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Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

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Re: Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

#61
post #30

In one of the scenes, where Darlene enters the commands like this: http://i.imgur.com/cGN3FQw.jpg (for those who don't get it, she is entering a space before every command so that it doesn't end up in `history`)

Assuming of course she or someone else had set HISTCONTROL to ignorespace (as follows): export HISTCONTROL=ignorespace

Doesn't that default to on in most environments?

Re: Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

#62
post #52
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While the technical stuff mostly manages to avoid degrading into gibberish, I find the philosophizing about "bugs in the system" cringe-worthy. The show would have the layman believe that bugs are some kind of metaphysical agents of chaos that crack the facade of reality (or something), as opposed to reality where most bugs are caused by sloppy copy-pasting while reading HN with one eye.

In a sense, this is true. The view that all bugs are static, determinable, and caused by a lack of care and attention, is old fashioned and demonstrably wrong. In mature code bases (e.g core linux kernel), (almost) all the low hanging bugs have been picked clean. There remain only faults triggered by untested configurations, unconsidered usages, and by ordering non-determinism. The last one is particularly chaotic -…

And yet the meat-and-potatoes of guys like Eliot and his adversaries are things like heartbleed or goto fail. (Missing bounds check, improper braces + copy-paste). The bugs you speak of are IMO mostly unexploitable, don't make the news, and are generally about as existentially terrifying as the possibility of being hit by lightning.

If I was searching for some deeper meaning in bugs, I'd rather think about how the most elaborate and secure of digital structures are still vulnerable to a moment of distraction or laziness in just one person, and how software seems to be resistant to the sorts of engineering best-practices that make aerospace as safe and consistent as it is.

Re: Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

#63
post #48
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IP ADDRESS FOUND : 593.102.340 It always bugged me. Does anyone know why realisators spend so much energy into making faux computer interfaces in almost every movie/show ?

The showrunners don't want to get in trouble when armies of fans type in stuff from screencaps. It's like how cars in movies have fake license plate numbers and telephone numbers all start with 555.

RFC 5737 reserves three different IPv4 ranges under the name TEST-NET precisely for these types of purposes (nominally documentation).

Re: Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

#64
post #48
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IP ADDRESS FOUND : 593.102.340 It always bugged me. Does anyone know why realisators spend so much energy into making faux computer interfaces in almost every movie/show ?

The showrunners don't want to get in trouble when armies of fans type in stuff from screencaps. It's like how cars in movies have fake license plate numbers and telephone numbers all start with 555.

Note: Not all phone numbers that start with 555 are fake. In particular, 555-5555 is not reserved for fictional use:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_(telephone_number)

Re: Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

#65
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more scared of his wife - looks like she's the brains in that relationship :-)

She is stunning though but yes, both are psychic but she is by far more scary and has him under total control.

> both are psychic

Their predictions of the future have been a bit off the mark...

Re: Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

#66
post #48
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IP ADDRESS FOUND : 593.102.340 It always bugged me. Does anyone know why realisators spend so much energy into making faux computer interfaces in almost every movie/show ?

The showrunners don't want to get in trouble when armies of fans type in stuff from screencaps. It's like how cars in movies have fake license plate numbers and telephone numbers all start with 555.

right -- the phone number 8675309 ("Jenny") is often a target because it was used in a song.

See, for example, http://www.oldskoolphreak.com/tfiles/phreak/jenny07.txt

Using a real phone number, license plate number, IP address, or physical address in a show/movie/song has the potential to provoke throngs of fans into malicious, or merely inconsiderate, actions -- prank calls, ping bombs, or simply visiting and not cleaning up after yourself (which is what led to the Goonies house closing: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/g... )

Re: Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

#67
I was really confused by this headline -- having not seen the show, but knowing an indie video game by the same name (http://moonpod.com/English/about_mr.robot.php ) that used the word "hacking" to describe RPG-ish battles set inside the circuitry of other robots.

It is refreshing to see on-screen depictions of hacking that use legitimate tools in ways they're actually used in, instead of "GUI interface using visual basic to track the killers IP address" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU ).

Re: Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

#68
post #36

The screen stuff has been legit but two things were funny: 1. Eliot, an elite hacker, has a Excel 2014 book in his apartment. Why does he need to use Excel so much? Why does he need Excel at all if he's using Linux? And why would he need a user guide to figure it out? 2. When Eliot has to fix a hack to E Corp at Allsafe his boss gives him a folder of paper logs and says "look through these"

1. is probaby a mistake by set designers. Although hypothetically one could argue that (A) he actually needed to refernence Microsoft Excel for one of his hacks and kept it around (B) it is a disguise for when people enter his apartment and sees the MS Excel book cover, they will not think he is a hacker (and who knows what is actually contained in the book cover...could be some secret hacking stuff inside).

2. Sometimes, if extra paranoid about being hacked, may want to do things with paper as much as possible. Also, were they going on an airplane? That might explain need to have paper copies so have something to look over during silly takeoff and landing procedure. Also, to be honest, paper can be much more usable.

Re: Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

#69

Actually, I'm pretty sure a lot of security professionals don't use Kali Linux because 1) they only need a subset of the pentest tools, 2) many companies' internal monitoring systems trigger alerts if they detect someone is using Kali Linux/BT (via OS fingerprinting). This is only my anecdotal experience though - thoughts?

That might be true, although it does seem like a reasonable choice for authenticity in a tv show.

Re: Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot

#70
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally disliked the series... It's poorly written, disconnected and the lead character doesn't convince enough. Even the story-line is totally poor IMHO. So the only good thing is the realistic hacking scenes...

I guess having an unpopular opinion, gets you down voted here. I hope the down voting was more due to adding an unnecessary opinion here.

I think it was mainly because they gave an unpopular opinion without backing it up with any real explaination or reasoning.
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