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For reasons unknown, Hollywood has decided that Nmap is the tool to show whenever hacking scenes are needed. At least it is a lot more realistic than silly 3D animation approach used in many previous movies (e.g. "hacking the Gibson" on Hackers, or the much worse portrayals on Swordfish). We always like to see Nmap in the movies, so we have catalogued known instances here. If you catch Nmap in another flick, please mail Fyodor.

Movie script writers, artists, and digital asset managers are also welecome to email Fyodor for advice. We've been pleased to help out to make a number of movies slightly more realistic and entertaining by improving the hacking scenes.

This page only covers movies, we have a separate page coving news articles, reviews, books, and popular culture references.

Matrix Reloaded

While Nmap had been used in some previous obscure movies, it was The Matrix Reloaded (IMDB) which really turned Nmap into a movie star! We have all seen many movies like Hackers which pass off ridiculous 3D animated eye-candy scenes as hacking. So Fyodor was shocked to find that Trinity does it properly in The Matrix Reloaded. Needing to hack the city power grid, she whips out Nmap version 2.54BETA25, uses it to find a vulnerable SSH server, and then proceeds to exploit it using the SSH1 CRC32 exploit from 2001. Shame on the city for being vulnerable (timing notes). Congratulations to everyone who has helped make Nmap successful! And thanks to Jason Algol, Titney, Thorsten Delbrouck, and others for sending pics! Click them for higher-res or see more pics here.

Updates:

• News articles about the Matrix cameo: BBC, Slashdot, SecurityFocus, Silicon.Com, Boston Globe
• JWZ has added this cracking scene as an XScreenSaver 4.10 Easter Egg - run 'xmatrix -small -crack'.
• Several people have submitted matrix-themed banners to the propaganda gallery. Feel free to use any of these to link to Insecure.org - we appreciate it!
• The UK's Scotland Yard Computer Crime Unit and the British Computer Society have put out a joint warning that "Viewers of the new box office blockbuster 'Matrix Reloaded' should not be tempted to emulate the realistic depiction of computer hacking." Kids - don't try this at home!

In The Bourne Ultimatum (Wikipedia, IMDB), the CIA needs to hack the mail server of a newspaper (The Guardian UK) to read the email of a reporter they assassinated. So they turn to Nmap and its new official GUI Zenmap to hack the mail server! Nmap reports that the mail server is running SSH 3.9p1, Posfix smtpd, and a name server (presumably bind). They also make substantial use of Bash, the Bourne-again shell. Congratulations to Roger Chui for being the first to spot this. He also sent a scene transcript and the following HD screen shots (click for full resolution):

Die Hard 4

Yippee Ki-Yay! In Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard (Wikipedia, IMDB), Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) is dispatched to retrieve hacker Matthew Farrell (Justin Long) because the FBI suspects him of breaching their computer systems. Later, Justin is enlisted to help thwart terrorist mastermind Thomas Gabrial's attempts at total World destruction. In this Scene, Farrell demonstrates his Nmap skills:

Thanks to Andrew Hake for catching the cameo and sending these HD screen shots.The scene occurs about 8 minutes into the movie.

Battle Royale

Battle Royale (Wikipedia, IMDB), also known as Batoru Rowaiaru, is a bizarre and controversial Japanese movie about a class of 9th graders sent by the government to an abandoned island to be fitted with explosive collars and forced to kill each as part of a twisted survival game. One of the students is a hacker, and can be seen referencing Nmap source code in these clips:

The Listening

Nmap and NmapFE were used in The Listening (IMDB), a 2006 movie about a former NSA officer who defects and mounts a clandestine counter-listening station high in the Italian alps. Thanks to Addy Yeow Chin Heng for the screenshots.

HaXXXor: No Longer Floppy

With the risque "HaXXXor" series of low-budget films, Nmap makes the leap from Science fiction to soft-core pornography. HaXXXor Volume 1: No Longer Floppy includes a lengthy Nmap training scene by model E-Lita. Here are some photos from early in the scene while she is still clothed:

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