Since the birth of Shirou's original work, the popular work "Ghost in the Shell" has gone through a history of 25 years. In this memorable year, Ghost in the Shell also brings us a new story. This is the story of how Motoko Grass Pheasant created her own unit when she was young - "Ghost in the Shell ARISE".

Since the release of "Border:1" in theaters in June 2013, a total of 4 episodes of the new series will be released to the audience. And the third episode "Border:3" has just officially started in theaters on June 28.

In the "Ghost in the Shell" series, hackers led by Motoko Kusa make a brilliant appearance, and the real-life problems such as cybercrime caused by these hackers are also reflected in the works. So what is the concept of hacking and hacking in the work in the eyes of experts? Recently, a Japanese media interviewed Nobuhiro Tsuji, a cybersecurity expert and an avid fan of "Ghost in the Shell", to talk about the connection between the work and the real network. Even if you are not familiar with the work itself, you might as well use it as a kind of information to learn!

■ Encounter with "Ghost in the Shell" and the first encounter with hacking

Q: Mr. Tsuji is well-known as an expert in cybersecurity, but when did you first become interested in the IT industry?

Tsuji: I'm a kid who likes to be strong, so I'm very interested in new things and anime that are suitable for adults, and it's easy to be attracted to the Internet. At a time when there were no laws about the Internet, I felt that this was a "me-only" place when I was online, and I was attracted by this strange atmosphere and started to get into the Internet. In layman's terms, it is the second disease. It's still the same way (laughs).

SO ONE DAY, WHEN I WAS DOING LIVE CHAT (IRC) ON THE INTERNET, DUE TO THE FRAGILE RELATIONSHIP OF WIN95, I WAS HACKED. All of a sudden, the computer screen turned blue and crashed. That's my exposure to hacking.

Q: This is the first time you have been hacked?

Tsuji: Yes. Later, I asked the person I was talking to about it, and they asked, "Is the screen blue?" Then I said yes, and they replied, "Just install this and you'll be fine." So I listened to him and installed a program that I couldn't figure out what it was. Now that I think about it, it is possible that the program is a computer virus, but luckily it was not a virus after installation, and the same phenomenon did not occur later. Luckily, the other party should have given me a security patch. I think from that moment on, I was completely fascinated by this stuff. At that time, I had already watched "GHOSTINTHESHELL" (directed by Mamoru Oshii released in 1995), and I thought that what happened to me must have been a hack.

Q: Can you tell us about the story of your encounter with Ghost in the Shell?

TSUJI: I WATCHED GHOST INTHESHELL WHEN I WAS A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT. At that time, I saw a picture of Shao Zuo (the protagonist Grass Pheasant Motoko) kneeling on the ground, peeling off a large number of drawings of wiring from the prosthetic body on his back. So my heart trembled, and I ran to see it. At that time, I didn't have any contact with computers. In other words, when I first met Ghost in the Shell, I didn't have a concept of computers or hacking.

Q: Were there any episodes that impressed you at that time?

Tsuji: It's the scene where Dr. Willis taps the keyboard with his slender fingers. There's also the plot of the fight between the enemy in optical camouflage uniform and Shaozo in the canal shoal at the beginning, and the storyboard where Shaozo on the boat turns back, and the other is the messy neon lights as the background. I was very impressed with all of this. I still remember some of the music that resembles folk songs, and there are still some commercials in use.

Q: Today, Mr. Tsuji has been active in various companies as an expert in online science popularization. So do you feel like it all started with Ghost in the Shell?

Tsuji: I don't think it's an exaggeration to say yes. Computer space is very much to my appetite. Speaking of which, I learned all about computer security through self-study. I attacked my computer, deliberately planted it with a malicious virus, and then watched what happened. I've been doing this all the time.

At this time, the music of "Ghost in the Shell" happened to come from next door, which also made me feel that the whole atmosphere became lively.

■ Offensive and defensive battles for network security

Q: In "Ghost in the Shell", you can often see the plot of hacker attack and defense of the opponent. Such a battle seems very dramatic, but is there such a duel in reality?

Tsuji: Naturally, there is. There are many people who attack from the outside on their own initiative. And there are some people whose job is to monitor the behavior of these people day and night, and there will be conversations such as "there will be such an attack, if we don't know it, we will be put on the table, please investigate it properly", and depending on the situation, sometimes everyone will block the hackers. Of course, there are also "intrusion testers" like me who hack into a customer's system to confirm whether the customer's system is secure.

Q: Speaking of invasion, it's more in line with the style of Motoko Grass Pheasant? So how exactly is it done in reality?

Tsuji: I conduct an actual attack on a customer's computer, investigate whether it can be invaded, and control the computer from the outside, and check whether it can lead to the theft of personal information. Based on this, I will submit the countermeasures in a few days, and we will discuss the specific measures for the future in the form of a report meeting.

My proposals include not only the appropriate security patches, but also sometimes guidance to customers who don't know how to take action at all. If you use the examples around you, then let's get close to a physical examination. I conduct a "medical check-up" for a specific customer, so that the customer's computer has a higher security level than it is now, which is similar to the doctor telling everyone how to live a healthy life after the medical check-up.

Q: Are there any 100% effective security measures?

Tsuji: It's not 100% of the time. At the end of the day, the people who make security patches aren't 100% perfect. It's the same as catching a cold, and although you can prevent it, no one can guarantee that you won't catch a cold.

We will assume that we will be attacked, and we will study how to respond to an attack as soon as possible. This is similar to the concept of setting up a "stand-in defense wall" in "Ghost in the Shell". Without such a defensive wall, the character's skull would have been burned out.

Q: In Ghost in the Shell, there are many kinds of hacking behaviors. There are intrusions into social infrastructure such as satellites and transportation networks, and there are intrusions into the human brain. And in the real world, how far can hackers go?

Tsuji: Didn't the NSA (National Security Agency) incident last year spark a lot of discussion on this topic? The NSA is able to listen to communications from all over the world. According to reports, they were able to peek into the content of the communication by connecting to a submarine fiber optic cable.

Although some people think that secret communication is foolproof, this kind of thing cannot be prevented. Isn't there a saying that there are many IT companies that have long been on the list of NAS-assisted companies?

■The ultimate hacking is an attack on people's hearts

Q: In the world of Ghost in the Shell, hackers play a very important role. After all, Motoko is a super hacker herself. So did Mr. Tsuji resonate with the hackers in the work?

Tsuji: There is resonance. It's just that I want to be able to use the amount of power I have for others. We won't talk about what Motoko thinks about herself, but in terms of results, she is also affiliated with an organization that serves society. I have a strong resonance with her in this regard. Of course, my favorite character is someone else.

Q: Who is it?

Tsuji: Bart and Degusa. Bart exudes the aura of a human and an intelligent robot at the same time, and this vague part is very interesting. And I like Suko's appearance very much (laughs).

The conversation between Shaozo and Bart is also very interesting, and the 12th episode of "Ghost in the Shell STANDALONECOMPLEX" · The Dream of a Film Director", the part between the two in the film director's mind is particularly impressive. Bart asked Shaozo: "Do you want the two of you to go to the movies together?" Shao Zuo replied: "If you really want to watch the movie, I will watch it alone." Then Bart asked, "So are there any movies that you don't really want to see?" I got a reply that I wouldn't have read it (laughs).

Q: What about Decusa?

Tsuji: I love the human side of Degusa. In episode 10 "Crazy Man" of "Ghost in the Shell STANDALONECOMPLEX2ndGIG", he shows his sense of justice; In addition, the performance in episode 26 is also very good. Although he is not a rational person, this point is the most human.

Q: You just said that people are not 100% perfect, so Mr. Tsuji is not only interested in the arts, but also has a lot of feelings about people's hearts?

Tsuji: There's a term for "social hacking." If we want to talk about security, then there is an essential element in the system, and that is "people".

It is a human being who inputs instructions to the computer, and it is also a human being who needs to output information. Attacking human flaws in a system is called "social hacking".

To put it simply, it is to exploit human weaknesses such as "If you do this, people will click on it" or "If you write this, people will open this file". I'm interested in that. There are both flaws and unshakable bunkers in man. In addition, there are defenses that can only be done by people. Mechanics use 0s and 1s to deal with problems, so as long as the patches work, no matter how much a hacker attacks, it won't help. However, there are various conditions in human beings, which cannot be solved with simple 0s and 1s. This aspect is very interesting. The plot of the movie director I mentioned earlier is also a kind of social hacking.

■The world of "Ghost in the Shell" is becoming a reality

Q: If this goes on over time, when technology advances to a certain extent, do you think that the world like "Ghost in the Shell" will appear?

Tsuji: If the system is evolving, then I think there will be a similar world. In episode 21 of "Ghost in the Shell STANDALONECOMPLEX", a surveillance system is built from a large number of computers. As long as the characters on the stage say a word in words, they are immediately locked in position. In reality, it is very difficult to invest resources at the national level to achieve this. However, now the NSA is already doing these things. It can be regarded as a work that has come to reality.

Q: Do you think that the biggest bottleneck in turning Ghost in the Shell into reality is not technology, but resources?

Tsuji: I think there is a limit to the resources available today. But in terms of phenomena, things like "Ghost in the Shell" have appeared in large numbers. For example, "Anonymous Organization". This is an international hacker group, and there are not only hackers in the group, but also some users who are peacefully demonstrating, so it can be regarded as an international protest group.

That is, what people will "oppose" in a certain period. And just because members of the organization participated in this protest does not mean that they will participate in the next one. I don't know how many people will participate. They are just groups that spontaneously gather when something that violates their values happens or is about to happen. As long as you feel that you are "anonymous", then you are "anonymous".

This has nothing to do with "The Smiling Man" (the main plot of "Ghost in the Shell STANDALONECOMPLEX") Isn't the appearance of the "Unseen Enemy" in the "Smiling Man Incident" similar? When I interviewed a member of Anonymous before, he himself said something similar. And he also has a sticker of "Smiling Man" on the back of his iPhone.

Q: There are some depictions of Motoko Grass Pheasant infiltrating the IT space, will this become a reality?

Tsuji: In our security system, hackers are represented in the form of pictures, which is a kind of implementation. Even people who are not familiar with the Internet can understand the essence of hacking through such a picture.

■The latest game "Ghost in the Shell ARISE" is interesting

Q: The Ghost in the Shell ARISE series is currently in progress. So how do you understand this work?

Tsuji: I think it's a work that focuses on the growth of Motoko Kusata. Initially, wasn't the grass pheasant very weak? There are flaws in his body, and he has also been knocked down. In addition, unlike the grass pheasant Motoko who has mature thinking ability in her previous works, she still looks relatively young in this series.

Q: In Border:3, Motoko Kusa fell in love.

Tsuji: The whole story of "Border: 3" is about Shaoza's love, which is very interesting. Shaozo also has such a side. Depending on the point of view, lust and love also reflect the fragility of people. But on the other hand, it can also make people stronger.

Q: If even the grass pheasant is in love, it will be very dangerous, right? So from "Border:1" to "Border:3", what are some of the plots that you like?

Tsuji: I love all the plots, especially the part in Border:2 where Suko fights Bart and Ishikawa. It's an unfolded development that hasn't been done so far, and it gives me goosebumps.

Then there is the word "Stuxnet". This is also the name of a computer virus that has really existed in reality, and I have been thinking, why did this term appear?

Stuxnet is a computer worm on the Windows platform that was first discovered in June 2010 by the Belarusian security company VirusBlokAda, whose name is derived from a keyword in the code, and was first widely reported on BrianKrebs' security blog. And the virus may have infected and damaged Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz. When it comes to nuclear facilities, they are usually a single space that is cut off from the outside world. So why do you get infected? This is because Stuxnet can spread to other computers through USB sticks connected to infected computers. I think the word "single-player" is also a key word in Ghost in the Shell, and whether it will be used in the future is also something I care about. Normally, when I hear about this, I react with an "oh oh". This is a word that ordinary people don't know. And I am very happy that this word can be used in my work.

■ Realize the justice in my heart

Q: If there is a common theme in Ghost in the Shell ARISE from border:1, it is that analog memory is probably one. So will there be such a thing in the real world?

Tsuji: I think there are things in our world that are similar to analog memories. Of course, we can't do anything to the human brain, but we can erase the traces of our own actions and deliberately set trap information. There are many ways to hack and hack, and if it's good to just steal some information, then many times hackers won't erase the traces of invading.

It's just that if they want to continue stealing information, then hackers will choose to lurk quietly. They continue to steal information and erase or alter records. Of course, intrusions cause anomalies and will always show signs, and if you take the time to investigate, you can find clues. The so-called record is the memory of the computer. In my opinion, analog memory is something similar to this. If we are misled by falsified information, we will be led in the wrong direction when we investigate incidents where we have been victims of hacking, and we will not be able to see the essence of the matter. This is troublesome.

Q: In the world of Ghost in the Shell ARISE, there are many people who hack with different purposes. So what is the purpose of hackers in reality?

Tsuji: The people who do hacking have also changed over time. In the early days of the Internet, the main thing was to show off their strength, and for those who are new to the Internet, they had a strong desire for self-expression. Some people say, "I have such ability, who will hire me?" to link hacking to job hunting. Since then, it has gradually become a purpose with strong monetary and political overtones. Some people value the "value" of hacking.

Q: Nowadays, some countries are also cultivating "white customers" in the name of the state for national defense purposes. And the grass pheasant is just such a type of person.

Tsuji: The news also reports about so-called hackers with good intentions, or white customers. Speaking of which, the word white guest was invented by the Americans, but the United States does not use the word. And in terms of my own identity, I should also be called a white guest or a white guest hunter.

Although I am a hunter, then again, there is no good or evil in hacking itself.

I feel that it is necessary to protect Japan by nurturing human resources. But if there are hackers who attack Japan as a country, let's not forget that they are also "white customers" to their own country. The war between the righteous is the most distressing. I don't think the opposite of justice is evil, but another kind of justice.

I think "Ghost in the Shell" conveys such ideas. People have their own justice. Doesn't Aramaki have such a line? "I'm just trying to achieve my own justice."