquiera sea el oficial de seguridad de una empresa masiva?

Más adelante en la película, sube la apuesta y usa su acceso para fabricar crímenes en el historial de la madre de Dade, convirtiéndola así en una fugitiva buscada.

Hacktivismo

Hackers es una película abiertamente política, y una que fue inquietantemente profética con respecto a lo que más tarde se convertiría el hacktivismo. Después de todo, la película comienza con la noticia del hackeo de Dade en los servidores de Wall Street. Los antagonistas de estas películas son empleados de alto rango de una corporación multinacional (Ellingson Mineral) y del Servicio Secreto. Los empleados de Ellingson están tratando de incriminar a los pobres piratas informáticos, cuyo crimen es la curiosidad, por su propia malversación corporativa.

Los propios piratas informáticos son retratados como comunales, anárquicos e interesados en el libre flujo de información. La película también cita directamente The Conscience of a Hacker (también conocida como The Hacker Manifesto), y se adelantó a su tiempo en más formas de las que puedo contar.

El tipo de hacktivismo que predijo esta película ahora existe, y creo que esta película ha jugado un papel en eso. ¿Qué mayor elogio hay para dar?

Concurso de piratería

Por razones que se pueden resumir con las palabras «masculinidad frágil», Dade desafía a Acid Burn a un concurso de piratería. Ambos tienen que «molestar al agente secreto Richard Gill» (interpretado por Wendell Pierce, también conocido como Bunk from The Wire), como venganza por haber arrestado a Joey.

Pero primero, veamos a nuestros héroes prepararse para el gran concurso:

Esta última toma es interesante, ya que muestra que Acid Burn ha anotado varios números de teléfono de interés, incluida la oficina del alcalde y el servicio secreto. Presumiblemente, algunos de estos son para marcar directamente con su computadora.

Continua en el siguiente post.

#hackerina #hackers #hackersmovie #movie review #hack the planet

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cham-ms · 5 years

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Hackers

The movie "Hackers" was released in 1995 and was directed by Ian Softley, with the antagonist Dade Murphy, also known as "Zero Cool" or "Crash Override" was arrested when he was 11 years old after being charged with crashing 1,507 computer systems in one day, he was charged with a $45,000 fine and was banned from using computer until his 18th birthday. When he reached the age of eighteen, he continued hacking again, he enrolled high school where he met his friends who are also hackers, then they encountered their enemy, Eugene Belford, code-named "The Plague" who is incharge of security at a multinational conglomerate. He framed one of Dade's friend to cover his own crimes, which can be identified as cybercriminal, gaining financially by transferring large sums of money into his accounts. The plague claims that Joey(dade's friend) stole a code to Da Vinci, a computer virus powerful enough that it could capsize an oil tanker fleet if not destroyed. But Dade discovered that joey copied the info. that will incriminate the plague. Knowing that they cannot take down Da Vinci, The Gibson, and The Plague alone, they decided to call more hackers and with the help of other teen hackers, they were able to take down the enemies and Eugene Belford was arrested while boarding a plane. The lesson learned here is that computers is powerful that it is not impossible to control everything. So if you are knowledgeable about computers, do not take this as advantage to fool other people to gain money. Better yet, use it in a good way and make money legally.

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rwwealth-blog · 7 years

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Five movies that (kind of) predicted cybercrimes

Equifax. The Securities and Exchange Commission. Whole Foods. These are just a few of the hacking incidents that have made the news in recent weeks. Although organizations are becoming increasingly concerned about their cybersecurity in the wake of current reports, Hollywood has been warning us for years about the importance of keeping our data safe. The following five movies are not only entertaining, they also acted as a crystal ball of sorts by giving us a glimpse into the possibility of today’s cyber events.

Movie: “The Net” (1995)

Lesson: Your personal data is your most important possession.

“The Net” warns of what can happen when your data falls into the wrong hands. When systems analyst Angela Bennett receives a disk from a colleague, she inadvertently sets off a chain of events that leads to her social security number being reassigned to another name, her home being sold out from under her and an arrest for a litany of crimes she didn’t commit—not to mention the mysterious deaths of people around her who know about the disk.

Although most people will not suffer such dramatic consequences from a breach to their information, character Jeff Gregg, the owner of software company Gregg Microsystems, sums up the importance of data in this way: “You need to remember in this day and age, information is sacred.”

This proclamation is especially true for CPAs, because you not only handle your own data, you are the keeper of your clients’ most sensitive information—so make sure you stay up-to-date on the latest tools and techniques to ward off cyberattacks. You can learn more about cybersecurity trends and best practices during a free, live, one-hour webcast with global cybersecurity expert and Shark Tank star Robert Herjavec.

Movie: “Sneakers” (1992)

Lesson: Always encrypt your data.

In “Sneakers,” security specialist and hacker Martin Bishop is hired to find a black box that holds an encryption key people are willing to lie, steal and even kill for. Martin later finds out that it’s really his old hacker buddy, Cosmo, who wants the box because “the world isn’t run by weapons anymore or energy or money. It’s run by little ones and zeros, little bits of data.”

To keep the little bits of data that run your professional world safe, it’s important to get it encrypted, which is the process of scrambling information in such a way that it is rendered unreadable without a key. By encrypting your company’s data, you can help protect it on all your devices, whether they are desktop computers or mobile phones. Encryption also allows you to transmit data safely, store information in the cloud and remain compliant with relevant data protection regulations.

Movie: “Independence Day” (1996)

Lesson: One virus can bring down an entire system.

In “Independence Day,” the world is faced with a high-tech alien invasion that only a skillfully-planted computer virus can thwart. Although you don’t have to worry about the destruction of the Earth by a fleet of spaceships filled with aliens intent on taking over the world, a cyberattack can still have catastrophic effects on your business in terms of lost data and productivity. The cost to rectify the problem can be substantial. In fact, according to the 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study from IBM and the Ponemon Institute, data breaches cost U.S. organizations an average of $7.35 million per incident.

Movie: “Hackers” (1995)

Lesson: Companies can protect themselves from hackers by learning from them.

To protect itself from cyberattacks, the Ellingson Mineral Company hires a former hacker, Eugene “The Plague” Belford, to help protect its data. This is not as outlandish as it may sound: More and more companies are hiring white-hat hackers, also known as ethical hackers, to use their skills to find vulnerabilities in their systems. But organizations should be careful who they choose because, as Ellingson Mineral Company learned the hard way in “Hackers,” these employees may turn their technical abilities against the companies they work for.

Another option is to work with a fellow CPA skilled in information management and technology to help you design your firm’s cybersecurity system – or even use the AICPA’s cybersecurity risk management framework and related tools as a basis for doing so yourself.

Movie: “Six Degrees of Separation” (1993)

Lesson: Identity theft can cause chaos in your life.

When Paul interjects himself into Flan and Ouisa Kittredge’s life by pretending to be a friend of their children (and claiming to be the son of actor Sidney Poitier), he causes the couple to spend hours trying to figure out his real identity—and determine how deep his deception goes. Much like the Kittredges, people who are the victims of identity theft spend dozens of hours resolving the problem. In addition, identity theft can be costly. Although Paul was only able to get $50 from the couple, in real life, identity theft cost consumers $16 billion in 2016 alone.

While the events of these films are highly dramatized and, in many cases, tinted with a Hollywood view of technology at the time, cybercrime and cybersecurity are anything but entertaining. By availing yourself of the many cybersecurity resources available through the AICPA, you can begin to design a more secure data system for yourself and your clients.

The popcorn is optional.

Lindsay N. Patterson, CAE, Senior Manager, Communications and Public Relations, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

Hackers courtesy of Shutterstock.