The Best Fictional Computer Hackers

In the movies and TV series, hackers can do just about anything. Computers are just below magic in what they can accomplish, and the people who wield their knowledge live lives of high-octane danger and sex. The fate of the world can come down to a hacker’s keystroke. Here’s a list of fictional characters who took their interest in computers and turned it into a super power.

Willow Rosenberg

From Buffy The Vampire Slayer, she was Buffy’s sidekick and best friend. In later seasons she would become a powerful gay, Jewish, witch (if she was also black, she could’ve won at being a minority) but in the beginning she was just a shy, nerdy, high school student. She used her advanced hacking skills to help her friends fight against the forces of hell. She was so good, in fact, that an ancient demon trapped in a computer uploaded into a robot’s body fell in love with her. High school was a confusing time for all of us.

Chloe O’Brian

From 24, she is one of Jack Bauer’s closest friends, which means the average day for her is filled with misery, terror, and unexpected plot twists. While everyone on this list is a genius when it comes to computer science, Chloe is also very talented at working under immense pressure. Ever have a day at work where you are extremely busy and nothing seems to be going right? Well, now imagine that your day at work consists of stopping a nuclear bomb, your boss being tortured, half your co-workers being traitors, poisonous gas killing your friends, and you’re expected to pull off something that’s probably impossible while an invisible clock keeps ticking down. This girl can do it all…although she will do it socially awkwardly. She’s so awesome that real world homeland security program was named after her.

David Lightman

This guy is better known as Matthew Broderick’s character from War Games. War Games can be forgiven for thinking computers are magic. After all, it was 1983. Even computer experts barely knew what computers were capable of. And at first his abilities seemed somewhat reasonable. While other movies from the 80’s had geeks creating genies with their computers, David was hacking into his school’s mainframe to change his failing grade. Ignoring the logic behind a school having all their information digitized in the early 80’s, it was somewhat reasonable. Though things started to get a little unlikely when he plays a game of tic-tac-toe with a computer program that causes a nuclear missile scare. Soon David is being chased by helicopters and helping the government prevent World War 3. Also, Ally Sheedy is there for some reason. While David couldn’t pass basic English, he was apparently smart enough to almost destroy the world and then save it, making him an inspiration for underachievers everywhere.

Ghostwriter

95% of you who read this will have no idea what I’m talking about. You may look it up on Wikipedia, but that will just confuse you more. The other 5% will remember this show fondly from when you were a kid. Ghostwriter was a ghost (surprise) that couldn’t see, hear, or talk. He could only communicate through text, mostly from a computer. It might be unfair to classify Ghostwriter as a hacker, since he pretty much lived inside a computer, which has to give him some kind of advantage over mere mortals. But I believe people don’t talk about Ghostwriter enough, so he makes the list. He helped a group of New York children solve neighborhood crimes while they all learned the value of reading. It sounds asinine, and it actually kind of is, but when you’re seven, it’s Shakespeare. Also, Samuel L. Jackson was in the pilot, which is pretty badass.

Stanley Jobson

AKA Hugh Jackman’s character from Swordfish. Stanley started off creating computer viruses and unleashing them on…you know what? No. This movie was terrible. Exporting this movie to another country should be considered a war crime. Yes, Halle Berry was briefly topless, but that makes up for nothing. Here’s the lowdown: Hack, hack, hack, obvious password, hack, annoying monologue by Travolta, hack, a couple hours of your life gone. Now go find some old episodes of Ghostwriter.

Dade Murphy

Jonny Lee Miller plays Dade Murphy a.k.a. “Crash Override” a.k.a. “Zero Cool” in the movie “Hackers”. He created a computer virus at the age of 11. It infected more than 1500 computers including the Wall Street Data Center. Due to his young age he gets sentenced to pay 45k $ “only” and is not allowed to touch any computer until he is 18. But he immediately starts to hack a TV station after he turns that age. What else did you expect, FBI? His journey through the cyber-space begins. He also faces the young female hacker played by Angelina Jolie!
I think this movie has the most abstruse and colorful scenes (maybe besides “Tron”) in this strange thing called “internet”: Hacking 3D. It’s like Matrix for children or something like that, but still considered a great cyberpunk movie and definitely a cult movie. Thumbs up and “Hack the Planet!”

Matthew Farrell

This guy, played by Justin Long, gets saved by McClane (Bruce Willis) in “Live Free or Die Hard” or “Die Hard 4.0″. Some bad-ass “security experts” shut down the whole computer network of the US and want to steal some cash. Matt, the good hacker has to stop them, that’s why they want to kill him… Besides that he begins to flirt with McClane’s daughter, which makes McClane not so happy. For sure, the bravery of an old man and the keen mind of the young computer nerd is the only weapon against the madness in the world.

 
If you can think of any other great fictional computer hackers, share them here!