Averting and Lampshading Hollywood Hacking

Hollywood Hacking is basically a fast pace battle of the wits over the internet or an extended metaphor of a sword fight with slashing and parrying.

How would you avert it?

In lampshading, if it is really urgent it usually mean that the hackers are on the premises of the physical server. If they are bad, get more guards. If they are good, just steal the whole machine.

If they are far away, a trace and a cruise missile.

edited 30th May '11 9:47:55 AM by Worlder

I would avert it by invoking This Is Reality: it is completely impossible to intercept, modify or decrypt private communications. The weakness exists between the keyboard and chair.

Ah so...

GUARDS!!!

To avert it, do your research. And a lot of it.

How would that help? They can steal your (encrypted) databases all they like, so long as they don't have the passwords.

edited 30th May '11 10:39:50 AM by Yej

Have one guy list all the various tools they have at their disposal — and countermeasures their target will employ — until another interrupts him, then calls up the target's office and says, "hey, this is Bob from IT. I need your user name and password [insert plausible or absurd reason here depending on tone of work]."

Most "hacking" relies on social engineering anyway.

^^ That reminds me. My Dad works in IT, and once he sent out an e-mail to everyone in his workplace, telling them that IT would never ask for their usernames and passwords because they already have them. Several people replied by providing their usernames and passwords.

Some people can be really stupid. As such, often the biggest security hole in a system is the users.

Trickery, deceit.

The age old principles of war and espionage.

That is even better IMO than Hollywood hacking.

In real life most of the parrying doesn't occur; either a system gets hacked or doesn't. Most of the actual fighting would be hacker vs system instead of hacker vs hero.

One could focus on that- a comic way of doing it would be similar to a guy going to ridiculous lengths to get his soda out of a resistant vending machine.

edited 30th May '11 9:22:45 PM by saproling32

I lampshaded it by making the hacker himself say, "If I used the real ways then Lyle Terry would probably get arrested."

(Lyle Terry being me, the writer.)

I'm more of the postmodernish writer type, but eh.

I kind of deconstruct Hollywood Hacking in my story's main subplot. In the future, pretty much all computer systems have an Extreme Graphical Representation user interface, just because people think it looks nice. Hollywood Hackers/Programmers are hired by idiots who don't know what they're doing, and real hackers and programmers are better in pretty much every way. This is a subtle way of informing the reader that the main character is a loser.

Thanks for the help.

Now that is hard sci fi. Yes am looking to make certain parts of the story a bit more rooted in reality.

But one government employs small team of cyborgs to be to perform cyber warfare and intelligence gathering.

When those cyborgs aren't shutting down websites and power grids, they use their abilities to troll news sites and forums by editing the posts of foreigners that don't like the country.

I call some of them "Ventriloquists" for being able sock puppet successfully and putting words in the mouth of others.

edited 31st May '11 9:41:17 PM by Worlder