Nathanael Peacock – 07/14
Following the release of Watch_Dogs, the internet has been buzzing with people wanting to learn the ins and outs of hacking. To the point that a google search today of ‘how to’ autocompleted to ‘how to hack wifi’. But the truth is that real life computer hacking isn’t as simple as Aiden Pierce makes it look. Sorry, but an Iphone cannot cut the power to a city block or disrupt a low flying helicopter. But there are real world hackers and they do have almost Watch_Dogs level power over computer systems around the world.
Chicago is currently one of the most surveyed cities in the world. It is of course this fact that lead to Ubisoft centering its game world around that particular American city. A 2011 report from the American Civil Liberties Union criticized the expansion of Chicago’s surveillance systems stating that the“Chicago’s camera network invades the freedom to be anonymous in public places”¹. The same report suggested that the police department has 1,260 cameras at their disposal, but has access to thousands more on trains, buses, ATM’s and in businesses. With more being installed daily. After spending the last few weeks with Watch_Dogs, my writing brain is buzzing with ways that entrepreneurial hackers could use this system to their advantage.
But what is the true power of the modern day hacker? Well most gamers will remember the April 2011 Sony Network Outage, where hackers broke into the Sony network and accessed account information of thousands upon thousands of subscribers. This instance was due to a security leak in Sony’s systems and was quickly fixed. This is par for the cause with modern computer systems, where leaks are found and patched. It is even rumoured that banks and government agencies hire hackers to break into their systems to test their strength.
However, in the real world, hackers have also shown their prowess. In August 2006, two transportation workers in Los Angeles tampered with the transportation network, altering the lights at 4 major intersections by a matter of seconds. The results were gridlock that lasted days. Also in 2006 a man in Virginia, US, reprogrammed an ATM to give out $20 when it thought it was giving $5. Of course one of the most famous hackers in modern memory is Julian Assange and his work with WikiLeaks, exposing vital intelligence from the US war effort in Iraq.
However, the key to the power of the Watch_Dogs universe is CtOS, the system that links all of the cameras, ATM’s and even traffic lights. But is there a real world equivalent? The Issue faced by these modern tech-wizards is that in the real world, although there are important systems such as police surveillance or traffic control systems, they are not centralised. A good hacker could break into a bank account, or the traffic systems, but because they are different networks, one person could not easily jump from one to another. I should preface that last sentence by saying that this isn’t possible, YET.
The monumental increase in national security concerns in the last decade since 9/11, the Bali bombings and the London underground bombings, could lead to city or national security systems like CtOS. The simple matter of fact is that the difference between the smart phone in your pocket and the beefy gaming rig on your desk is all a matter of capacity. Anything running Android can easily be loaded with custom operating systems, and once inside a network (be it by wifi or hard wired) someone with network knowledge could easily access different systems of control.
So there isn’t quite a real world Aiden Pearce running around, but with the steady progression of systems both owned by groups and individuals, a techno-vigilante may not be too far off. Who knows what Watch_Dogs could inspire?
1: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/08/aclu-chicago-cameras-are-_n_820130.html
Nathanael Peacock 