Hacking movies is incredibly exciting: fingers fly across the keyboard and the screen is a series of constantly blinking cryptic characters. Everything is so … interesting. Unfortunately, real piracy is not that intense. As illegal as what you are doing, you're still just someone sitting in front of a computer. Most of the time, just try to get people to use a fake google login page.
You will never be a Hollywood hacker, Unfortunately, but you may convince your friends that it is, especially if they are not tech savvy. Here are four fun tools to do exactly that., featuring all the on-screen gibberish and exciting movies and TV that have been scheduled to wait.
No more secrets: decryption effect of Shoes (macOS, Linux)
Let's start in 1992 with Shoes, a Robert Redford movie that featured all kinds of visual verbiage. A point to be noted: the “decoded” onscreen, in which random characters were flashing to reveal a real message.
You can bring this ridiculous effect to your macOS or Linux terminal with No more secrets. Simply pipe the output of any program to nms and watch the program. As an example, here i am using ls | nms to view the contents of a folder.
Is stupid. Stupidly amazing, that's. You can do this with any command that generates text: just follow your usual command with | nms and the show will begin.
How to install this wonder? On macOS it's easy, assuming you have set up Homebrew. Type only brew install no-more-secrets in Terminal and hit enter; you will be “deciphering” soon.
Linux users will need to do a little more work: Ubuntu does not offer No More Secrets. You can follow the official instructions to compile the program. Alternatively is offered in the GetDeb repository, therefore see if you prefer to stick to your package manager … or just go to the next option, which is exclusive to Ubuntu.
Hollywood technical melodrama (Linux)
Flashy decryption is fun, but it is not everything. Hollywood Technical Melodrama offers a lot more visual clutter, with multiple boxes doing all kinds of seemingly technical stuff. I mean, watch this:
By the way, the music was not added to the video: this command actually plays the Mission Impossible theme when you start the program. It's amazing. Configure your Terminal in full screen and enjoy.
Installing this is easy on Ubuntu: just write sudo apt install hollywood and you should be good to go. Users of other distributions should look in their package manager.
Hacker Types: smash your keyboard, hacking convincing text query (web)
Terminal apps are great and everything, but some of us want to pretend to be hackers without having to learn the command line and stuff. And that's ok: just go to HackerTyper.com and start pounding the keyboard. A compelling stream of hacker gibberish will appear with every keystroke.
No matter what i write: the appropriate text will appear. Set your browser to full screen and type furiously while a friend is watching, growling occasionally over firewalls. They are sure to be impressed.
If green text is not enough, scp is an interesting alternative. There's a CIA-style wallpaper, which shows that you are clearly up to no good.
And you can use the scroll wheel to adjust the typing speed, which could make it look even cooler than you thought was feasible.
For more options, go to Geektyper.com: there is a lot more there, so start pounding on your keyboard.
Fake update: convince your boss that the computer is updating (web)
This not pretty fit, except in spirit. Fake update makes it possible for you to make any computer look like it is updating. Just go to the web portal and choose your operating system. Set the browser to full screen and you get a very convincing looking refresh screen, giving you the perfect excuse to take a long break.
Use this power responsibly. Or don't. I can't tell you what to do.
Image Credit: Pixabay
