Hacking - Writers Forum

S1E9A8N5 · 08-22-2007, 06:29 PM

I know this has been brought up before. I used the search field but the topics that come up are not what I’m looking for.

How do you describe hacking in a story? Someone who is using a computer to hack into a company’s database etc? A character of mine has to hack into hospital records but I really don’t know how to explain such a thing. I want to make it sound convincing. Sorry if this is repetitive.

wmd · 08-22-2007, 08:47 PM

I think that the movie "Hackers" shows a pretty realistic idea of hacking....

To be honest though... I think that describing it as it actually happens might get too boring and technical. I would describe the person doing it... concentrate on his behavior and habits and stuff while hacking and just toss in a bit of description of the hacking that is important.

ClancyBoy · 08-22-2007, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wmd

I think that the movie "Hackers" shows a pretty realistic idea of hacking....

NO

I'm sure you were joking, but in case you weren't,

NO

Read some issues of Phrack Magazine or 2600 Quarterly. Though honestly, if you don't understand the technology it's probably going to show.

Actually, contrary to what you see in the movies, most successful "hacking" has less to do with computers and more to do with skillful lying and social engineering. I would study up on people like Kevin Mitnick and Frank Abagnale (the guy played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can.) Abagnale did his hacking with ink and a printing press.

If you include the latter element, your story will be much more authentic.

Hobbes · 08-22-2007, 09:36 PM

Agree with ClancyBoy. Skip the technobabble and make the story about the *person* doing the hacking, not the hacking itself. Definitely think about Catch Me If You Can; readers are interested in the *story* of the character who does the hacking - why s/he does it, what drives him/her to go to such lengths; how s/he gets in and out of tight spots without leaving a trace. I know I'd pass out if forced to read ten pages of code; as usual, the money's in the characters; not in their abilities.

ClancyBoy · 08-22-2007, 09:46 PM

Oh also, if you don't want real hackers to hate your guts, you should use the word "cracking," not "hacking."

Hodge · 08-22-2007, 10:17 PM

Phreak.

S1E9A8N5 · 08-22-2007, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Skip the technobabble and make the story about the *person* doing the hacking, not the hacking itself. Definitely think about Catch Me If You Can; readers are interested in the *story* of the character who does the hacking - why s/he does it, what drives him/her to go to such lengths; how s/he gets in and out of tight spots without leaving a trace. I know I'd pass out if forced to read ten pages of code; as usual, the money's in the characters; not in their abilities.

I agree. I don't want to make it about the "technobabble". I just want to throw in a little bit of techno lingo. I don't think I've seen Catch Me If You Can. I'll have to check that out.

Thanks for the advice guys.

wmd · 08-25-2007, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClancyBoy

NO

I'm sure you were joking, but in case you weren't,

Yes I was joking, that is why the next line said "to be honest though...". I think Hackers was horrible and stupid the way they "showed" them hacking into computers.

People do not know when I am joking a lot of times, because I refuse to use lol everytime I joke. Think about it... the material that most people type lol after is not something to make you "laugh out loud".

HarryG · 08-25-2007, 12:39 PM

To hack into a hospital data base you merely need to send an appropriate Trojan to the site, crack the password, and you have access.

Or, you could bribe an employee with access to get your information for you; you could make it an ex-girlfriend, who will accept payment in kind; and heighten the tension by suggesting that she has infected you with a fatal disease as an act of revenge.

ClancyBoy · 08-28-2007, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryG

To hack into a hospital data base you merely need to send an appropriate Trojan to the site, crack the password, and you have access.

Only if the security really really sucks. Otherwise you're going to have to have physical access to an authorized terminal inside the hospital. On the off chance they allow this database to be accessed from home (surgeons making housecalls?) You have to have a phone number and access to their VPN. Password number two. If they have any brains they will only allow connections from phone numbers registered with the system. If the database is valuable they may also issue electronic cards with a password that changes every 90 seconds.

In any case, if this database is at all valuable then it will never be as simple as knowing one password.

RandomCL · 08-28-2007, 03:31 PM

The best way (in my opinion as a person with a fairly decent knowledge of the topic) would be to avoid technical terms, as it would put the average reader out of the story, forcing them to just sit and grind through concepts and ideas they can't comprehend. Instead, just describe the "idea" of hacking; allude to it but instead, focus on the character doing it, what he is thinking, and so on, instead of the actual act itself.