Blog Elements

I was looking forward to this movie and really hoped it lived up to the hype and the directing ability of Michael Mann. So you already know where I’m coming from based on the title, but to take it a step or two further with the SciFi references, the Avengers could not even make this movie worth a rental at Redbox. If you’re looking for a good movie or a hacking movie, you’ve want to skip this movie altogether. You would think that this movie given recent events relating to hacking in the world, that it would come out keyboards a blazing.

From the very poor, cheesy even, representation of how data flows across networks and SCADA devices to the hacker getting the girl in what seemed like a few hours, it was just hard to sit through. I found myself looking for anything to dig my teeth into, I even got excited when I saw a quick screen shot of netcat (2 second shot of a backdoor command “nc” being shown) being used.

Let’s face it here, the term “Blackhat” is related to hacking but it’s clear they didn’t have anybody on the set that knew what that meant little less, knew how to handle that on the big screen. The series “24” had much more realistic views of hacking and how to depict it

Ok, so I’ve beat the movie up from a “this is not a hacking movie” so let’s look at it on the merits of a good movie. The movie did not grab my attention at all and apparently didn’t grab the attention of at least 2 other people in the theater as they were on their phones after about 20-30 minutes. Usually this bothers me a lot, but to tell the truth I thought about pulling my phone out too. So its opening weekend, yes, it was Sunday and there was a football game on, but still there was only about a dozen people there for this showing and I think the girls were just there for Hemsworth. So the plot was slow to form and kept getting lost to me, until there was a sudden and abrupt end that really made no sense at all, other than to show that the hacker learned how to make a shank in prison.

To quote my girlfriend “The final confrontation between the “hero” and the bad guy was rushed and improbable”. The characters were not well thought out and casting could have been better, but still don’t think it would have helped the script. I could spend hours picking this movie apart, but I really saw no saving graces for this movie it was a waste of a good movie title to me. Lastly, the title of a movie should relate to the subject matter, in this case it was only maybe 5% related in conception and generalities not in real content.

Did you see the movie, what is your opinion of it, please share it with us.

SANS 2015 (Orlando) – April 11 – 18, 2015

2015-01-12/2 Comments/in Conference, Training/by SecurityOrb_Staff

*** Receive a $200 discount for any (4-6) day SANS course with code: SANS_SecOrb200 ***

For a complete list of courses and complete descriptions, please see:
http://www.sans.org/u/oj

SANS will be back in Orlando at Disney for SANS 2015 with more than 35 courses, evening talks and activities, and vendor events. Please plan to attend on April 11-18 at the Walt Disney World Swan Resort for a full SANS Live Training Event experience. This is where you can get the skills you need and learn tips and tricks from the experts so that you can win the battle against the wide range of cyber adversaries that want to harm your environment. SANS 2015 is one of SANS’ largest events with something for everyone.

A look at our Event Webpage will show that our courses are being taught by SANS top Instructors who will ensure that you not only learn the material, but that you can also apply it immediately when you return to the office.

Note our list of new courses and our list of 5- and 6-day courses (arranged by discipline for your convenience) that will raise your level of security preparedness:

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New Cutting-Edge Courses
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– New! SEC511: Continuous Monitoring and Security Operations (Simulcast) taught by Eric Conrad
– New! SEC760: Advanced Exploit Development for Penetration Testers taught by Stephen Sims

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Security and Pen Testing Courses
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– SEC301: Intro to Information (GIAC-GISF, Simulcast) taught by Keith Palmgren
– * SEC401: Security Essentials Bootcamp Style (GIAC-GSEC, Simulcast) taught by Dr. Eric Cole
– * SEC501: Advanced Security Essentials – Enterprise Defender (GIAC-GCED,
Simulcast) taught by Paul A. Henry
– * SEC503: Intrusion Detection In-Depth (GIAC-GCIA, Simulcast) taught by Mike Poor
– * SEC504: Hacker Tools, Techniques, Exploits and Incident Handling
(GIAC-GCIH) taught by John Strand
– SEC505: Securing Windows with the Critical Security Controls
(GIAC-GCWN) taught by Jason Fossen
– SEC542: Web App Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking (GIAC-GWAPT) taught by Seth Misenar
– SEC560: Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking (GIAC-GPEN) taught by Ed Skoudis
– SEC561: Intense Hands-on Pen Testing Skill Development (with SANS
NetWars) taught by Tim Medin
– SEC566: Implementing and Auditing the Critical Security Controls – In-Depth (GIAC-GCCC) taught by James Tarala
– SEC573: Python for Penetration Testers taught by Mark Baggett
– SEC575: Mobile Device Security and Ethical Hacking (GIAC-GMOB) taught by Joshua Wright
– SEC579: Virtualization and Private Cloud Security taught by Dave Shackleford
– SEC617: Wireless Ethical Hacking, Penetration Testing, and Defenses
(GIAC-GAWN) taught by Larry Pesce
– SEC642: Advanced Web App Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking taught by Justin Searle
– SEC660: Advanced Penetration Testing, Exploit Writing, and Ethical Hacking (GIAC-GXPN) taught by James Lyne

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Application Developer Courses
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– DEV522: Defending Web Applications Security Essentials (GIAC-GWEB) taught by Johannes Ullrich, Ph.D.
– DEV544: Secure Coding in .NET: Developing Defensible Applications
(GIAC-GSSP-.NET) taught by Eric Johnson

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Computer Forensics Courses
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– FOR408: Windows Forensic Analysis (GIAC-GCFE, Simulcast) taught by Rob Lee
– * FOR508: Advanced Digital Forensics and Incident Response (GIAC-GCFA) taught by Chad Tilbury
– FOR572: Advanced Network Forensics and Analysis (GIAC-GNFA) taught by Philip Hagen
– FOR585: Advanced Smartphone Forensics taught by Cindy Murphy
– FOR610: Reverse-Engineering Malware: Malware Analysis Tools and Techniques (GIAC-GREM) taught by Lenny Zeltser

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Security Management Courses
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– * MGT414: SANS(R) +S(TM) Training Program for the CISSP(R) Certification Exam (GIAC-GISP) taught by Jonathan Ham
– * MGT512: SANS Security Leadership Essentials For Managers with Knowledge Compression(TM) (GIAC-GSLC) taught by David Hoelzer
– MGT514: IT Security Strategic Planning, Policy and Leadership taught by G. Mark Hardy
– MGT525: IT Project Management, Effective Communication, and PMP(R) Exam Prep (GIAC-GCPM) taught by Jeff Frisk

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Security Audit Courses
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– * AUD507: Auditing & Monitoring Networks, Perimeters & Systems
(GIAC-GSNA) taught by Tanya Baccam

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Legal Course
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– LEG523: Law of Data Security and Investigations (GIAC-GLEG) taught by Benjamin Wright

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NetWars
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– NetWars – Tournament
– DFIR NetWars Tournament

* Courses with Certifications that align with DOD Directive 8570

For a complete list of courses and complete descriptions, please see:
http://www.sans.org/u/oj

*** Receive a $200 discount for any (4-6) day SANS course with code: SANS_SecOrb200 ***