A rundown of the hacking tools in Mr. Robot

This article lists the main hacking tools used in the TV series Mr. Robot and briefly introduces their real-world counterparts.

Mr. Robot In 2015, an American TV series about hackers premiered. Those who enjoy hacker-themed TV shows and films have probably already watched or are following the mysterious Mr. Robot. Computer and technology enthusiasts in particular should not miss it. In Chinese, the series is known as 《机器人先生》 or 《黑客军团》. Since this is a show about hacking, hacking tools used for network attacks and defense inevitably appear throughout it. So let's look at the tools used in Mr. Robot and consider why they look so similar to real-world tools. It makes you wonder whether the tools in the show are actually the real thing. Even the protagonist, Elliot Alderson, shines throughout the series as a security analyst. In his everyday life in the show, he is always wearing a hoodie and trying to find a balance between technology and real life. The second season is now in the works, so it is time to take stock of the hacking tools used in the show.   Hacking tools in the show Of course, the online community depicted in the show communicates through IRC and social media, but many of its techniques and details reflect real life. Let's look at the real-world hacking tools that appear in the series: 1. Kali Linux: Unlike most people around them, Elliot and his companions use Kali Linux. It is a complete, free, open-source operating system with commonly used penetration-testing and hacking tools built in. 2. wget: wget is a computer program used to break into web servers and intercept sensitive data. It exploits the Shellshock vulnerability to compromise its targets. (FB note: the name wget combines “World Wide Web” and “get.” It is a free tool for automatically downloading files from the internet, supporting downloads over HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP, three of the most common TCP/IP protocols. In the show, wget is used to attack a web server through the Shellshock vulnerability.) 3. Canbus Hacking: Car hacking has indeed developed rapidly in recent years, and the use of Candump is a prime example. This tool can retrieve the relevant information. 4. USB drives used to attack devices: Dropping a USB flash drive in a parking area for an unsuspecting passerby to pick up is the first step in the attack. The real attack begins when the USB drive is inserted into the victim's computer. 5. Bluetooth scanner: A Bluetooth scanner (or btscanner) is used to extract information from a phone over Bluetooth, even without pairing with it. 6. Bluesniff: Like btscanner, Bluesniff can scan Bluetooth devices. 7. Meterpreter: Meterpreter is part of the Metasploit framework, offering users exceptional flexibility and enabling complete, stealthy intrusions. 8. Social-Engineer Toolkit (SET): This framework makes social-engineering attacks simpler and easier. One such attack in Mr. Robot uses its SMS spoofing feature. 9. Netscape Navigator: Of course, no hacker would use a web browser like this. However, it serves as a record of how Elliot began hacking, and it demonstrates the show's commitment to giving viewers real knowledge and information. It is truly inspiring that Mr. Robot features real-world hacking tools. Watch the series and see how many of the tools you can spot. You might just get hooked.