Lock the computer a la Die Hard 4?

[shearn89]

Hey all - i have a question - has anyone come across a utility to lock the computer like the hacker does in Die Hard 4 (live free or die hard)?

You can lock the computer using the standard screensaver-style-thing, but he must do it from a command line somehow. And the computer shoes all those rolling numbers. Looks pretty sweet, and would go well with my stripped-out Arch install...

[DoktorSeven]

xlockmore?

xlock -mode [screensaver name, see xlockmore help]

[init1]

Hey all - i have a question - has anyone come across a utility to lock the computer like the hacker does in Die Hard 4 (live free or die hard)?

You can lock the computer using the standard screensaver-style-thing, but he must do it from a command line somehow. And the computer shoes all those rolling numbers. Looks pretty sweet, and would go well with my stripped-out Arch install...

Do you mean without using X? I know one exists but I don't remember the name. As for scrolling try cmatrix, its in the repos

[herbster]

Good call DoktorSeven, I've been using xlock for a bit and you could make a keyboard bind to it so you could activate it from anywhere, and/or make an alias in your .bashrc with the same command, ie.:


xlock -mode matrix

[fela]

stop trying to make your computer like in the movies...:lolflag:

[LaRoza]

Can I use my laptop to be able to connect to alien motherships and be able to write viruses for unknown architectures and API's?

(Worth a shot)

[shearn89]

stop trying to make your computer like in the movies...

but its so fun...



Can I use my laptop to be able to connect to alien motherships and be able to write viruses for unknown architectures and API's?

(Worth a shot)

Don't forget you then have to launch a nuke at them, and hope that it lands in just the right place to set off a chain-reaction-type-thing to destroy the entire ship. Purely by chance.

[LaRoza]

Don't forget you then have to launch a nuke at them, and hope that it lands in just the right place to set off a chain-reaction-type-thing to destroy the entire ship. Purely by chance.

Not to mention have to fly an unknown craft, and be able to survive without any survival or flight gear.

[Mazza558]

Can I use my laptop to be able to connect to alien motherships and be able to write viruses for unknown architectures and API's?

(Worth a shot)

You're forgetting he was using Linux, and the Hardware Support really shows.

[Barrucadu]

Can I use my laptop to be able to connect to alien motherships and be able to write viruses for unknown architectures and API's?

(Worth a shot)

Only if you are using a kernel version less than 2.0. The developers deemed the alien hardware compatability obsolete and removed it after than.

[koenn]

Can I use my laptop to be able to connect to alien motherships and be able to write viruses for unknown architectures and API's?

(Worth a shot)
It's all about cross-platform compatibility and open standards. If the guys who created the system for the alien mothership were any good, it might just work.

[BatsotO]

linux for alien being

[kidux]

Can I use my laptop to be able to connect to alien motherships and be able to write viruses for unknown architectures and API's?

(Worth a shot)

I laugh my **** off every time I see that, and my wife still looks at me funny. :)

[LaRoza]

I laugh my **** off every time I see that, and my wife still looks at me funny. :)

So do I. (I don't actually laugh, I just annoyed and lecture on the impossibility of it.)

[rune0077]

So do I. (I don't actually laugh, I just annoyed and lecture on the impossibility of it.)

Impossibility? I thought it was a well-known security exploit in most extra terrestrial OS design.

[kidux]

So do I. (I don't actually laugh, I just annoyed and lecture on the impossibility of it.)

The stupidest aspect of it is the fact that he's introducing a virus into the computer system. I could suspend my disbelief a bit more if he was actually hacking the system, but to upload a virus? :lolflag:

[derekr44]

All I know is that we need to work on our communication

[herbster]

Yeesh, I'm all for realism in the flicks but how moronic is it to expect rationality about 2 hours into the movie after what's preceeded.. oy vey! Some of you are too anal-ytical.

[solitaire]

The stupidest aspect of it is the fact that he's introducing a virus into the computer system. I could suspend my disbelief a bit more if he was actually hacking the system, but to upload a virus? :lolflag:

well the Aliens were probably running a Windows Based OS.

damm that "Autorun.inf"

Heck Bill G has probably cornered the intergalactic OS market already!!

[LaRoza]

well the Aliens were probably running a Windows Based OS.

Heck Bill G has probably cornered the intergalactic OS market already!!

They would have crashed on their own if they ran Windows.

The captured ship worked after 30 years, and was still compatible with the mothership. It shows they are following an open standard. However, *nix based OS's are not likely to be so easy to take down.

[isecore]

You're forgetting he was using Linux, and the Hardware Support really shows.

I'm going to reveal my amazingly huge geekery here, but I assume that we're talking about Independence Day?

If so's the case, he was actually using a Mac. It's obvious. Probably running MacOS 7.

[LaRoza]

I'm going to reveal my amazingly huge geekery here, but I assume that we're talking about Independence Day?

If so's the case, he was actually using a Mac. It's obvious. Probably running MacOS 7.

So much for open standards. (Of course we are talking about Independence Day)

Just because he is using a Mac, it doesn't mean he is using MacOS.

A true geek (as he is supposed to be I think, if he programs and is able to do all that) wouldn't be using MacOS.

[muchojackdaniels]

I hate it when Hollywood tries to make computers evil. Bunch of dumb asses sit in a room and come up with a story about a hacker. None of them knows jack about computers. Have you guys seen the new movie about the hacker guy? They all suck.

[LaRoza]

I hate it when Hollywood tries to make computers evil. Bunch of dumb asses sit in a room and come up with a story about a hacker. None of them knows jack about computers. Have you guys seen the new movie about the hacker guy? They all suck.

Yes, it bothers me. No I didn't see. Yes they probably do.

[rune0077]

I hate it when Hollywood tries to make computers evil. Bunch of dumb asses sit in a room and come up with a story about a hacker. None of them knows jack about computers. Have you guys seen the new movie about the hacker guy? They all suck.

Didn't anyone catch that Kevin Mitnick movie? (can't remember it's name). Because it was largely just based on Mitnick's life, it was decidedly low-action (hacker's really don't lead that interesting lives). They did add some fancy "cyber-effects" occasionally, and had Skeet Ulrich play Mitnick, to make it more visual (the cyber effects to avoid the movie just being about a guy who punches code into a terminal, Ulrich, well, probably to get the women to watch it). Anyways, it wasn't right on the money, but it was by far the most realistic hacker-movie I have seen - they actually bothered to stick mostly to the facts about what Mitnick were capable of doing with a computer in real life (which is still a lot more than most of the rest of us, for sure).

[shearn89]

The stupidest aspect of it is the fact that he's introducing a virus into the computer system. I could suspend my disbelief a bit more if he was actually hacking the system, but to upload a virus? :lolflag:

He just runs "virus-uploader". Its a cool program, i think they're on 2.1 now...

As to realism in films, most realistic hacking that i've seen is actually in the Matrix Reloaded, when Trinity hacks the power station. She uses Nmap (real), exploits an SSH vulnerability (real), and then fires off an "sshnuke" (fake).

[tylerspaska]

I like the movie "Swordfish" where writing a worm/virus/hacking or whatever the main character is doing, involves dancing in front of a myriad of monitors and building a cube (he should have just used blender). I see now that he's using 'worm generator tool v1.2.

-I've never uploaded images, I hope they work.

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/8315/swordfishpt1uj7.jpg

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4474/swordfishpt2ke3.jpg

[LaRoza]

Nice one.

Real programming may involve more than one monitor, but they are easily viewable. And the only input device is a keyboard, and maybe a mouse. (And we sit down when doing it)

[ibuclaw]

I hate it when Hollywood tries to make computers evil.

The one's that twist my button are the ones where a computer suddenly decides that its alive and it's role is to kill all living things. (Or put a cap on the population to stop it expanding).

Who has re-watched Short Circuit recently?? That makes me giggle.
The part where Johnny starts talking about his upgrades (something like a 133MHz Processor and a 512KB Hard Drive.)

Comical in the context of now, but back then that was a super computer on wheels!!

Iain

[bonzodog]

The stupidest aspect of it is the fact that he's introducing a virus into the computer system. I could suspend my disbelief a bit more if he was actually hacking the system, but to upload a virus? :lolflag:

Actually, if you watch the movie carefully, the guy got to spend some time with direct access to the recovered scout ships hardware, which had been booted up (net-booted, presumably), by the mothership {Scientist: "We haven't been able to get this working until the mothership arrived...it just came alive"}.

He connected a cable to the computer in the ship, and engineered a vulnerability in the 'wireless' section of the network, allowing him access, and also letting him see the code that the computers ran on in assembly.
I think they presume that all computers, at their most basic, still run in binary at their most basic level.
It looks like he actually planted a backdoor into their network, then wrote a virus that was compatible with their system. He did say that for the virus to be effective, it HAS to be run from the mothership down, thus close proximity was needed. The advanced Alien tech in the scout meant it had artificial gravity and a breathable atmosphere.

Incidentally, I don't think it would hard to come up with a GUI 3D build tool for GNU make and the gcc toolkit. It would be cool if you ran "make" then a window appeared that built a cube as the program built. Swordfish is still possibly one of my favourite Hacker movies. John Travolta in that is just...scary. Psychopathically ruthless. Also, the irony of the 'worlds most wanted hacker' being called 'Axel Torvalds' is not lost on me.

[shearn89]

Actually, if you watch the movie carefully, the guy got to spend some time with direct access to the recovered scout ships hardware, which had been booted up (net-booted, presumably), by the mothership {Scientist: "We haven't been able to get this working until the mothership arrived...it just came alive"}.

He connected a cable to the computer in the ship, and engineered a vulnerability in the 'wireless' section of the network, allowing him access, and also letting him see the code that the computers ran on in assembly.
I think they presume that all computers, at their most basic, still run in binary at their most basic level.
It looks like he actually planted a backdoor into their network, then wrote a virus that was compatible with their system. He did say that for the virus to be effective, it HAS to be run from the mothership down, thus close proximity was needed. The advanced Alien tech in the scout meant it had artificial gravity and a breathable atmosphere.

Incidentally, I don't think it would hard to come up with a GUI 3D build tool for GNU make and the gcc toolkit. It would be cool if you ran "make" then a window appeared that built a cube as the program built. Swordfish is still possibly one of my favourite Hacker movies. John Travolta in that is just...scary. Psychopathically ruthless. Also, the irony of the 'worlds most wanted hacker' being called 'Axel Torvalds' is not lost on me.

Swordfish is quite awesome, plus i never noticed the torvalds thing! sweet...

As for binary, its quite possible that an alien race may have developed on trinary, which could be a reason for them being ridiculously more advanced than us. Just think how much further we'd be if we'd started with trinary instead of binary...