Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - real depiction of hacking?

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   mega1posted 12 years ago

   I saw Girl With the Dragon Tattoo yesterday - the American version - and I thought it was a good movie - maybe not quite as good as the Swedish one, but very true to the book, which I really loved.  The only thing is - how real was that hacking?  Especially the scene where they hack into a woman's phone, laptop, computer - everything - by sticking some device on her door -  then they can tell she's playing solitaire - shopping on internet etc.  Is that really possible?  It didn't seem quite real to me.  Maybe somebody here knows more about these things.

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   mega1posted 12 years ago

   Ok, I realize that probably nobody will want to admit that they do know much about this subject - but maybe you've read something somewhere or know somebody else who knows about it.  Seems to me that if it were as easy as they make it seem nobody would have any privacy at all.  And while there were many frightening scenes in that movie, this part scared me perhaps most of all!

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   skyfireposted 12 years ago

   It is possible to track your mobile phone IMSI number and locate your current position. Cops use it to locate some criminals or to catche mobile phone thefts. It is possible to see last 10 transactions from your credit card if anyone gets access to your bank VBA codes. It is possible to hack computers, lot harder these days but still possible.
   
   Take case of social networks like google+ or facebook for example, your IP address gives exact location information when you use check in apps. Your search results gives them your personal likes and dislikes information. This information harvesting can be used to slap ads on you and rest of your internet experience. Social networks if connected with online payment processor like google+ and gwallet will even extract more personal information like last shop purchase, items and date etc etc.
   
   In short, hacking is possible, privacy breach is happening all around you.

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      mega1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      thanks for that, which is what I thought pretty much.  But, these devices they used in the movie, I wonder if they really exist in that form?  Probably not, it is fictional.  Still we do have to be as careful as possible!  My defense is not having any funds for anyone to swipe in the first place, and such lousy credit they couldn't do anything with my info if they did get it.  It just gives me the creeps to think that someone could be watching my every move on the computer like they did in that movie!!

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         Hollie Thomasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I doubt they exist in that form, but trust me, if the authorities wanted to monitor your every movement, they could, even without the use of such technology. You'd be surprised.

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            mega1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I'm not nearly as worried about the "authorities" as I am about the "independents"  - people who would just make my life hell!

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         skyfireposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Some part in almost every hacking movie is fiction. Take case of coolest looking terminals, data shown with graphics and AI, that part is always fiction. In reality terminals in unix/linux are not that cool and except GPS/tracking part, there is hardly anything graphic when it comes to hacking.

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   Muldaniaposted 12 years ago

   I believe anything is possible with technology now.  I was reading how old dumped computers are rich pickings for thieves.  I knew that any online transaction or banking details would be available on the hard drive, but I didn't realise that it is stored somehow on laptop screens.  So even wiping a hard drive is not enough to stop anyone wanting your financial details.

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   mega1posted 12 years ago

   unnerving, isn't it?  It always amazes me that hacking to a certain type of person is a challenge - doesn't mean anything more than a kind of puzzle to some people - and if they do get financial gain from it so much the better.  People so often will do things without considering that there is a real, live, breathing person at the other end to be hurt from it - especially now that most communication is so impersonal.  We seem to know and care more about the TV personalities and celebs than we do about the people we meet in real ( and cyber) life.

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      Billy Atsidasposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/is- … e.1605311/
      
      answers in the last post....
      I did had problems in my life with a lunatic psycho girl who was rich and did paid anyone to know what I was doing on my PC all the time...I wish I had viewed the movie earlier...

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