Hackers: Right or Wrong, There's Only Fun or Boring?

0:01

welcome to checkpoint real talk a podcast for security folks who want less

0:07

Fu and more Fu n in each episode we'll have light-hearted conversations about

0:14

security people processes and Technology as we react to how they're portrayed in

0:20

film and TV we'll bring in experts from inside and outside checkpoint to break it down what was accurate what wasn't

0:28

and what can you apply to real world cyber events on today's episode host seea

0:35

gorra checkpoint manager security engineer team Kristoff Losi incident

0:40

response lead Tom DEET and incident response analyst tone the coke react to

0:47

the: 1995

Welcome

0:53

good evening welcome to checkpoint real talk today we are going to be going over a movie that has been multiple like

1:01

thousands of people just requesting hackers and so who could I get but the coolest guys out of Belgium that are

1:08

going to be uh our experts to talk about why hackers with Angelina Jolie in her

1:13

you younger years as has been stated um she looks the same to me but uh guys

1:19

welcome so we've got Kristoff Tom and tone welcome welcome welcome checkpoint Real Talk

1:25

guys thanks for the welcome welcome to be here fun to be here

1:31

okay so that remains to be seen if it's F to be here yeah yes I know oh no pressure on my part now great guys I

1:38

throw I throw down once to say it's okay guys have personality and all of a sudden all of your faces drop at me like

1:45

what it's okay yeah so okay so real quick question have raise your hand who

1:50

has seen hackers oh this is going to be good this is going to be very good all right so I

1:57

have actually seen hackers but many many moon cycles so it's almost as if I haven't seen it in a long long time so

2:03

this will be really interesting um the premise of it is basically uh is the

2:09

early years of the internet and you had a group of people that were literally hacking uh into uh networks so I don't

2:17

remember beyond that so Kristoff do you remember beyond that I just

2:23

remember I just remember being like a bunch of like cool kids and they were all cute that was I think all I remember

2:30

well what I remember because indeed for me it's also many many many mons ago since I saw this movie uh it was a

2:39

typical 90s movie both in dress code as well as in way of acting and um there

2:47

was a lot of Hysteria about something happening on a computer screen and if I'm not

2:54

mistaken uh they weren't really the cool kids because they were actually into

3:00

computers and stuff which back in those days were only for the nerdy ones that's true hasn't been changing

3:06

much I see no do yes yes I know okay so that's funny

3:12

you should mention that because uh there is this assumption stereotypically you see it all the time in social media that

3:19

like hackers are wearing like hoodies and they're like in a dart basement somewhere or they parents basement

3:24

somewhere or you get this like land where like everyone's got like a bunch of computers All In one room and space

3:31

that's like far from the truth maybe that back then it might have been but today doesn't feel like uh that's the

3:37

case or is it are we still wearing hoodies as hackers well s we sometimes wear hoodies

3:43

true but we indeed need to step away from that how do you stereotype depicting of the of the hacker true

3:50

probably just work in cubicles and be miserable about their cies too they're

3:57

basically especially the the black hackers The ransomware Operators I do think they are just as miserable as we

4:04

are and trying to make their wages at the end of the months to get their bonuses in and things like that are you

4:12

miserable I'm not are you miserable there anything you want well my my team

4:18

lead is on here so Tom I'm I'm not feeling very fine I might do with a with

4:24

significant raise at the moment it would help yes oh I love it I love it it so okay

4:31

well guys are we ready to jump in and then check out uh the first first scene

4:36

all right let's do it sure it isn't a virus it's a worm what's

The Worm

4:41

this one e it nibbles you see all of this this is every financial transaction Ellingson conducts yeah from million

4:48

dooll deals to the 10 bucks that some guy pays for gas the worm eats a few cents from each transaction no one's

4:54

caught it because the money isn't really gone it's just data being shifted around and when the worm's ready it zips out

5:00

with the money and erases its track Joey got cut off before he got to that part check it out by this point it's already

5:06

running at what twice the speed is when it started and at this rate it ends its run in 2 days judging by this segment

5:13

alone man it's already eaten about 21.8 million bucks man whoever wrote This

5:19

needs somebody to take the fall and that's freak and that's Joey and that's us we got to get the rest of the file so

5:25

we can find out where the money is going before the worm disappears so we can find out who created it all right

5:33

guys we're talking about a worm here and the way they described it right they

5:39

kind of put it in like um civilian terms where it was already encoded in there

5:44

and it it will pull it out when it's ready and then erase its uh presence

5:50

help me understand you guys is that accurate of what a worm

5:56

is uh no it's ACC modern malware things but the the distinction between virus

6:03

and worm uh takes back quite a few years I think Kristoff might remember those

6:09

times still yep and yeah the idea of having a literal worm nibbling away it's

6:16

just I mean it makes for a good movie line but it's not what actually happens

6:23

the actual difference is the virus needs a human to trigger it like the I love you virus where people actually needed

6:28

to execute it uh that's a virus and the worm is basically the virus which doesn't need

6:34

the interaction to propagate he can't propagate himself uh but there do are some very

6:40

cool takes in this clip as I see this guy reading hexad decimal at a speed I

6:46

can only be jealous of and his forensic skills are through the roof the the way

6:52

he is reading that and analyzing that and piecing that thing together yeah that that's just not realistic what

6:59

could be realistic is indeed having some malware doing exactly this and underneath under the radar trying to

7:06

exfiltrate some in this case money uh because it's indeed data that's just

7:11

being shifted around but uh the whole way that he gets to that conclusion by just looking at a screen that it's going

7:18

so fast that no human can ever read it ever that's just ridiculous it's just

7:24

the funniest thing I I will give them credit though at least actually showing like uh it's

7:31

scrolling as far as like in other movies we see them like have a graphics like they'll do these crazy looking Graphics

7:38

that are flashing all over the place this is a little bit more accurate in the context that it is some of the

7:43

earliest attempts to somewhat be accurate and not have the website saying

7:49

enter password firewall hacked you've entered the Pentagon something like that in other

7:54

movies yeah okay give him credit for that or the or the hacking progress bar I'm I'm always a fan of the hacking

8:01

progress bar what where where there is like 100% hack like that one that's come

8:08

on hurry up they're almost in just hit the keyboard a little bit harder and you will find it y but does

8:15

crate for good drama no it it does Hollywood gets away with a lot of things

8:23

I like the fact they were actually doing forensics in this case because they were analyzing the malware to see what it did

8:28

and what itcap abilities where um they did it in Ultra fast forward but they

8:33

were doing forensics so I like him yeah because nobody wants to see a scene of

8:38

three hours going through the data figuring out what's actually happening nobody wants to see that in a movie I

8:45

maybe you guys but you are you are the analyst so you you maybe get a kick out of it but I sure wouldn't yeah the movie

8:53

would be called case study yeah stud that's funny okay so um so with

9:00

that portion of the depiction of of of them knowing about this for and again I don't know this movie either I just

9:06

thought it was a really cool scene um let's let's continue on because this next portion of it uh cracks me up

9:12

because I think there's something about notoriety of being a hacker I know I know who wrote it what this Ellingson

Zero Cool

9:19

security creep I gave him a copy of the disc you gave me you what didn't know what was on it

9:27

oh man it's universally stupid man yo man you an amateur

9:33

man why did he come to you I got a record I was Zero cool zero cool crash

9:41

157 systems in one day biggest crash in history Front Page New York Times August

9:47

th: 1988

9:52

this is zero cool oh [ __ ] that's far out this is zero cool man oh

9:59

y That's great there goes MIT I'll make it up yeah how I'll hack the Gibson dude

10:07

they'll Trace you like that man the cops are going to find you they're going to find you with a Smoking Gun [ __ ] if I care man look even if you had the

10:14

password take you 10 minutes to get in and you still got to find the files man I mean the cops will have you in 5

10:20

minutes oh wow we are fried never send a boy to do a woman's job with me we can

10:27

do it in seven both I help we do it in six Jesus I got to

10:32

save all your asses I help we could do it in 5 minutes man okay let's go

10:38

shopping all right so first of all zero cool that is just yeah this whole idea

10:46

of having hacker Alias and then the best thing you can come up with is zero cool

10:52

I like I said it's the 90s okay okay if we're going to be if

10:59

we're gonna be making fun of zero Cool's name what would your hacker name be H

11:04

that's a very good question depends if I'm going to get

11:10

discovered by the cops or not want throw just throw one out I'm

11:15

intrigued now well I would pick the first and last

11:22

name of somebody I really do not like if I'm C I can have some fun with

11:28

someone yeah that that would work that would work that's funny I'll not go on

11:33

record and and name people but no no but I can think of of a few yeah for sure

11:40

that is funny yeah all right tone you win on that one first and last name of

11:45

the person I don't like I like that one you win all right so zero cool just in case

11:51

Zero cool he made a mistake you guys he uh took a I'm guessing it was like maybe

11:57

a drive or something and and gave it to someone and he didn't know what was on it so he took he made a fundamental I

12:05

think now today uh a common mistake which is oh I found a random USB I guess

12:10

I'll just shove it into my laptop and see what's on there is that basically what he's admitted

12:16

to no I think he he found something that he gave a copy to someone that he

12:21

shouldn't have given that copy too so Random USB would be the other way around

12:27

you find something and you plug it in and then it has some malware on it which is very common by the way um but uh no

12:34

this is actually something he shared that he shouldn't have shared and back in those days uh it was on a dis because

12:41

yeah that's what we used that that's what we had it's not just what we used that's what we had there was nothing

12:48

else uh speaking of those little discs like they actually interviewed a bunch of gen Z's and took a poll to say like

12:56

do you know what this is and they're like oh yeah the same button button the save 3D print a save button right yeah

13:03

3D printed a save button it's like next time oh that's funny they find a music

13:10

guet they're going to think it's from the Civil War or something yeah well okay I I've said this before and I know

13:17

I upset a lot of my friends but I was like guys you know the music in the 80s

13:22

like when we you you think Back 40 years it would be World War II the 40s right

13:29

equivalent of the kids in the: 2020

13:35

friends were like why did you have to put it in those contacts I'm like it is we're the equivalent of World War II to

13:40

these kids right now so anyway I know I digress but okay so feeling that the

13:46

music like I said was that 40-year Gap right this movie feels really dated in a lot of ways so how with zero cool and

13:54

the fact that he shared information with someone he shouldn't have I didn't understand that last scene where they're

14:00

like I can do it in seven you need my help I can do it in six five what were they talking about there I think they

Timeframe

14:06

were talking about how much time they needed to hack in some system and steal something uh which is an hilarious thing

14:13

that you can put a time frame on there to see how much minutes he going to take yeah guess that's always completely ear

14:21

not realistic in any movie is the time frame yeah that's like the number one

14:27

thing like I we've seen many good movies uh in the past um like especially things

14:33

like uh uh Mr Robot was a very good example of of things that could really

14:39

happen but never in the time frame that they show in the movie like never okay so you can't call it out and

14:47

say I can solve this issue in two minutes no no no no also solving a case

14:54

in in that many hours is most most cases it's very well it's it's an educated

15:00

guess you can do uh whenever we have to help a client we also have to guess how

15:05

much hours how many hours we need for that uh but it's we get pretty good at

15:11

guessing but it's still guessing because you never know what you're going to get always going to be surprises coming your

15:16

way in order to well solve the puzzle interesting thing in this sorry uh I st

15:23

but the interesting thing in this is that he basically said I gave the dis to him and I didn't know was on it yeah and

15:30

that has a very good analogy as we are um well our laptops and our mobile

15:36

phones contain our entire life and once we get a new one what we what do we do with the old one might be bit of um

15:44

what's correct English term where you have some uh influence of your professional life and your private life

15:50

but I might might be misformed by that but I drill holes in all my old hard drives and I try to destroy my phones

15:57

physically before I throw away but people are well their laptops getting stolen their data is getting stolen

16:03

because they don't do any full dis encryption which they actually should on every device they have uh but but they

16:10

they're giving away things which contain important data which they have no idea what's still on there so hot take for

16:17

the for the Watchers make sure you have full dis encryption on everything and be careful when you throw away your

Final Thoughts

16:24

phone I haven't thrown any of my phones away I have like it's horrible like I've got this like massive box of all of our

16:30

equipment over time just because I'm so paranoid about it even though we've cleaned it and all that good stuff my boyfriend's actually in used to be in

16:37

cyber security so like I get it I trust him I still won't throw things away I could be hoarding tendencies but that's

16:43

a different issue all the together yeah as long as you don't start displaying things like old Hardware then

16:51

then you're fine no I I'll try not I'll try not okay so any any final thoughts

16:56

on this particular scene you guys a that stood out to you yeah I just wanted to add on the timing thing was that uh what

17:03

is kind of realistic is when when you have like a certain window of getting something done that is that is that is

17:10

true but you can't figure it out in time in that window no you need to be able to

17:15

plan ahead create some sort of attack that fits in that window so that part

17:21

can be really like we only have five minutes in they until they can something gets triggered that kind of could be a

17:29

realistic but then two other two other things that popped up here as well like he in in in this days day of age uh in

17:37

that case he gave a dis to somebody else uh now uh when like ton already

17:42

mentioned sometimes they're also discr employees those hackers though those those hacking groups are often how do

17:49

use midsized companies they do not get enough pay or leave and then something happens like the con Leakes for example

17:56

which C did decent analysis about so that is something true as well data can leak also in those watch out then

18:03

for Tony just mentioned that he wants to pay I'll be monitoring him very closely just making

18:10

sure the idea you should be paying me more and the other the other thing next

18:15

to the the leaking of the data was although it was a very successful zero cool hacker apparently with a lot of

18:22

notoriety uh these guys do make a lot of mistakes often that we see we see that as well in those in our invest vations

18:29

uh so they're not all o very well oiled industrial uh hacking groups uh

18:36

sometimes we see them doing the initial breach and then testing something it fails because endpoint triggers

18:42

something they fa they try again they fail then suddenly it exceeds you see them uh typing in commands and then

18:50

Googling new commands copy pasting so it's it's actually Al fun it's also

18:55

almost a movie on its own to do the investigation so basically it's every other software engineer ever out there

19:02

is doing just exactly the same thing yes and there are theop the copy pasting the

19:09

searching the trying the failing the trying again until it kind of works and

19:15

then we're good enough I had no idea I am not technical I just was in uh I just

19:22

sold the stuff I affectionally call myself a groupy of cyber security like I get the concepts so you're telling me

19:29

they just copy and paste off of Google like in real time they're like searching that's really yeah from time to time

19:36

yeah go ahead go go go yeah but I insist that you go ahead first sir all right so

19:42

uh actually this is kind of of a big problem in development these days is that nobody's writing something from

19:48

scratch so they're reusing what's called libraries left and right and nobody

19:54

really verifies whether those libraries are actually milici even not not even badly written but actually malicious and

20:02

published because of it so an hacker could publish something that you could

20:08

use as an as an um as an engineer to build software oh this is an easy

20:13

function that I could use but it's actually a back door into your soft using your software into whatever it's

20:19

installed on and that's very common these days oh wow okay had no idea it it's

20:28

something you just don't think about that's crazy well okay so now now you're

20:33

really making me think and I have to move on to the next clip but before we close out this little moment on a scale

20:39

of 1 to 10 accuracy 10 being the most accurate how would you rate the

20:46

scene I'm giving it a seven wow they had a seven they were

20:51

orensics uh good enough for a: 1995

21:00

yeah yeah I would I would go with a six or so because the timing thing is just

21:06

ridiculous but I do like the fact that they're doing their analysis uh like

21:11

even if it's at lightning speed it is still an analysis I was going for a three

21:20

so fair enough oh okay somebody need to keep up the standards Tom is going to be the tough

21:27

one in this uh this group here okay we we always everyone needs a Simon cowl in the group so we're okay so that's is it Simon C I

21:35

need to Google that you don't know him oh

21:45

[Music]

21:57

wow [Music] so-called American Indians Latinos and

22:03

blacks come from a genetically mediocre stock yak yak y being aware of racial

22:09

division get a j I [Music]

22:22

am say I'm a

22:29

[Music]

22:37

[Music]

22:44

now I'm Mr Simpson I'm subbing from his bis who was arrested at the anti-fur

22:49

rally all right all right so what's the thing this one there

22:57

there's some good there's some bad true so true true true to be frankly

23:04

honest when I when I when I saw the first inter the the the the picture on the screen uh what is it with the tape

23:10

robot I think that that it should have meant I was thinking about IC and skada

23:15

systems being approachable uh publicly available actually that was my first uh

23:20

yeah well there goes of fun in this in this episode

23:26

on no I thought look in back in those days

23:32

those um clips that were aired those were probably vide taped and to have some sort of robot to manage those tapes

23:39

is not uncommon and the fact that you could hack it and put a different uh tape in there without someone noticing

23:48

because it's probably the off hours that to me is realistic what is actually what

23:54

I find very funny is that he was typing on and looking at a scen screen and the screen was just doing something random

23:59

that has nothing to do with what he was typing and that that part is just like what is he doing like usually when you

24:07

use any kind of interface it actually does something to to the the viewing

24:13

whatever it is and this was definitely not the case fun thing was he was looking at a 13inch monitor with yeah

24:21

three columns and all moving in a different direction yeah was cool but I

24:27

did like the thing robot yeah the tape robot was awesome cool and actually

24:32

still actual uh in this case it was with video cassette for video recordings but

24:38

uh from nowadays we still see them in in some cases with the backup tapes where

24:43

the tapes are in a in a robot uh we even have a ransomware case we had a

24:48

ransomware case once where basically the tape robot was also hacked and they the

24:54

attacker went in there and they actually deleted all the the back updates and they could access all the backup tapes

24:59

because the tapes were still physically in the robot and the robot could access them one of the most cool cases ever but

25:06

uh that's why when we're talking to client who fell victim to a ransomware attack that we now ask do you have a

25:11

copy do you have an offline copy of your backups and then yes yes we have the own tape and then the next question is

25:17

always going to be are these tapes in a tape robot because we have seen cases

25:23

where actually the tape robot was leveraged for that um so offline backups

25:29

ortant thing and apparently a: 1995

25:36

case o i i I just assumed that was like Antiquated but the fact that you're

25:41

talking about backups that does make absolute sense O Okay so okay that

25:46

little snippet that you saw there guys uh scale of one to 10 I'm just curious how accurate That was cuz didn't we just

25:53

talk about how we were impressed that they didn't use some random goey to show being ha and then of course this next

25:59

scene is exactly that some random imagery that says welcome to whatever system that

26:06

was yeah and and like even even if that that that would never have been the

26:11

interface for the actual programming running the robot so that that in itself looks nobody would make something that

26:19

is so elaborate and that doesn't show anything except an animation of of tapes being switched that would not that would

26:25

not happen uh so like I said everything about the hack is realistic but

26:31

everything visualizing it in the movie is absolutely

26:36

worthless so I'm guessing it's you're you're gonna give it less than like what five six is that my guess how you'd give

The Score

26:43

the scene yeah I would I would give it higher remarks because it it is very

26:50

realistic the hack itself is realistic so I would even go as far as an eight I

26:55

think for this one uh oh and Tomy is giving it a two

27:02

probably go ahead guy something like that yeah true

27:08

the imagery was awful yeah okay the top the tape Rob brings you to a topic that is that might be still on point or or

27:14

currently these days but these movies I'm not very fond of these movies because they don't do the uh the real

27:21

life justice so no no no also very bad score for this all right so what was this if you

27:29

guys are being so severe I I I'll do a four out of 10 for the stupid animation but then go up to a six out of 10 by the

27:37

coolness of the tape robot being used okay all right I we roll with that

School Property

27:43

okay so let's go on to the next clip here now I'm Mr Simpson and I'm subbing from his bis who was arrested at the

27:49

anti-fur rally I know some of you kids got

27:55

computers at home but these these are school property people and I don't want to see any gum

28:04

Stu chapter one designing graphical

28:19

interface the ominous music

28:26

yeah

28:32

what's

28:38

up oh

28:49

my okay guys so those were two scenes actually

28:55

right yeah well I think it was two two scenes yeah the first one was where he

29:00

was changing his score or something or changing his class and then the second was was the spr sprinkler system that he

29:08

hacked this scene I liked okay the scoring will be better for this

29:14

one because it's it's talk to me Goose why do you like this uh well well the first one uh

29:22

indeed changing points or whatever I couldn't uh distinct what he was

29:27

changing but uh well that is something that it's can be very true of course but

29:32

the especially the second part of the of the of the scene having access to an internal well in this uh fire

29:39

extinguishing system brings me back to the topic I I said uh being IC and SCA

29:44

being publicly available you see those that often these interfaces are public e publicly available and not not enough

29:51

well protected or even inside uh an environment a lot of people can access those kind of things so this actually is

29:57

very well it's not possible this is reality yeah um once inside a network you often have access to these kind of

30:03

things because they're really bad default wise really bad secured and then you can do stuff like

30:10

that so I like this this is very um it's very plausible indeed very plausible did

30:16

did any of you guys did any of you guys pick up that he basically makes him graduate to Advanced English

30:24

which allow himself to graduate to Advanced English playing around with his grades that

30:29

but yes uh especially in the: 1995

30:36

database Securities and the the interfaces were really really bad so it

30:42

was easy toble for students to from time to time break into one of these databases yeah it wouldn't even be

30:49

called a hack you would just access the database and change it and you as long

30:55

as you knew where it was you could easily do it well that brings up what

31:00

is yeah like it didn't break anything it just changed some records to A system

31:07

that was probably just accessible from anywhere and and and in the second scene

31:12

Tom with just the other week we were on a team building and we were staying in this house that had a Wi-Fi and we

31:20

wanted to do something with a chomecast and the Wi-Fi had some security feature

31:25

enabled so that two devices in the same network couldn't connect and we simply

31:31

tried the the admin portal of the Wi-Fi which had the default password on it we

31:36

just logged on changed the setting all done so and that was in like publicly

31:43

available place where you would didn't expect it but it was still default password like that kind of stuff and it

31:50

still happens today do you think that's because of uh

31:57

uh ignorance of maintaining good policy or laziness what do you guys think would

32:03

use these words that's easy to have I

32:08

will yeah an inse um or forgetting about

32:15

it uh it we we say that often it's not

32:20

it's it's not ignorance or laziness um it it Dives right into the topic of skills shortages don't have don't

32:26

doesn't people or companies don't don't having the band with or the people to manage these systems you

32:32

buy the ecosystem nowadays is you need tons of different security vendors or

32:37

just infrastructure type of vendors you have tons of tools nobody is fully educated on them so no it's default out

32:43

of the box you place it you don't configure you don't update and then these things happen it's it's one of

32:49

have the complexity for the party setting it up and then saying to the guys who are going to have to work with

32:54

it afterwards saying hey guys I set this up with a default password so you guys can change it later and the other guys say yes we'll do that and they forget

33:01

about it because they're overtasked and have 3,000 other things to do in the company uh also one of these things we

33:07

see a lot there's a lot of non sexy cool things of a partner go yeah sorry sorry

33:14

um from from uh because I used to work at a partner doing these installations of tons of these systems and I can tell

33:21

you that you indeed are there like guys it's finished now you need to change it and yeah

33:28

you do you do your best and then yeah and always the same thing with

33:33

security products you have the the quality of the product and you have the quality of the um configuration of the

33:39

product and just plain things like forgetting to reset default credentials the product might be topnotch if you

33:46

forget to do the basics like res setting the default passwords it's going to be breach

33:52

sometimes it it feels like a human aspect right the human element if there's going to be that one step it's

33:57

going to be the human right like I I I usually is it usually is at some point

34:04

and even if it's the system someone made a mistake somewhere that allows some hacker to use misuse a system so at the

34:12

end it's all human but yeah most of it if when it comes down to configuration usually yeah and like Tom said it it's

34:20

not really their fault in the sense that they are overworked they don't have enough resources so they need to

34:25

prioritize on the most important an things and most businesses still prioritize availability over security at

34:32

any time and that usually bites them in the rear end at some

34:39

point T and Tom can can go and fix the problem when that there you go it's

34:45

called job security guys yes yeah there's PL plenty of that for us true

34:50

sadly enough of course but no it's a sad fact but I tell everyone if you want to

Home Run

34:55

if you want job security go into the Cyber cuz that's just where it's going to

35:01

[Applause]

35:20

[Music]

35:25

go

35:31

[Music]

35:55

f yes home run home run all right let's okay okay what a great visual depiction

36:03

of yeah this with no link to reality whatsoever no nope this this is just an

36:12

Hollywood attempt to make things that look literally look very boring make make it look interesting that that's

36:19

just it there's nothing this this to me gets a two a one a zero out of 10 like

36:25

this is worthless I also like the fact that they at one time they zoomed in on the CCTV thingies

36:32

which at in: 1995

36:38

system not a network system and they jump through there into the network uh

36:44

Cas yeah and then the the the: 2001

36:51

things where everything is flashing and going like weird Clips just Stitch

36:56

together like doesn't make any sense but yeah they had to fill the seconds and minutes I guess yes no I thought that

37:04

was funny of I I get what they're trying to do with a visual depiction of like data going through a system I think

37:11

that's they're getting artistic license I think is what I would call that um

37:16

yeah I I don't know if anything else to say other than I think that was just a visual depiction of data running through

37:21

a network that was my guess of how to read that that is indeed what it was and

37:28

it has no basis in reality whatsoever our jobs are much more boring

37:35

to look at from a visual perspective you don't it was no I wish it was would be

37:42

cool too no it's also I think it Al also a bit of a this is 95 so it's like this

37:49

is what we can generate with a computer when it comes to 3D images back in the

37:56

day cuz that that scene with the the green cubes that would have taken

38:01

probably days of rendering back in the day like this is CGI from

38:08

95 so yeah they wanted to show off what they could do back then which probably

38:15

back then looked really cool butou yeah but uh to today standards not

38:23

so much so are you're saying that ERS is aging itself a little bit is that what you guys are saying it's dated a little

38:30

bit that scene definitely tiny bit Yeah tiny bit yes

ACC Counting

38:38

okay awesome okay so um I'd like if we can I would like to see if we can do one more

38:43

[Music]

38:55

okay [Music]

39:15

they [Music]

39:25

go [Music]

39:41

this is ACC counting sir uh you inquired about an employee of ours agent Richard Gil yes our records indicate he's

39:48

deceased um

39:53

what yeah oh I there's so much about this scene that just cracked me up okay

39:59

so I don't know if anyone has the ability to take someone's property and

40:05

destroy it first off so I don't know if that was a policy back in the day but just seeing how nonchalant that waiter

40:13

was to carry back that credit card and just be like boop boop boop Deuces it's like no explanation no do have any other

40:21

cards none of that so I thought that was really funny yeah that was that was quite funny

Magnetic Strip

40:28

but it was not for me it wasn't the funniest thing in the clip but yeah definitely funny there as

40:33

well also the thing that well that were magnetic the magnetic strip was the only

40:38

thing on that card at the time now we all have cards with chips and the chip basically has some basic security in it

40:45

uh that was the the old times where you could just copy some somebody's magnetic

40:50

strip which was basically just a string of data was enough to yeah and that indeed cutting the the

40:57

strip into was good enough to basically protect you from abuse I like plenty of things in here

41:05

the the fact they were on a on a public telephone boot kids probably don't know

41:11

what it was but at the time before mobiles was a thing uh us as mere mortals we made arrangements with people

41:17

and we were on the certain time at a certain place to meet each other and things like that but well the phone

41:24

boots to basically link up with a computer uh with a thing called the modem which made a very distinct sound

41:31

uh when you try to dial into a network uh I like that one really really really

Modem

41:37

yeah and it would would have made them less traceable because they were on a public phone and they could leave and

41:43

there was no trace of them being there so that was really good um would also cost them quite a few pennies to keep

41:50

the the phone line open yeah especially knowing which internet speeds at that time we had and things like that yeah of

41:58

course the amount of data was not that much what what was again completely ridiculous was the the visual

42:05

representation if you would edit data when you hack something it would not

42:10

look like that you wouldn't have a nice graphical interface and like ton said with the speeds that you had back then

42:17

it would take too long to just load the graphical interface to begin with so

42:23

that that that again Hollywood doing what Hollywood does

42:29

best well it might be a bit of artistic freedom to to make a SQL injection look

42:36

a bit cooler yep but then again you and I would find it much cooler if it was

42:43

actual real injection yep like you had again in The

42:50

Matrix movie there's a scene where they where they actually use an exploit that was a real exploit back in the day uh

42:56

and they actually show you the the oh cool The Prompt was an SSH hacked

43:03

something uh vulnerability and they actually used the real one that was valid in that

43:11

time that's cool movie to review I didn't know that one no nether oh I've

43:16

added I made a mental note to add that to our review list so thank you everyone loves Matrix though so I get

43:23

it and Tom you've been a little quiet there my friend yeah well the um

43:29

actually I was I was thinking about a book I read on Kevin mnik it was ghost in the wires um this scene reminded me

43:35

about that it wasn't it's a really awesome book I've um only been playing

43:40

in the Dig digital realm uh uh doing this but if you see how he explains um in very much in detail how

43:49

we uh deceived FBI by by uh leveraging the the phone system back in the days

43:55

and hacking into companies and universities uh awesome book to read if you want to dive into that uh that Tech

44:03

subject ghost in the wires what was it was the correct term for that for Pham

44:08

line hacks fracking no fracking fracking Fring fracking fracking is it it has a specific

44:15

term oh interesting not to be confused with the term used in Battle Star Galactica which is also that's

44:23

completely different thing Series yeah um yeah and what's relevant today also I

Digital Identity

44:30

think is that how much of our Lives is digital so if there is Mees if they mess

44:36

with that data um yeah it can have real life consequences like if someone puts

44:43

somewhere that you are actually deceased it can be hard to get those errors out

44:48

of the system that is prove it right that is something that we don't deal

44:53

with of course that type of uh incidents or cyber crime that that's more for

44:59

police um but it is I I can't remember also auth I can't remember the name when

45:06

somebody takes your identity there's a an um takes over your kinds yeah yeah

45:11

there's something else as well I didn't well wanted to go to identity theft of

45:16

course um it's uh to have that uh if they take your identity well um because

45:23

there's also very little you can do about it um it can mess up your life

45:30

and the more we move into the digital world the the more important it is to protect your digital identity too uh on

45:38

all sorts of forms because well the probably is going to be the case already

45:43

that your digital self is more important than your physical self uh at least for everything what the states or the place

45:50

you live that the authorities are concerned about yeah

45:56

it makes 100% sense so okay I love this last scene here because I do think it's

46:01

a great reminder of how vulnerable this Richard Gil apparently they're definitely targeting him for whatever

46:07

reason because obviously they don't know the movie but he he did he definitely did something to earn it right so if you

46:13

get on the target of an ey of a hacker that really wants to go after your personal life identity theft or whatever

46:19

purpose they want to go after um it's it's very real in this day and age is that fair to say it doesn't matter who

46:26

you are if you've got an IP address somewhere with your identity you can't get tracked and you can't get hacked is

46:32

that the positive message I guess we should take away if it talks to to

46:37

internet it can get hacked yes and even if it doesn't talk to internet it might still end up being

46:43

hacked reversal but and this is what we tell customers as well I mean they

46:48

always say yeah but why would someone hack us yeah but if someone does and then we have the the angry ex employee

46:57

or or even still employee or there are many reasons why they would be a Target

47:05

and um and once they target you she bad

47:10

luck you have targeted attacks but there's a lot of automation automated scanners who report on hey we have a

47:16

vulnerability here and they just fenter into that so y well okay so it sounds

47:23

like to me I apologize uh tone go ahead I was just going to add that's not

47:30

like the uh proverbial worm that's nibbling away if you sents of your bank accounts that that's not what they're

47:36

after they're not as nice than that they leave something in your bank accounts they try to empty it as a whole that's a

47:43

very true statement so guys I know we can keep going and I know hackers has been requested like I said so many

47:50

people are like you guys got to do hackers you guys got to do it so uh I I know we didn't actually play the

47:56

seen so far knowing that's a: 1995

48:04

10 what did you think of your experience of uh watching the hacker scenes overall I'll go for a three and a

48:13

half I don't yeah not my kind of movie I think no not going to spend my time on

48:18

it it's got like that all right tone I go for a seven because I have some

48:24

interesting concept which are still valid today and I I'll go for a six because I

48:31

think it is good entertainment at least uh and it has some points of truth but

48:37

it's just fun to watch well guys I appreciate your feedback and Tom you cracked me up

48:44

you're like it's a two or a three on a good day you might be surprised I I me a

48:49

lot of a lot of guys uh and gals in cyber security have said hackers has actually got them interested in and

48:55

going into the field so it's like one of those early you know predecessor I guess what you call OG movies so um I might

49:03

check it out myself I haven't seen in like so many eons but uh yeah I gotta

49:08

say it is entertaining it's probably more accurate than I think some other movies that we've seen of depiction of of hacking but yes I mean come on you

49:16

guys if they actually if Hollywood actually filmed us accurately of what you guys all do all day I'd imagine it

49:22

would be a very short movie with a very small niche of people thatd be interested uh just because it's so not

49:29

exciting visually speaking as you guys have said is that accurate very long movie very long sometimes a very long

49:36

and boring movie long and boring movie with like at the very end Eureka moment

49:42

and that's it and it's a and end and scene well guys that kind of well

49:48

Kristoff tone Tom I really appreciate your time and uh I really loved your guys' Insight so um you know what I

49:56

think we could just go ahead and wrap this up because I have a feeling we could keep going and going on this so I want to say thank you so much for your

50:01

time you guys have been rock stars and uh you're always welcome back but let's go ahead and wrap this up for another

50:07

episode of checkpoint real talk we'll see you next time that's a wrap on today's episode of checkpoint real talk

50:15

if you like this video hit that subscribe button and some of those other buttons to show us your appreciation and

50:21

if you want to learn more or have any questions please let us know in the comments we'll see you next time for

50:27

another episode of checkpoint real [Music]

50:35

talk