Security in the Movies

This big budget flick got thrashed by the critics for no apparent reason, except that they clearly didn't like it. Perhaps US official antipathy to any stem cell innovation, let alone, shock horror, human cloning, left an impact. Who knows.

In any event, it is a perfectly enjoyable flick, beautifully shot, with a Gattacaesque styling sensibility that is a joy to behold. Fashionistas everywhere take note- White is the new White.

On the technology front, the notoriously unreliable biometric- face recognition -with very high levels of false positives, and generally dodgy results- has clearly come a long way between now and 2017/19. I can't recall exactly what date we are supposed to be in.

The entirely self interested (as in, "I want to live, and don't care how I get your organs to do so") Ewan McGregor character -mercifully not speaking in a Scottish accent for most of the movie (whose $5 million clone double has escaped the Underground Clone Hell Factory, with the delectable Scarlett Johannsen in tow - a woman worth cloning, if there was ever one) rats out the location of Ewan 2 and Scarlett 2 to the evil clone masters, and face recognition software picks them out of a crowd in a heartbeat.

Perversely, it seems that clones will also destroy the entire business model of all biometric vendors, as their fingerprints will be identical to those of their donors. This is not in fact an incorrect assumption- the experts will tell you that this is indeed a possible, if not inevitable outcome, with cloning techniques.

It also seeems that in the future, the households of the rich and famous will be protected by face and hand scanners.

We will also have really cool, Dart Vader like motorbikes that can hover and fly. Something to look forward to.

Unfortunately, we will also (or at least our unfortunate clones will) be eating rather nasty looking porridge. Bacon, alas, contrary to Woody Allen's reassuring utopian vision in 'Sleepers' will still be bad for you, and you will have to lie and flirt with nasty old hags to even get a piece. In fact, you may have to resort to taking a Scarlett clone with you everywhere you go, to even have a fighting chance of a sniff of the good stuff.

MS and Nokia will survive

In case it is keeping you up nights, yes, Microsoft will be with us in the future- making XBox simulations to amuse our clones, and MSN Search will replace phone books and the Yellow Pages in MSN branded futuristic phone booths. Alas, they appear not to be any more secure then they are today.

Nokia will also continue to design really hip phones.

The cloning science is not accurate. There is no need for the surrogate clone Mum to be toasted after giving birth to her clone baby, as in the future we can expect that cloned babies will be grown in artificial wombs, or transplanted into the actual donor, but this level of critique is probably a trifle harsh.

Worth a gander.

Remember The Core?

The Matrix Reloaded - Canadian gal Carrie-Anne Moss as sexy hacker 'Trinity' does an Nmap portscan to scope out a power grid computer before hacking in. All very correct and proper. SecurityFocus did an amusing piece on this classic moment in cinema history. It was, however, very sad to note that there are unpatched servers out there in AD 2199. Job security for security nerds into the 22nd century?

National Treasure. I saw this recently, and while the plot is beyond preposterous, Nick Cage has a way about him (especially when paired with action man Bruckheimer), and he makes you forget how daft it all really is. I am a tad concerned that he seems to be dressing more and more like Elvis- his real life hero (whose daughter he keeps marrying).

There are a few noteworthy scenes where prints are lifted from keyboards and drinking glasses to make what seemed to be a gummy finger to pass the biometric scanners (at least I think it was a gummy finger - my eyes temporarily glazed over at lowpoints in the plot). Also GPS tracking software was used to pinpoint mobile calls.

Enemy of the State. Nice flick- especially if one is a conspiracy theorist. Good digs at the NSA and lots of surveillance gizmos, wiretaps, and rotating spy satellites. Over the top fun with that perennial favourite and 'dragger of aliens through the desert' - Will Smith. Will seems to be tech aware, and a general smart cookie.

Sandra Bullock in a bad flick called The Net. She chances upon a backdoor in security software produced by Evil Monster Tech Corp - who happen to secure just about everything (aah- the dangers of centralization). To protect their dark secret from our sultry heroine, they erase all digital records of her existence, which messes her up royally.

Naturally being a nerdy kind of gal - despite her comely appearance (who clearly doesn't get out much), she has not one friend or acquaintance who can vouch for her (except I recall- an ex boyfriend - The Psychiatrist). A lesson to all of us who fail to dance the light fantastic every chance we get.

However, the kicker is that the stealthy backdoor can be accessed thus : Run Evil Corp software; Hold down the control key; Click on an icon in the corner of the screen. And Eureka- all is revealed. (And who said security was hard!)

(Thanks Ken)

AI. A great and underrated flick from Spielberg. Absolutely terrifying and heart rending scenes of androids being slaughtered in a circus arena in front of a braying, blood (circuit) thirsty crowd that would put the Coliseum to shame.

Is this a glimpse into the future as to how we will treat our clones, our cyborgs and androids, and the chimeras (part animal and part human)?

But I digress.

(I don't bother to mention classics such as War Games and Hackers - the latter being classic for a campy dark side hacker, and Angelina Jolie's excellent punk haircut. )

In recent weeks, various people have brought the following to my attention:

Arnold in T2 hacks an ATM (with a smart card - brute force attack for PINs, or so I recall);

Sneakers - I recall this one vaguely. Robert Redford flick. Basic premise is that organized crime has a chip that can backdoor any product on the planet. Our hero (Redford) is blackmailed by the CIA (it seems he has outstanding warrants from his dark 60's hippy-radical past) to come back out, and lead a motley band of security 'experts' to retrieve the chip, and save the world.

If anyone saw this recently - drop me a line. I don't remember if the security/crypto scenario was just boiler plate daft, or above and beyond ludicrous.

The Kevin Mitnick movie- if anyone has actually seen this- let me know. I believe Kevin wasn't too thrilled about it - especially as he has newly morphed into a fine upstanding member of the community.

Independence Day - Uber Nerd Jeff Goldblum uploads a killer virus to the Evil Alien Mothership. Subsequently the US- CERT (very earnest Carnegie Mellon Uni. virus/security breach watchdog) flagged a significant code vulnerability in the Mothership (don't you just love it when nerds display a sense of humour?

(Thanks to Robert for this particular gem and the link)

I recently watched Lara Croft again and was reminded of how strange it all seemed to me the first time around. Rich and alluring Lara has the impressive fighting robot - and Brad Pitt it seems- plus wads of technology (including her own personal techie) at her disposal. But none of it does her one earthly bit of good when it comes to detecting intruders.