Hacker Cinema
The Italian Job
1969 · Film · 100 min
Directed by Peter Collinson
Charlie's got a 'job' to do. Having just left prison he finds one of his friends has attempted a high-risk job in Torino, Italy, right under the nose of the mafia. Charlie's friend doesn't get very far, so Charlie takes over the 'job'. Using three Mini Coopers, a couple of Jaguars, and a bus, he hopes to bring Torino to a standstill, steal a fortune in gold and escape in the chaos.
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7 comments on Hacker News
The Italian Job has this as a plot point back in 1969. IIRC, it was even more sophisticated than just turning all the lights green.
Retrieving the gold is left as an exercise to the reader.
IMHO: if you want an entertaining movie, watch the 2003 movie. If you're planning a bank heist, the 1969 version is probably more informative. N.B.: I've never done a bank job.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Italian_Job
> (the original Oceans Eleven comes to mind—I don't drop many movies that I start, but I'm not sure I even made it to the 20 minute mark on that one).
Some movies were just never very good in the first place, I'd put the original Oceans Eleven in that category. On the other hand, compare the original The Italian Job to the remake. The remake has faster 'modern' editing but it's definitely a much worse movie than the (excellent) original.
A fictionalized example is in the original (1969) film "The Italian Job".
Metropolis. Oh look.. she's c3po
There is a fantastic two second clip of a hollerith card sorter in 'the ipcress file' and 'the billion dollar brain' is a giant scam via a computer. (Both Len deighton spy thrillers)
The Italian job (then original) depends on a pre 1900 BPI tape reel. Another James Bond movie or three has similar tape subthemes (I think Roger Moore uses a Philips audio cassette as a tape in one)
It's a stretch but the taking of Pelham 123?
The andromeda strain (giant computer security system has to be defeated to avoid dying in a locked down biolab)
> What software controls the traffic system?
One such software is SCOOT, which has been around since 1979. The name is an initialism for Split Cycle Offset Optimization Technique. All of these are traffic light jargon: the red/green split, the cycle length, and the green phase offset.
* https://trlsoftware.co.uk/products/traffic_control/scoot
> Are they difficult to hack?
Yes, in part because it involves forgetting all of the dramatized baloney that you've seen on television. It's not done from a wireless laptop in the back of a moving car magically giving the protagonists a green wave at the opportune time with zero notice and preparation.
For starters, in some places around the world much of this infrastructure was interconnected long before WiFi was even invented. There will be telecommunications lines to a central control office, and it is there that one would attack the system. Think of the original Italian Job movie, where a replacement tape at the control centre subverted the system. One would also attack it at these various roadside cabinets.
(This is not to say that no systems use radio. Several do, and their vulnerabilities are appalling. But this is not universal. And the vulnerabilities lie in things like operating systems that were invented long after computer-managed traffic light systems for cities themselves were, meaning that said operating systems are not universal either.)
* https://www.usenix.org/conference/woot14/workshop-program/presentation/ghena
I can't believe he omitted a film where computer hacking played a key role: the original "The Italian Job".
The getaway is made using three (original) Mini Coopers, which evade a chase by jamming the city's computer-controlled traffic signals and using their small size to drive on walkways and off-road. The "hacker" (played by Benny Hill!) concocts a 9-track tape with his own instructions and loads his tape (to replace the real master) by breaking into the computer center. You can see a bank of 9-track tape drives in action.
I'm concerned that I've only seen 14 of these 20 films. I have to disagree with the remake of The Italian Job. The original is generally considered to be better than the sequel. The plot element of hacking a traffic control system is taken from the original, which is quite astounding because it was released in 1969.