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.

Skyggen (1998) (English title release in the US: "The Webmaster" (1998)): Science Fiction

Disclaimer: This is a film which was released in the U.S. and aparrently was released as a dubbed work. The copy I bought is a Region-2 with subtitles, so the information provided below may be different on the dubbed version.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0136535/

This is a Sci-Fi film about a "hacker in the future" who becomes a sysadmin (they call webmaster) for a company after he breaks their security. Consider a movie sort of like a mix between "Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future", "Total Recall", and maybe a little "Blade Runner" but not really as good as any of these.

We have:

• Nifty GUI-based interface to machines and OS where you have your own "ego" which is an AI-like entity which works on your behalf and reports to you when you login.
• There is coverage by narration that it took him 6 months to hack the system for the company he now works. (Depicting hacking can take a lot of preperation time before there is much joy.)
• Biometrics: Fingerprint scanners are used to control access to an elevator to an apartment building from the garage, and the countermeasure used in the film is a thin plastic card with someone else's fingerprint. A real fingerprint is lifted, and then dusted, scanned, and a thin plastic card is generated for use.
• Physical access to a network is shown to be a security hole when an open access port is found in an unexpected location that was not accounted for in the planning of the system. (Human error leads to a public method to bypass firewalls/filters.)
• Due to the high level of security JB (hacker who is sysadmin for the company) has made the top group open for use under the assumption that only authorized people would be in that group. (Similar effect to when people work for a company which they know has a "firewall" choose to use simple passwords with the false assumption that the firewall will take care of all of their security needs.)
• There is a suggestion that DNA is necessary for one biometric scan of the "bug" which is attached to JB to act as a temporary heart to gain his support.
• Effectively, the sysasmins have these disks which contains their "Egos" and each ego is unique and transactions performed by an ego are tied to the Ego which performed them. In some ways, disks are like pre-authorized keys used in ssh.

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Useless Trivia: Movie reviews with respect to computer security.