Hello, and welcome to Play Noggin.
I’m Julian, your brain’s Player Two.
We’ve all seen, and been embarrassed by,
Hollywood movies that depict hackers, fingers
flying on their keyboards as window after
window pops up.
They usually spout some line about firewalls
and IP addresses -- just enough to trick people
that aren’t paying attention -- and if we
suspend our disbelief, we can maybe buy it.
However, one game company wasn’t content
with trotting out the terrible old hacker
cliches, and they decided to actually do their
homework.
That company is Ubisoft, and that game is
Watch Dogs 2.
The plot goes something like this: In the
very-near future, cities have begun installing
a central computer system called ctOS, or
Central Operating System.
It’s like Apple HomeKit, but on a ridiculous,
city-wide level.
Hey Siri, turn off the lights.
ALL of the lights.
That sort of thing.
In Watch Dogs 2, our hero is Marcus Holloway,
also known as Retr0, a hacker who’s punished
for a crime he didn’t commit.
See, the ctOS system categorizes Marcus as
the key suspect.
You’d think we as a nation would have learned
something from Minority Report, but alas.
Wanting to protect innocent people like him,
Marcus joins up with a hacker organization
called DedSec, which works to bring down corruption
wherever it pops up.
If we’re going to talk about hackers and
all the hacks they do, we should first get
an understanding of what hacking is and how
it works.
Over the years, computer systems have become
more connected and more complex, which makes
it nearly impossible to eliminate all security
flaws.
Hackers are able to identify and use these
flaws to infiltrate the system and make it
do what they want.
Hackers with nefarious intent, sometimes referred
to as “black hats” or “crackers,”
may then attempt to infect the computer system
with a virus, which is a small computer program
designed to copy itself into multiple files
and programs in the target machine.
These and other so-called exploits can cause
your computer to go crazy.
We’re not talking about getting sucked into
your computer, Tron-style.
Yet.
But bad things can happen, from loss of data
to exposure of personal information.
It should be noted, however, that most hackers
consider themselves to be “white hats,”
or the good guys -- much like Marcus and DedSec.
They’re super intelligent computer pros
with a strong sense of justice, as opposed
to the “black hats,” who simply want to
sew chaos.
Black Hats are the Joker, White Hats are Batman,
in other words.
They might use legally dubious methods to
fight evil, but they’re fighting evil all
the same.
So, what would happen if you were the target
of a hack?
Are you safe from Marcus or some less-benevolent
group?
What about your personal data?
One of the key elements of Watch Dogs is the
ability to remotely -- and easily -- hack
random strangers’ smart phones.
In reality, while the tech Marcus uses to
effortlessly swipe data from passersby isn’t
a threat today, it’s remarkably easy to
hack a smartphone.
Whether through unsecured Wifi or a malicious
app designed to give an outside user control,
your data is vulnerable.
Not that you should walk around in abject
fear.
Just use common sense -- make sure Wifi you
connect to is secure, don’t install apps
if you don’t know and trust the source,
and keep your phone’s operating system up
to date.
Even our cars are not immune, since they’re
also becoming increasingly complex and powered
by computer technology.
In the game, Marcus can pretty easily turn
any car into an RC-lover’s dream.
See a nice convertible you want to play with?
Easy.
Hack away, it’s all yours.
Every car in Watch Dogs is self driving, even
when their driver’s would rather they weren’t.
With the advent of smart, self-driving cars
in real life, it’s not difficult to see
that sort of problem becoming bigger in the
future.
But cars today have some pretty significant
security flaws that make them easy prey for
hackers.
In 2015, hackers were able to remotely connect
to a Jeep Cherokee fleeing police shut down
its engine.
If it’s relatively easy to hack an individual,
what would it take to hack a city?
How realistic are the hacks in Watch Dogs?
In the near future, are we all going to dress
like Wrench and Sitara, because I’d be cool
with that.
Let’s take a look.
We may not live in a world with ctOS levels
of hackability at this very moment, but cybersecurity
experts believe we’ll be arriving there
soon.
In Watch Dogs, it’s easy to hack traffic
lights in order to escape pursuers.
In the real world, a researcher from Kaspersky
Lab found a way to manipulate traffic signals
in Russia by simply accessing a user manual
online from the signal manufacturer.
We can chalk that up to a rookie mistake on
the company’s part, but again, the more
complex the system, the more security flaws
are likely to pop up.
Researchers have discovered that the new “smart”
systems being used to control traffic lights
can be hacked remotely, up to 1,500 feet away
-- in person, or even using drones.
Cities would love to install something like
ctOS to manage every facet that currently
requires individual software programs to maintain.
But doing so allows malicious hackers to do
widespread damage with comparatively little
effort.
Hacking smart meters or power lines to black
out huge chunks of a city, or remotely shutting
down an entire area’s public transportation
system, are not outside the realm of possibility.
So scientists are working to decentralize
the smart grid, in hopes that this will give
energy companies a leg up on their would-be
attackers.
One method black hat hackers use to disrupt
governments and businesses is a distributed
denial of service attack, or DDoS for short.
This is a disturbingly simple strategy, whereby
a hacker simply overwhelms the network in
their sights with requests until it falls
apart from the strain.
It’s like when tickets to Burning[ab] Man
are about to go on sale and everyone keeps
hitting refresh until the site crashes.
Only this can be done with a single hacker
using hacked computers to generate thousands
or millions of “fake” visits, overwhelming
the system.
In fact that’s the end goal of Marcus in
Watch Dogs: the actions he performs gain him
followers who download his app, which in turn
allows him to use their devices to create
a DDoS attack to shut down ctOS.
Followers equal power.
It’s the same on YouTube.
Muahahaha!
Play Noggin promises to use our power benevolently,
if it pleases us.
It’s easy to see an attack that shuts down
a city becoming more and more mainstream as
our cities become increasingly interconnected.
Scared yet?
That’s what we’re here for.
But seriously, as much as ill-intentioned
hackers might try to disrupt the world, there
are many more brilliant minds at work to keep
us safe.
In Watch Dogs, it’s DedSec.
In our world, it’s a bunch of talented people
from all walks of life.
Chances are, we’re gonna be just fine.
Just don’t click on links from strangers
in your email, k?
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