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Sneakers

In 1969, student hackers and long-time friends Martin Brice and Cosmo use their skills to reallocate money from causes they consider evil to underfunded ones that help the world. When Martin steps out to get pizza, the police arrive and arrest Cosmo, forcing Martin into hiding.

Decades later in San Francisco, Martin, now living under the alias Martin Bishop, leads a penetration testing security team that includes former CIA operative Donald Crease, technician and conspiracy theorist Darren "Mother" Roskow, hacking prodigy Carl Arbogast, and blind phone phreaker Irwin "Whistler" Emery.

NSA agents approach Martin and reveal they know his true identity. They offer to clear his record if he recovers a Russian-funded black box device, codenamed Setec Astronomy, from mathematician Gunter Janek. With help from ex-girlfriend Liz, Martin and his team steal the device, only to discover it is a codebreaker capable of penetrating even the most secure networks. Realizing that "Setec Astronomy" is an anagram of "too many secrets", Crease locks everyone in the office until it can be handed over to the NSA.

The next day, Martin delivers the box to the agents but flees after learning Janek was murdered the night before. The team realizes the box was actually funded by the NSA and that the supposed agents are impostors. Martin's friend Gregor, a Russian consulate spy, identifies one as a former NSA agent now working for a crime syndicate. Men posing as FBI agents arrive, kill Gregor with Martin's gun to frame him, and abduct Martin.

He awakens in an unknown location, where the impostors are revealed to be working for Cosmo. Released early from prison for his hacking skills, Cosmo was recruited by the syndicate to manage its illicit finances. He wants the box to complete what he and Martin began in 1969: erasing financial and ownership records to make the rich and poor equals. He invites Martin to join him, but Martin rejects the plan as too extreme. In retaliation, Cosmo uses the box to access FBI systems, exposing Martin's identities and branding him a fugitive once more.

Martin and his team contact NSA operations director Bernard Abbott, who agrees to help if they can recover the box. Using sounds Martin recalls from his abduction, Whistler pinpoints Cosmo's office inside the PlayTronics toy company. While researching the building's security, the team identifies employee Werner Brandes and manipulates a dating service to pair him with Liz. During their date, she steals his access codes, allowing Martin to infiltrate PlayTronics.

Brandes grows suspicious and takes Liz to his office, where Cosmo realizes her link to Martin. He locks down the facility and takes her hostage. Martin surrenders and hands over the box, but again rejects Cosmo's plea to join him. The group escapes and exits the building, only to be confronted by Cosmo again. Unable to kill his old friend, Cosmo lets Martin and the team leave, only to discover Martin has given him an empty box.

Back at their office, Martin's team is confronted by Abbott and his agents. Martin realizes the box could be used by the NSA to infiltrate U.S. systems such as the FBI and the White House. To secure their silence, Abbott agrees to their demands: clearing Martin's record, funding a vacation for Crease and his wife, buying Mother a Winnebago, and giving Carl the phone number of an attractive NSA agent. After the agents depart, Martin reveals the box is useless; he has removed its core component.

A news report announces the sudden bankruptcy of the Republican National Committee and the simultaneous receipt of large anonymous donations to Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and the United Negro College Fund.