Webspace Sponsored by:

This page (like others in the Useless Trivia space) exist to provide analysis and review of computer security in films. Reviews of usernames and passwords used in these films will be mentioned as they can be found and identified.

Chain Reaction: Conspiracy, Thriller, Suspense

Not much in the way of computer ownership in this movie.

Noted trivia:

  • When Keanu's character (Eddie) stumbles upon the harmonic effects of a partcular frequency, he records it on a digital, sampling keyboard. From this he plays it back to verify he can reproduce the same effect with the same frequency. Trivia here? The note he presses on his keyboard to play the sampled frequency is "G" or more specifically, "the first G below middle-C," or, "low G."
  • The movie seems to try to base the idea of cheap energy on "Cold Fusion" (by reference and example) but the technologies they seem to be trying to create involve finding a new technique to break the bonds between Hydrogen and Oxygen in water. Hydrolysis has been around for quite a while. *shrug*
  • When he tries to shutdown the system he appears to press, "h", "a", "(Return)". (Watch his right-hand's index finger, and his left-hand's pinkie finger.) This would suggest a 2 character password of "ha" (only half-way funny) or two keystroke for issuing a command to their system.
  • After (what we think is supposed to be) his attempt to shut down the system, he gets a nifty message in the GUI over-painting the metrics of the project that is out of control: 
    -------------------------------------------------
|                                               |
|+-A C C E S S   V I O L A T I O N   E R R O R-+|
||                                             ||
|| CONTROL        FUNCTIONS        UNAVAILABLE ||
||                                             ||
||        CORE    DUMP    IN    PROGRESS       ||
||_____________________________________________||
-------------------------------------------------
  • Eddie's friend makes a call from William's Bay and Morgan Freeman's character (Shannon) is able to click a few buttons on his end to "scramble the call." Weird. How would it be possible to scramble a call over a public telephone system if only one end has "encryption" or "scrambling equipment" while the other ends cannot "decrypt" or "descramble" the altered signal? (Labels on the "scrambling box": "SCRAMBLE" "LINE DROP" "MONITOR" "CLEAR")
  • By associating with homeless, he is able to take advantage of the disadvantage offered to the "invisible people" in a population. (Reference made to any group of people who are ignored when met in person.) (Sometimes races, religion, profession, as well as social and economic background, can cause large parts of a population to ignore or at least not look at them.
  • Eddie becomes an opportunists as he notes an unlocked police car is parked in front of a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Eddie uses the computer in the car to perform a license plate lookup. Though it may not be a password or username (though it could be a form of credential) in order to gain access to the license plate database, he has to enter "1832/8251" into a filed called "BEAT/STAR:" as well as the license plate number "CQ493" with a state of "DC". 
    

HD89                LEADS RESPONSES

XCX NO REC LEADS LIC/ARH330 LIS/IL

VEHICLE LICENSED TO:

Leesburg Construction
108 Fairtawn Way
Leesburg, Virginia

HDL010 ALL LEADS RESPONSES RECEIVED HAVE BEEN DISPLAYED

                **** END OF MESSAGE ****

CSSF LOGOFF

LOG OFF: POLCSIP7

   F1=HELP        F2=NEXT       F3=PREV       F9=VIEWALL       F10=EXIT
  • Eddie manages to grab a uniform and badge for the operational group's site of direction and testing. (This is the same group that orchistrated the destruction of Eddie's lab.) He is able to use this to gain access to the facility without being questioned or confronted. (Wear the clothes and act like you belong there.)
  • While Eddie is engineering a fix to the project at the operational group's site, he uses a computer and we see this rather humorous information on a screen: (You will note the up-close screen shot they have in the movie is not hte same screen that he was looking at when the camera was further away.) 
    M3A-M4C VALVE OPERATING STATUS
                                                   _____________________
LT TANK INLET FLANGE     LT TANK INLET FLANGE      |TANK SEAL ALARM
OPER. LEVEL 307.33       OPER. LEVEL 6445.40       |ENGAGED
-------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
|                                                | _____________________
|                                                | |RT TOP ELECT       |
|                                                | |IGNITION CURR      |
|                                                | |3050 AMP           |
|                                                | ---------------------
|                                                | _____________________
|                                                | |MAIN IGNITION      |
|                                                | |ELECTRODE          |
|                                                | |3050 AMP           |
|        [PICTURE OF HIS DEVICE ON SCREEN]       | ---------------------
|                     [HERE]                     | _____________________
|                                                | |A/B PRES           | 
|                                                | |REGULATOR: 1204    |
|                                                | |STATUS: IDLE       |
|                                                | ---------------------
|                                                | _____________________
|                                                | |BASE TEMP: 203     |
|                                                | |CAT INJ TEMP: 196  |
|                                                | |INJ GAP TEMP: 315  |
|                                                | ---------------------
|                                                |
--------------------------------------------------
SYSTEM DIAGNOSTICS INDICATE POTENTIAL LEVEL 9 HAZARD. RECOMMEND:
ALL LEVEL IMMEDIATE AUTOMATIC SHUTDOWN -- PROBABLE DESTRUCTIVE
HYDROGEN LEVELS LIKELY. RECOMMEND FULL BIOHAZARDOUS SYSTEM
CONTAINMENT SHUTDOWN. DO YOU WISH TO OVERRIDE?

    The caption at the bottom is entertaining: "There is a risk" (ok) "program suggests to manually use an automatic shutdown" (what?) "probably, likely to have destructive hydrogen levels" (huh? probably likely?) "suggest shutting down the biohazard containment system" (DOH! Shutdown the system that could contain a biohazard? Gah!)
  • Another screen shot offers us a view of his system in a, "computer model form." 
    R e g u l a t o r    M o d e l   P a r a m e t e r s
                                         After Heat Power:     4578
                                         Beam Current:         15.42
       [IMAGE OF EDDIE'S DEVICE]         Bounce Points:        27
                 [HERE]                  Branching Points:     49
                                         Burn Phase:           182
                                         Charge Polarization:  NEG
                                         Diode:                No
                                         Total Radius:         126.55
                                         Radiation:            1266.29
  • To show us how bad Shannon really is, we see a scene (1:19:59) where he has an unlit cigar in his mouth and walking by a sign "DANGER: NO SMOKING" (heh heh)
  • We are all familiar with the use of invalid URL and e-mail addresses. This movie makes no exception: (Eddie sends mail to FBI) 
    Outgoing
  ________________________________________
  [      ][      ][      ][      ][      ] Eddie Kasalivich@c_sys.co?
  [ send ][ copy ][attach][reply ][cancel]
  ----------------------------------------

Subject: Come and get us!
         v  Newsgroup                           v  Attachments

mail to: Agent Leon Ford@FBI.WashingtonDC      [#] rsch_hyd.sep
     cc:

v Message
 Hello agent Ford. My terrorist buddies and I are ready to surrender.
 We are here at C-Systems. i
  • Shannon disables the containment systems before he leaves to let Eddie and FIXME get out. He enters a keycode to disable to containment system. (999254) If you listen to the beeps and look at where his finger is pointing when the beeps are heard, then you know 9 is pressed 3 times-- according to the film. (I Realized sound effects are often added in post production.)

    (C) 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 Passwall.com. Copyright Information: Any of the above content that was created by me may be copied so long as each copy includes this copyright and links back to this site with reference to source and the content not be used for financial gain.

    (C) 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 of information included above with explicit credit to people other than me who have submitted documentation, additions, corrections. You will need to get their permission to use their included content.

    I do not provide screenshots from movies, or downloadable movies for any films to avoid issues with Copyright infringement. It is my intention to legally provide news, information, trivia, and discussion about films and ensure content is not illegally reproduced. If you control Copyright to any of these movies and will extend to me permission is writing to capture screenshot images to be used on the web, please let me know!

    If you have suggestions on additions, feel free to e-mail them to me. Please use valid e-mail addresses so I can reply to you. I like to offer credit to people for their submissions. When you provide your submission, please specify what name should be credited with the information provided and if you would like to have an e-mail link to your address or a URL to your home page.

    Useless Trivia: Movie reviews with respect to computer security.