Hacking Without Hacker's Tools?

Well it's about time someone tells those guys at Hollywood to stop feeding that crap to people. Although most people would definitely say "I know what hacking looks like" after watching this movie, maybe it's for the better they don't know how things really look. The movie was generally enjoyable but any mediocre linux user or even comp scientist would say the "hacking" scenes are... laughable at best. It would be acceptable if the guy at least carried some kind of portable memory with his most important stuff on it. Also check out the way he uses the keyboard - he barely ever used function keys like tab alt ctrl etc, I can't imagine doing anything close to hacking without those, they shorten time and once you customize your comp and memorize combinations you can do wonders on it with the speed of light. Time is a crucial factor in hacking. Another thing would be what kind of crap he's using to break into DoD. Please...
But it's all for the public so we, uhm "more experienced and knowledgeable" people shouldn't even get involved in pointless discussions like this.
If a hacking movie showing how the things truly look is ever created, it would most probably be totally boring and impossible to understand by a common, average Consumer of Hollywood Digital Crap. Let them make appropriate movies for appropriate people and leave things like hacking to those who really know what's going on.

If the computer has internet connection, the hacker can ssh or telnet or somehow connect to his computer remotely and access his tools. What's the big deal? Granted, there's no such thing as a 3D Hacking GUI, that's just retarded

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"Ignorance is bliss"

Of course, the broad mass of viewers should

a) understand what happens
b) not be bored

And I would excuse "bad" hacking scenes, flashy hacking GUIs that visualize a virus (lol!) and all the other garbage in, let's say, a spy movie, where there's just one single scene where someone hacks into a computer to get some data, to open a door or something like this. But I think it's not excusable in a HACKERMOVIE.

You could still do it without insulting anyone that uses computers (and meanwhile that's the majority of users BTW!). It's comparebly easy, just give him a sidekick or someone else that asks the questions the audience may have and the hacker explains it to him (the audience). The oldest trick of movie history. And there are lots of ways to be sure that a scene with "true" hacking isn't boring. Perfect example for this is "Wargames". The hacking scenes still have some stupid things but don't forget that it's a movie from the eighties. And Swrofish itself had great examples for making it non-boring: Remember the multiple monitors? Or the blowjob? ;)

And you find this the only unbelievavble part of the movie?

You guys totally missed the point of this movie. The point is to watch Hugh Jackman.


I guess it's like looking at clouds. You see one thing and I see another. Peace.

the most realistic hacking I've seen was in that Pamela Anderson Show V.I.P, where that nerdy girl put on virtual-reality-goggles and beat up the hacker with karate-chops in a tron-like world.

The purpose of a movie is to be entertaining. The 3-D, the music, the over-reacting is intended to make what is normally a very boring process into something that is entertaining. Why would they put a pasty faced geek, with dorito crumbs on his shirt, hacking for five days, into a movie? They actually want to make money on these things. The closest I have ever seen is Justin Long in Die Hard 17.

Considering the money and resources that Gabriel had, he probably equipped the computer systems with all of the latest tools already.