
Exploring the Hacker Tools of Mr. Robot - thewanderer1999
https://hackertarget.com/hacker-tools-mr-robot//
======
jfaucett
I've seen so many ridiculous "hacking" sequences in films that I really wasn't
expecting this series to go into as much realistic detail as they do. Also
most hacking stuff in films is at its worst when it comes to the dialogue
which somehow always has to have something to do with shutting down a
"mainframe".

But this series does a great job both from a tech and dialogue perspective.
There's even a scene where the main character and the CTO of another corp
(trying not to spoil anything), have a conversation about gnome vs. kde.

EDIT: after doing some reading looks like the writer/creator is responsible a
lot of this realism see:
[http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/06/24/mr_robot_gay_c...](http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/06/24/mr_robot_gay_character_sam_esmail_explains_why_the_show_needed_one.html).
Here's an interesting reddit response feed from him:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3bp1zz/i_am_sam_esmai...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3bp1zz/i_am_sam_esmail_creator_of_mr_robot_ama/)

~~~
vezzy-fnord
_There 's even a scene where the main character and the CTO of another corp
(trying not to spoil anything), have a conversation about gnome vs. kde._

Haven't watched the show, but this reminded me of that awful line from _The
Internship_ , a film I was baited into watching:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpdngXQOkBI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpdngXQOkBI)

~~~
swang
Funniest things from that movie.

1\. Interns worried about jobs after internship at GOOGLE 2\. Google has live
support chat. HA-HA-HA.

~~~
avinassh
> 2\. Google has live support chat.

You can actually have live chat support with Google. Check this, Google Drive
Help for example:
[https://support.google.com/drive/?hl=en#topic=14940&contact=...](https://support.google.com/drive/?hl=en#topic=14940&contact=1)

Select any topic in 'The best way to get support', you will see chat option

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avinassh
In one of the scenes, where Darlene enters the commands like this:
[http://i.imgur.com/cGN3FQw.jpg](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`)

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

    
    
        export HISTCONTROL=ignorespace

~~~
nevir
Doesn't that default to on in most environments?

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forgotmypassw
There were a few subtle slips in the show but overall they're doing a good job
at keeping it as real as possible (within television's scope). Someone, for
once, thought about hiring consultants I suppose.

~~~
m_fayer
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.

~~~
pslam
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 - you can have a system which stays up for years,
but falls over due to an extremely unlikely combination of events.

Think about it this way: every statically compiled program with an unbounded
loop, in which there are calls to malloc() with runtime-determined sizes, and
differently ordered but balanced free() at later times, may crash. This is a
possibility despite there being no leaks and worst case size fits in memory.
The issue is the heap, with some combinations of allocation sizes, and order
of malloc vs free, will fragment and effectively "leak", eventually exhausting
resources. It is generally not determinable whether this will happen to a
program. They all survive at the whim of probability, although the odds are
usually very much in their favor.

~~~
m_fayer
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.

------
ericjang
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?

~~~
elixx
If you can fingerprint a penetration workstation, they're doing it wrong

------
cyanbane
Always been a fan of this Tumblr for cataloging movie/tv UIs -
[http://fakeui.tumblr.com/](http://fakeui.tumblr.com/)

I think some of the entries could serve as inspiration. Think about the effect
Minority Report's UX has had. It was an idea that wasn't new, but seeing it (I
think well done) in a movie gives it a more concrete goal for a lot of people
(tech) and a reference point for other people (non-tech).

~~~
tsunamifury
Minority Report had almost no effect on UI as it was both internally
incoherent, ergonomically untennible, and depended on non existent technology.

In fact in many ways it set back the dreams of UI by teaching a generation to
value nonsensical interactions and poor ergonomics over usability

~~~
cyanbane
> and depended on non existent technology.

Exactly why people are influenced by it.

~~~
moe
Was any technical minded person really influenced by that, other than cringing
in front of the TV?

Anyone who has ever worked with any kind of media editor knows that "waving
your arms in the air" is about the least desirable imaginable interface for
such.

~~~
DanBC
Minority Report is exactly what I think of when I'm trying to guess what
bizarre combinations of gestures and swipes and pinches and shakes I need to
perform to get this bit of smartphone software to do whatever trivial thing
it's supposed to.

The only difference is that John Anderton seems to be able to get his software
to do the stuff he wants it to do.

------
bayesianhorse
The lead character feels to me like "Dexter as a Hacker".

~~~
smoyer
I feel sorry for the lead character and he obviously has problems, but the
wannabe CTO of EvilCorp reminds me more of Dexter. This is the first TV show
I've enjoyed enough to schedule for it in a long time but that character
(Tyrell Wellick[1]) is a bit too dark for comfort.

[1]
[http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0514444/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0514444/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2)

~~~
burger_moon
Tyrell seems more like Patrick Bateman than Dexter.

~~~
bduerst
Yeah, he's a dead ringer for _American Psycho_ , but with the added twist of
his wife being an antagonist.

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rory096
Author missed DeepSound, the program used to embed secret data onto audio CDs.

[http://jpinsoft.net/DeepSound/](http://jpinsoft.net/DeepSound/)

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lotharbot
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](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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU)
).

------
nickysielicki
I'd just like to say that Mr. Robot is not a show that is enjoyable only for
the HN-like crowd. The cinematography is fantastic, the plot is engaging, the
aspect of Elliot being an unreliable narrator is unique, and the realistic
hacking is just a bonus.

Do check it out.

------
mindcrime
Just started watching this show tonight - so far I find myself _wanting_ to
like it, but man, the socialist bullshit is laid on so heavy it's ridiculous.
:-(

Still, at least it is a show about hackers that shows "computer stuff" in a
semi-realistic light. No crazy 3D "inside the computer" visuals like in
Hackers or most other movies and television programs about this stuff.

The Gnome vs. KDE bit was a nice touch. As soon as that scene was over, I was
already thinking "I'm probably going to like this show". Anyway, I'm impressed
enough to keep watching and see how it all develops from here.

------
beeforpork
One thing that bugged me: why is he using DVD-Rs? I (almost) haven't used such
ancient technology in years. Many modern computers don't even have DVD
drivers. And then with hand-written labels on then. WTF? Those can be found
and read(!) by laymen. No way! He should just have a few (encrypted) externel
HDDs or use cloud storage or something.

Otherwise: great show getting so much stuff right without boring the hell out
of people who don't recognise what's on the screens. That's special. I love
it.

~~~
husam212
Actually, he uses a software called DeepSound to encrypt the data as audio
files (music), the hand-written labels are album/artist/band names of the
audio files.

~~~
beeforpork
Ha, so he's smarter than me. Very good! I love this show. :-)

------
r3bl
In that whole GNOME vs. KDE scene, what's bugging me is that Elliot doesn't
seem to be using GNOME. If he's really using it, GNOME was modified quite a
bit.

EDIT: Looks like it's a modified GNOME 2
([https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxmasterrace/comments/3bd1ms/wha...](https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxmasterrace/comments/3bd1ms/what_is_elliots_de_in_mr_robot_they_mention_gnome/))

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luck87
I know this is only a movie, a good movie, but in the episode 3 Elliot speaks
about bugs. In some case, could it be right? Elliot: A bug is never just a
mistake. It represents something bigger. An error of thinking.
[http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=303&t...](http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=303&t=19435)

------
ddw
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"

~~~
ch0wn
> 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?

While I agree that it's more likely that the prop team got this when they were
task to buy some "computer books", I have some similarly useless books in my
shelves that I got from relatives when I was younger because they thought "I
was into computers".

~~~
mattcaldwell
It seems such a book might be useful for developing hacks to target Excel.

------
seiji
Elliot's most powerful hacker tool: his heart.

~~~
r3bl
I'd say his brain because he pretty much hacked his whole personality (hint:
this week's episode).

------
reddotX
Hollywood Technodrama
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDsiYi4LwFI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDsiYi4LwFI)

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shaaaaawn
Subtle [http://2600.com](http://2600.com) reference in the Netscape browser.
Timely

------
keithdebus
null-byte.wonderhowto.com is running a series on the details of the Mr. Robot
hacks. Might be worth checking out.

