Mr Robot: 5 Things That Could Actually Happen IRL (& 5 That Are Total Fiction)

Mr. Robot is filled with fantastic hacks, mind-blowing twists, and heist-like break-ins. It all seems somewhat unrealistic but when it comes down to it, what could happen and what definitely couldn’t? With its final season over, Mr. Robot brought a cutting edge and unique take on an otherwise uncovered part of crime tv. Although it doesn’t identify as a crime series, rather a drama which cannot be argued, it is most definitely driven on the crime of hacking, and sometimes murder.

It’s hard to determine what’s real and what’s not throughout the first season and even after the big reveal the lines between reality and fiction are particularly blurry due to Elliot’s (Rami Malek) unreliable narrative. However, one thing can be said for certain, it makes for a fantastically trippy tv show.

10 COULD HAPPEN: DDoS Attack

Most of the hacking is entirely possible but this is undoubtedly one of the scariest you see Fsociety manage, aside from the whole wiping out the redistributing wealth thing. The DDoS (distributed denial of service.) attack is wholly viable. All it takes is a rented botnet to all perform the attack, and then you have a mass attack on one website coming from everywhere.

As they did in Mr. Robot it must be found quickly and as Elliot suggests, to stop it you must shut everything down. That’s what makes it such a fantastic and completely viable attack.

9 TOTAL FICTION: Elliots Unparalleled Talent

Elliot is the best of the best, he can hack the FBI, E Corp, Prisons and People without blinking an eye. He’s a hacking hero. It’s all well and good him being talented but the notion that the Dark Army couldn’t find anyone of similar talent is relatively unrealistic.

Understandably, Elliot is the protagonist in the story so therefore he has to succeed but realistically it’s hard to believe that he is the only man who is capable of causing that much chaos, even with his multiple personalities helping him along.

8 COULD HAPPEN: Elliots Mental Health

Elliot’s mental health is undoubtedly the frontrunner of the show. As trippy and confusing as it is though it is absolutely something that can happen. It’s a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder and a self-diagnosis of schizophrenia in season 1 that explains his visions and his separate identities that are slowly and mind-bogglingly unraveled throughout the show.

It is simple to say that the disorder is exaggerated but since there are so many cases around the world, likely, this resonates almost perfectly with so many people. The way his mental health is presented and how it incorporates the viewer into his unreliable narrative is beyond clever and only solidifies how good this show is at leading you through Elliot’s confusion.

7 TOTAL FICTION: Falling From Coney Island

In the latter half of season 1, Elliot gets pushed off the boardwalk and manages to somehow walk away from it unscathed. Although he ends up in the hospital (for about a day) he’s seen walking and moving fine a few days after! It’s worth noting that the boardwalk itself is only 14ft off the floor but as seen when Elliot looks down towards the pile of boulders beneath him it seems unrealistic for him to suffer no consequences for his fall.

Credit is due to the writers, that allowed him to go to the hospital. But it can’t be ignored that Elliot is not indestructible in the physical sense as well as the metaphorical sense.

6 COULD HAPPEN: CD Hack

Scarily this is an extremely common con that happens in any major city around the world. As seen in Mr. Robot the hacker (Cicsco) gets Ollie to buy his rap cd which is infected with malware so as soon as Ollie puts it on his computer, the hacker owns everything on his computer.

It is not difficult to be a victim of this, and it can have devastating effects on you and others who have used your computer. Although it is not just limited to CDs, it happens in memory sticks, free wifi and more. However, Mr. Robot covers the dangers and how easy it is to be susceptible to this scam, especially when approached on the street, it’s a scene done right that effectively warns others about the dangers of installing unknown software onto any device.

5 TOTAL FICTION: Steal Mountain Hack

Similar to breaking into the impenetrable Steel Mountain, the hack itself is far from the truth. As a data security facility that prides itself on its security it only seems logical that you would employ round the clock, top of the range IT staff to monitor for any hacks or incoherencies.

The original idea was to heat the room so the data would be destroyed. A good plan! Aside from the fact that if Steel Mountain has employed people to keep an eye on hackers and any suspicious goings-on wouldn’t they raise the alarm if a considerable rise in the heat was sweeping the second floor?

4 COULD HAPPEN: House Hack

The beginning of season 2 is a world plunged into a sort of anarchy. Fsociety has won and thus had to leave their hideout by removing everything in the arcade and throwing a party to remove any damning fingerprints. They find a new location in an extremely techy house with tablet controlled projectors, music, alarms, lights and more. The house itself looks amazing, it looks like the height of modern technology and as modern, as it looks it’s surprisingly entirely possible. If you have the money.

However, the hacking of it is much cheaper and even easier to get. Since Fsociety has just completed perhaps the most elaborate hack of the century it is easy to imagine them hacking into an entire house. As funny as that scene is, it’s quite worrying to see someone’s home become a chorus of alarms, flashing lights, and blaring music.

3 TOTAL FICTION: E(vil) Corp Not Having A Backup

The lack of a plan before Fsociety’s threats to ruin E Corp in season 1 is unrealistic. It’s unlikely that such a big corporation takes no action to prevent this inevitable attack. any other company would instantly take action by hiring the best tech people in the world.

However, oddly enough, E Corp does nothing? It can be assumed that perhaps it wasn’t taken seriously but even so you would either employ people to keep an eye out (if it’s not already been done as a precaution) or at least be ready for an attack.

2 COULD HAPPEN: Dark Army

A terrifying notion. That a group can hold so much power on the whole world and go unnoticed. It’s viable, anyone can keep track of what’s going on in the world right now and as for secret societies, they are everywhere. Similar to the Dark Army and Fsociety, groups like these are entirely possible and although its tough to provide evidence it just goes to show they are doing well at their job.

The mafia for example, completely under the radar yet everyone has heard of them, law enforcement never stops looking yet they will never find them. It’s extremely clever but a horrible thing to be involved with, as we see in Mr. Robot.

1 TOTAL FICTION: Breaking into Steel Mountain

Not only are Fsociety hacking into one, if not the most impenetrable data security facility in the world, but Elliot is actively conning his way into the building. Surprisingly he gets a tour! Aside from him being left alone in the building once the supervisor gets a terrifying text, being allowed to go on the tour just because he’s a multi-billionaire seems ridiculous.

This is a facility that prides itself on its security yet is happy to leave people to wander around alone. It’s not like they’re protecting the data very well by believing a Wikipedia page and drawing a simple conclusion that this guy is to be trusted. It’s not hard to hack a Wikipedia page and with security like that, it can’t be hard to plug something in on the second floor if everyone’s going to let you roam free!

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