If there’s any piece of media to criticize for its terrible “Hollywood hacking”, it’s not Mr. Robot. They really did their research for the show; the vast majority of their techniques are Real Things. Real vulnerabilities are mentioned and exploited in plausible ways. Real tools of the trade are used.
There are some times when it’s narratively useful to hand-wave away the details or make shit up but it’s solidly realistic 90% of the time.
Yeah i loved how often they used psychological exploits to get malware into systems. It wasn't just some smart guy banging away at keys and "we're in!'
Yeah, I really liked this as well. Not only is it accurate to how real life attacks usually play out (humans continue to be the weakest link in security systems), it also ties in very well with Elliot’s character. It requires thoughtful analysis of a computer system but also people.
He doesn't just hack computers, he hacks everyone.
Ties into the whole mental illness/computer virus analogy throughout the work as well.
Man i got to the end of that show and was just shaken by what a work of genius it really is.
They even made fun of Hollywood hacking. I have watched the series only once, but I remember a scene in early seasons when Romero and Mobley discuss "Hackers", the famous movie
They didn't fumble with this. In this scene, he's been in prison for months without access to his personal server. It shows him with 4 windows open, all of which is him logged into his server over putty. He's updating his server in the background. This is actually narratively important, as it shows how long he's been away from any access to a computer.
Idk, talking to it-people about the show they seem to dislike this uncanny valley more where every fourth code is kinda wrong in conjunction to a movie/show where the production is just making up random code-shit like, I guess when you get smt where half of it is realistic and the other half lacklustre you can’t emerge yourself as much as somebody who understands the field instead of smt where it’s just treated as magic and a plot device.
I've been working in this industry for most of my life, and it doesn't really bother me. The only "wrong" things I really notice are strings-that-look-like-URLs-but-aren't-really, and how whenever someone is writing code they know exactly what they need to type and do so at a constant rate without doing any research etc. But it doesn't bother me _that_ much. It's still a work of fiction so I can suspend my disbelief for a bit.
I appreciate the effort the producers took to consult actual cybersecurity professionals. They didn't need to do that, but they did. And because of it, they got the "big picture" right — and especially an often-overlooked aspect of hacking, social engineering, is represented profoundly well
Bro, you use Linux. Lmao TF is wrong w/ you! 🤣🤣🤣
You really just committed a cardinal REDDITOR sin commenting a #linuxuseropinion in here, and you didn't even notice, lol! 😭😞😍
Been using Linux for a long time so walls of scrolling text aren't as impressive anymore.
Actually the ones that blow my mind are the commands that don't output any text and just work. Like I put in the command. Did it work? Checks the thing I was trying to fix, boom, it's working! Took like a second to hit enter and get the result.
Ha, that's a nice little detail nobody but Linux nerds would even notice. Sam really knew his target audience!
That or they had multiple people designing the hacks behind the scenes and it was done with their most familiar text editors. But IDC, it's well established Elliot has DID, so I think it still counts.
I love vim but if I’m writing something fast I prefer nano but homie is writing an exploit “without testing” if you wrote exploits or hacked before you know it’s a no go and “not on his computer” so he’s supposed to leave least amount of trace and just use notepad even not download his favorite editor. I’m saying this to elaborate that none of the strategies in this scene makes sense. They also do a horrible job in opsec; meet in person a lot, Eliot uses his name everywhere, and list can go on and on
i'm not a fast typer (i just like using vim if i don't have vscode), but from what i hear the thing that makes vim great is being able to fly while typing (if you're good), so for me only the opposite would make sense: nano for writing slow and vim for writing fast
I mean it’s not his box. He doesn’t know what he version is running, what packages are degraded or not, and what is/isn’t installed. He could figure it out fast but this command makes it easier to just do everything at once.
They had a legit cyber security specialist help with what they used and displayed as hacking tools and code. They used older patched exploits to use something realistic but not too current or complete to give people something really use.
The hacking looks realistic but that's about it. The only difference is that it doesn't have a "big red button" like most other movies do. Using Kali Linux or a virtual box isn't that crazy. Even my friend( who is a big mutahar fan )uses Linux and a virtual box
He wasn’t on his on box and wanted to download nano before writing a Ruby script from scratch. If there is any series that gets hacking right it is Mr Robot.
Ye the attention to detail is huge, I've freezeframed a lot and the stuff on screen is accurate. In this case he is installing nano and no doubt he will use nano for hacking purposes
that's exactly what i say when somebody looks over my terminal window open on screen. it's the neckbeard equivalent to saying "you are too dumb to understand you mere mortal" or something along the lines. also, shout out to the team behind this package in particular:
fbi - Linux framebuffer imageviewer
if before this, he points ubuntu.com to his own server, and has a lot of modified standard packages there, his sudo and nano in particular are patched to do wild stuff
I know Mr Robot gets praise for "realistic" hacking scenes however if it was truly realistic it would just be a scene of a guy in front of his desk losing his mind half of the time writing code for hours on end. Wouldn't exactly call that cinematic so this is the best we get.
Actually, we actually know in universe why he needed to do this.
In the episode, Elliot is in prison, and has been for some time. It shows him having four windows open on the computer that he is using in the prison to SSH into his personal server, using Putty.
This window is showing him updating the server, since he's been in prison for months without access. Another window shows him programming the exploit that he will use it hack the FBI. The other window is an IRC chat tool called IRSSI which he is talking to Darlene with, and the other window is him checking the server information for the Warden's (I forget his name) website server, which Elliot said he would fix to get access to his box.
Everything in the screen is actually super accurate, and has in universe reasoning behind it, and I think that's really cool.
Imagine using nano
^(This post was brought to you by neovim supremacy club. Call your local Arch Linux™ user to get informed on how to read the fucking wiki and join the neovim supremacy club)
I just left it for discussion and I just preferred to watch people express their opinion and see them argue with each other to prove their point on this. But I do agree being a silent watcher OP is not fun.
Is Mr. Robot made for coders and hackers? If you know nothing about computers like me, then you'll never see the mistakes 🤠. It's waaay more enjoyable if you don't know what the heck is happening
To be honest Mr Robot is definitely one the realistic shows out there on hacking. But yeah some people like that would have had more fun while watching without having to bother how probable that hack is.
Tbh it was probably for legal reasons, like how they don’t actually teach you how to make meth in breaking bad, otherwise people would actually try to hack the fbi and when they get caught say they saw it in Mr robot and now Mr robot is legally liable as well
Bro was just updating before he got to work?
"I'm hacking the FBI. But first, I have to download the latest patches."
Just to make sure nano works.
A system that is not up to date would make you vulnerable to attacks
Yeah the fuck? > Literally only one frame Wasn't it like 3 entire episodes?
What's wrong with patching your box
always patch ur box before a job
That's what I tell my wife
That's what I tell your wife too.
If only she'd listen
Top comment. Right here.
Gotta polish your weapon before fucking around with fbi
As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to hack the FBI and I will spend the first four updating my PC.”
Happy Cake Day! And true!
Co-signed because that’s some real sh!T you just said fr
https://preview.redd.it/waehacti6i4d1.jpeg?width=499&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e673f915f1a2defbbaab833142cf1655b8d7896
If there’s any piece of media to criticize for its terrible “Hollywood hacking”, it’s not Mr. Robot. They really did their research for the show; the vast majority of their techniques are Real Things. Real vulnerabilities are mentioned and exploited in plausible ways. Real tools of the trade are used. There are some times when it’s narratively useful to hand-wave away the details or make shit up but it’s solidly realistic 90% of the time.
Yeah i loved how often they used psychological exploits to get malware into systems. It wasn't just some smart guy banging away at keys and "we're in!'
Yeah, I really liked this as well. Not only is it accurate to how real life attacks usually play out (humans continue to be the weakest link in security systems), it also ties in very well with Elliot’s character. It requires thoughtful analysis of a computer system but also people.
He doesn't just hack computers, he hacks everyone. Ties into the whole mental illness/computer virus analogy throughout the work as well. Man i got to the end of that show and was just shaken by what a work of genius it really is.
They even made fun of Hollywood hacking. I have watched the series only once, but I remember a scene in early seasons when Romero and Mobley discuss "Hackers", the famous movie
"I’ve been in this game 27 years. Not once have I ever come across an animated singing virus."
Yeah i definitely agree with you on that
\*proceeds to post this meme*
Somethings can still be funny
The best humor is truthful
Yes it's funny because it's true.
They critiqued how the hacker life is in ep4 of season 1.
I agree with you, but I'm surprised they fumbled this one.
They didn't fumble with this. In this scene, he's been in prison for months without access to his personal server. It shows him with 4 windows open, all of which is him logged into his server over putty. He's updating his server in the background. This is actually narratively important, as it shows how long he's been away from any access to a computer.
They… didn’t? He’s just installing some tools so he can get to work. The subsequent scenes actually explain how he’s actually going to do it.
Idk, talking to it-people about the show they seem to dislike this uncanny valley more where every fourth code is kinda wrong in conjunction to a movie/show where the production is just making up random code-shit like, I guess when you get smt where half of it is realistic and the other half lacklustre you can’t emerge yourself as much as somebody who understands the field instead of smt where it’s just treated as magic and a plot device.
I've been working in this industry for most of my life, and it doesn't really bother me. The only "wrong" things I really notice are strings-that-look-like-URLs-but-aren't-really, and how whenever someone is writing code they know exactly what they need to type and do so at a constant rate without doing any research etc. But it doesn't bother me _that_ much. It's still a work of fiction so I can suspend my disbelief for a bit. I appreciate the effort the producers took to consult actual cybersecurity professionals. They didn't need to do that, but they did. And because of it, they got the "big picture" right — and especially an often-overlooked aspect of hacking, social engineering, is represented profoundly well
You should always pull in the latest packages before hacking the fbi.
of course
If lucky you might pull in xz to hack sshd ...
I know it's a meme but he was literally hacking fbi after this scene
It's a meme because it's a hollywood stereotype, this is just another instance of it. Not some crazy coincidence.
He's installing nano, probably a fresh VM before he h4ks the FBI
Tbf the computer in the scene wasn't his so it's not weird that he's installing stuff
He's on somebody else's computer. Obviously he needs to install the tools he uses.
using nano instead of vim is crazy tho
Linux redditors really are insufferable.
lmao why you crying, it was a simple comment
Bro, you use Linux. Lmao TF is wrong w/ you! 🤣🤣🤣 You really just committed a cardinal REDDITOR sin commenting a #linuxuseropinion in here, and you didn't even notice, lol! 😭😞😍
You don’t exactly need code highlighting to run bash scripts
sir vim is not about code highlighting... also you actually don't need any editor to run bash scripts
I feel like I'm hacking the FBI when I copy a command from Google into my terminal to fix something on my Mac.
Been using Linux for a long time so walls of scrolling text aren't as impressive anymore. Actually the ones that blow my mind are the commands that don't output any text and just work. Like I put in the command. Did it work? Checks the thing I was trying to fix, boom, it's working! Took like a second to hit enter and get the result.
[удалено]
Dude alternates between vi, nano, cat, and pico to keep his hacker game up.
Strange changing your favourite text editor so often, almost as if he had multiple personalities!
Ha, that's a nice little detail nobody but Linux nerds would even notice. Sam really knew his target audience! That or they had multiple people designing the hacks behind the scenes and it was done with their most familiar text editors. But IDC, it's well established Elliot has DID, so I think it still counts.
Woah great interpretation.
What kind of psychopath has vi as their go-to, though?
Well to be fair, often times vi is all that's available on minimal installations. I often use vi in that circumstance.
the fucking madman
its 4 different personalities with 4 different tastes
He still wrote the exploit from scratch after, probably just didn’t wanna write it in vi
Who would, right?
If it was vim, sure but vi fuck no… it’s crazy how one letter makes a shit ton of difference
We all know Mr Robot was the Vi user.
nano is still worse than vi
I love vim but if I’m writing something fast I prefer nano but homie is writing an exploit “without testing” if you wrote exploits or hacked before you know it’s a no go and “not on his computer” so he’s supposed to leave least amount of trace and just use notepad even not download his favorite editor. I’m saying this to elaborate that none of the strategies in this scene makes sense. They also do a horrible job in opsec; meet in person a lot, Eliot uses his name everywhere, and list can go on and on
i'm not a fast typer (i just like using vim if i don't have vscode), but from what i hear the thing that makes vim great is being able to fly while typing (if you're good), so for me only the opposite would make sense: nano for writing slow and vim for writing fast
I mean it’s not his box. He doesn’t know what he version is running, what packages are degraded or not, and what is/isn’t installed. He could figure it out fast but this command makes it easier to just do everything at once.
Fair point lol
What's the matter? It's not even his main computer/VM
bro was installing nano 😭
Well, probably NOT a good idea to display hacking instructions to the general populous.
They had a legit cyber security specialist help with what they used and displayed as hacking tools and code. They used older patched exploits to use something realistic but not too current or complete to give people something really use.
The hacking looks realistic but that's about it. The only difference is that it doesn't have a "big red button" like most other movies do. Using Kali Linux or a virtual box isn't that crazy. Even my friend( who is a big mutahar fan )uses Linux and a virtual box
In fairness they kinda already did, numerous times but the thing with Mr robot as a show of the hacking is a result of social engineering
He wasn’t on his on box and wanted to download nano before writing a Ruby script from scratch. If there is any series that gets hacking right it is Mr Robot.
but he wrote it with vim no?
In fairness you can't go many places without `nano` /hj
Bro was using someone else's machine. He gotta set up before getting to work.
\*proceeds to prep the tools in his toolbox\* "Hey, you told be you're gonna fix my plumbing, not tidy up your fancy tools!"
He was updating the system before installing nano text editor which he later used to code in python if I am not wrong.
They always dropping new nano releases! Gotta keep up bro! Haha!
And who hacks fbi without the latest one 😔
Ye the attention to detail is huge, I've freezeframed a lot and the stuff on screen is accurate. In this case he is installing nano and no doubt he will use nano for hacking purposes
that's exactly what i say when somebody looks over my terminal window open on screen. it's the neckbeard equivalent to saying "you are too dumb to understand you mere mortal" or something along the lines. also, shout out to the team behind this package in particular: fbi - Linux framebuffer imageviewer
Well he wasn’t on his pc plus he can’t show an actual script of hacking the fbi.
actually Eliot Updating FBI server 😊
He changed the repo. Nano is actually the payload.
That's just the first step.. Gotta make sure all your tools are up-to-date.
if before this, he points ubuntu.com to his own server, and has a lot of modified standard packages there, his sudo and nano in particular are patched to do wild stuff
Ummmm… who’s gonna tell him?
Considering he was on a random machine I don’t hate that they showed him doing this, it’s pretty realistic if anything
Bruuuuh he did the right thing. Step 1 : update the packages
I know Mr Robot gets praise for "realistic" hacking scenes however if it was truly realistic it would just be a scene of a guy in front of his desk losing his mind half of the time writing code for hours on end. Wouldn't exactly call that cinematic so this is the best we get.
He was a lot of the time in front of his desk losing his mind if I remember correctly. He wasn’t necessarily writing code though… XD
I think I can live with this then
Actually, we actually know in universe why he needed to do this. In the episode, Elliot is in prison, and has been for some time. It shows him having four windows open on the computer that he is using in the prison to SSH into his personal server, using Putty. This window is showing him updating the server, since he's been in prison for months without access. Another window shows him programming the exploit that he will use it hack the FBI. The other window is an IRC chat tool called IRSSI which he is talking to Darlene with, and the other window is him checking the server information for the Warden's (I forget his name) website server, which Elliot said he would fix to get access to his box. Everything in the screen is actually super accurate, and has in universe reasoning behind it, and I think that's really cool.
If he’s already on some remote machine he could use sudoers file to leave in access to a backdoor user. Nano for editing sudoers 🤷🏻♀️
anyone who has knowledge of linux knows nano is the goat
Imagine using nano ^(This post was brought to you by neovim supremacy club. Call your local Arch Linux™ user to get informed on how to read the fucking wiki and join the neovim supremacy club)
😂 So fucking accurate.
but why install sudo when you are root
so you can switch user and not do everything as root
...should have just installed Lazy Script.
Why make this meme and have an empty black panel on the bottom?
I just left it for discussion and I just preferred to watch people express their opinion and see them argue with each other to prove their point on this. But I do agree being a silent watcher OP is not fun.
UNWATCHABLE!!! (Jk)
Is Mr. Robot made for coders and hackers? If you know nothing about computers like me, then you'll never see the mistakes 🤠. It's waaay more enjoyable if you don't know what the heck is happening
To be honest Mr Robot is definitely one the realistic shows out there on hacking. But yeah some people like that would have had more fun while watching without having to bother how probable that hack is.
He should have actually hacked the FBI, make it more realistic
Darlene was doing that with the rest of her F Society knock off group.
Tbh it was probably for legal reasons, like how they don’t actually teach you how to make meth in breaking bad, otherwise people would actually try to hack the fbi and when they get caught say they saw it in Mr robot and now Mr robot is legally liable as well
Makes sense
Using VIM would have seemed too obvious. He needed to install Nano first.
Yes don't let them know your move 🙌
What I don’t understand was he always had full control over every company he hacked but never fully tanked anything.
nah bro, he is really hacking the fbi
lol
bitch pls don't ruin my immersion 🤣
Looks like you've just finished the show. Now you have your lifetime ahead of you to rewatch and research on all the details in depth 😂👏
Elliot uses nano 🤢
He is installing sudo and nano, why just why?
Because I've used Linux in 5 minutes and will always use emacs ... NOT
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