Yeah, that dig is unfair. Sneakers didn't have a universal key that broke all crypto. They had a device that could break a certain kind of crypto that happened to be used by the US (in the movie, the Russians state that it doesn't affect their encryption).
I always assumed the original script called it a DES cracker but the studio people dumbed it down. But sneakers is unique among hacker movies in that it needs very little retconning to make sense from a technical perspective.
I always assumed the original script called it a DES cracker but the studio people dumbed it down. But sneakers is unique among hacker movies in that it needs very little retconning to make sense from a technical perspective.