Chloe the Computer Hacker

[MaximRecoil]

Originally posted by No-El
Chloe so far has done the hacking to get to the truth!!!

Not and never for personal gain!

She must have "meteor freak" powers; she can just will her way into computer systems.

[Lifebound]

Originally posted by MaximRecoil
The thing is, people just can't successfully hack into wherever they want to, guaranteed. You are not going to get past barriers even as simple as a password without either knowing the password, guessing the password, or cracking the password. The first two options are pretty unlikely and the third, even if you do have an application that will cooperate with that particular password setup and attempt to crack it, takes an incredible amount of time. Brute force password cracking, which simply tries every possible combination of characters, can take months.

Real life people have to plan these things out (planting or finding exploits, etc.) and get lucky, as well as use non-computer related skills such as what Kevin Mitnick referred to as "social engineering". That way you can skip a lot of the stuff above and get people who already are authorized to access the system to let you in, without them realizing that they are cooperating with a "hacker".

Think about it this way. If the best "hackers" out there were anything like Chloe, and could simply hack into wherever they wanted on a moment's notice, every major site on the internet would be in a constant state of being "hacked". Imagine Microsoft sites, they would be filled with porn, "hacker" messages, or just plain down, like all the time, because they are a huge target and tend to be disliked in general by the open source, *nix, hacker/cracker crowd.

The media has always greatly exaggerated the capabilites of "hackers", so I guess Chloe is par for the course.

This being said, one could imagine why Chloe is better than just an average hacker. She has what you call the social engineering skills needed in order to plan her hacks. Also, she does admit that the hacking takes a lot of time. Indeed, it might be somewhat unbelievable. However, she is probably, because of her "social engineering" as you call it, more likely to be a better hacker than simple computer nerds. Also remember she had that friend from Hidden (Gabriel) who was some kind of super computer whiz who could operate a nuclear facility. I'm sure she learnt a lot from him.

[MaximRecoil]

Originally posted by Lifebound
This being said, one could imagine why Chloe is better than just an average hacker. She has what you call the social engineering skills needed in order to plan her hacks. Also, she does admit that the hacking takes a lot of time. Indeed, it might be somewhat unbelievable. However, she is probably, because of her "social engineering" as you call it, more likely to be a better hacker than simple computer nerds. Also remember she had that friend from Hidden (Gabriel) who was some kind of super computer whiz who could operate a nuclear facility. I'm sure she learnt a lot from him.

With the proper contacts, anything is possible. That isn't considered to be "social engineering" though, that is just knowing the right people. Social engineering involves getting help from total strangers, without them realizing that they are helping a "hacker", such as calling a person in a company on the phone and asking for a certain password, claiming to be the system administrator or something. Or posing as a computer repairman and walking into a facility to gain access that way.

I've never seen Chloe use social engineering for "hacking", though I'll agree that she does have some contacts, but she "hacks" far too quickly into anywhere for it to all be friends in high places clearing paths for her.

[PeteM]

Acknowledge the obvious.

Chloe's contact, computer skills, and ability to obtain information within seconds about any person and any subject are totally unbelievable.

The unbelievable should be however expected this is a story about an indestructible alien afterall.

The problem I have is that the same posters that complain about Lana's managing a Talon after failing as a waitress or kung fu skills because it is "unbelievable" simply ignores the biggest culprit of them all: Chloe.
Common now, how the hell would Chloe, a high school kid, have contacts in the police department, the forsensic department, or some of the other contacts that she mysteriously have.

Chloe is unbelievable, Johnathon is unbelievable (no way some inconspicuous farmer is going to be able to run/win a statewide election), Lois is unbelievable (from college dropout to campaign manager), but why is Lana always the one picked upon.

Reeks of hypocrisy and inconsistency.

[CK&CK]

Originally posted by PeteM
but why is Lana always the one picked upon.

Reeks of hypocrisy and inconsistency.

I can only answer for myself. Her character traits have to at least build themselves into a position where they can lend themselves to certain feats......even if those feats are somewhat far fetched. Otherwise, they go beyond being just far fetched......and into the realm of ludicrous. I would say that it is quite possible for there to be hypocrisy and inconsistency involved.......but I believe that for many, it is more an issue of wanting to suspend one's belief as opposed to rolling one's eyes.

As an example of this, I offer Lana's end fight scene with the lady officer. It wasn't overdone.....it was actually quite good....and well within the parameters of what she learned from Lex originally. Or to put it more simply......Lana's fight was exciting and.......I wasn't rolling my eyes afterwards.

[PeteM]

Maybe we are on the same page, but I'm not sure.

Watching SV, and other Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Adventure shows, require suspension of disbelief.

I find it odd that people can and are more willing to suspend their disbelief when it comes to other characters, especially Chloe, than when it comes to Lana.

Is it so hard to see Lana being able to defend herself? Is it so hard to see her pitch a proposal to Lex and run a coffee shop? It is not like she taking out an elite team of assassins or planning a corporate merger.

Compare what Lana does that make you go, no way that happens in real life with what we have seen from Chloe, Lois and some of the other characters.

I mean we have seen Lois take out multiple, armed soldiers. Where were the complaints about her Lois Fu?

And don't get me started on the weekly unbelievable things that Chloe does. In Hidden, she had sophisticated Army equipment/weapons in the trunk of her car. Hello???

Originally posted by CK&CK
I wasn't rolling my eyes afterwards.

My question to you is, why aren't you rolling your eyes at the more unbelievable things that we have seen from Chloe, Lois, Johnathon and other characters.

I don't "roll my eyes" at any of them cause I figure this is SV. Suspension of disbelief is required. I don't make special exceptions for characters I dislike. Seems to me that others do.

[jaime,oburg]

Yes, if we are expected to accept LanaFu, LoisFu then Chloe the computer hacker is fine with me. She could be a richer then Lex I suppossed if she wanted, but her dream is to become an investigative reporter to help people and uncover the truth. That is her way of helping save the world. Clark sometimes must think "damn I wish I could do that".
I'm glad she is on the good guys' team.

[kryptonite-proof]

I definitely roll my eyes whenever Chloe hacks into a secure computer system like it's as easy as checking her email. But as someone said, in most cases TV and movies make hacking look far easier than it is.

[No-El]

Originally posted by jaime,oburg
Yes, if we are expected to accept LanaFu, LoisFu then Chloe the computer hacker is fine with me. She could be a richer then Lex I suppossed if she wanted, but her dream is to become an investigative reporter to help people and uncover the truth. That is her way of helping save the world. Clark sometimes must think "damn I wish I could do that".
I'm glad she is on the good guys' team.

Word, jaime!

[vouge09]

yes i dont know where she learned her skills but shes amazing

[No-El]

Originally posted by vouge09
yes i dont know where she learned her skills but shes amazing

Chloe is the best vouge09!

The BEST!!

[RedQ]

Actually Chloe will met JK cause he took the Red Pill so JK is Morpheus & he'll reach

Chloe.

http://www.kryptonsite.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=1804010#post1804010

[halloween]

Chloe showed her super-capability in the following epsiodes in Season 5. Those who around our superman are also supermen and superwomen,including two terrifically-sophisticated billionairs who play double all the time, a computer hacker who let her potential played to an applauding extent just for the man she really loves, a devastatingly-appealing women who is targeted by THE HERO AND THE VILLAIN, and the greatest couple I've ever seen in Smallville TV show. What a super group where they are!

[TalkinMac]

Cuz it is TV and Smallville therefore everyone is good at stuff.

Why dont Clarks friends put two and two together about Clark?
How many licks does it take to reach the center of a tootsie pop? The world may never know the answer to any of these questions.