6 Times Hollywood Got Security Right
Hollywood has struggled to portray cybersecurity in a realistic and engaging way. Here are films and TV shows where it succeeded.
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Films and TV series have famously blundered their depictions of cybersecurity. NCIS, Scorpion, and CSI: Cyber, are a few examples that made tech pros scratch their heads.
Directors' challenge: security -- and tech plotlines overall -- aren't visually interesting. What's so glamorous about someone sitting at a computer, or a seemingly endless pile of code?
"Historically, Hollywood has struggled with the fact that the nuts and bolts of computing are not very photogenic," says ESET senior security researcher Stephen Cobb. It's tough to create a "rich visual environment" while offering a realistic portrayal of security and hacking.
The classic depiction of Hollywood hacking looks like someone at a computer with amazing graphics dancing across the screen. It's a conversation between two characters that sounds like this:
"I need someone to hack into the CIA."
"Oh, why didn't you just ask? I can do that."
While some of the fundamental concepts behind security-focused productions have been correct, the tech community has generally disliked how their profession is portrayed because each film or series skews in a different direction.
"Filmmakers say they want to portray hacking as being sexy and cool, but a lot of the time, sitting at a terminal isn't very cool," says Matthew Devost, managing director at Accenture Security and special advisor for the film Blackhat.
Not all films fail to get it right. Here, Cobb and Devost share the films and TV series where security is the focus and there are real takeaways for both security pros and general audiences. These productions may have some overdramatic moments, but they are more realistic than most:
One of the first films to include hackers in its plotline, Sneakers was referenced by both experts as an instance where cybersecurity was both accessible and realistic to viewers. The heart of the story -- that technology could decrypt everything -- made people think about a question we still face: What if there were no digital secrets?
Sneakers highlights the multi-disciplinary approach someone could take to exploit a bank, Devost explains. It walks viewers through a hacker's steps of breaking into alarm systems and testing system security. It shows how calls can be rerouted to different locations around the world.
Commercial encryption algorithms also play a role, albeit in a dramatized way. Viewers learn about the concept of a "master key" and the realistic implication of that key being used to steal money and sensitive information. The film also sheds light on social engineering.
"It gave us a lot of examples back in the '90s when we were trying to explain social engineering," says Cobb. "We could explain it with Sneakers."
Enemy of the State did a good job of addressing the social, political, and criminal implications of cybercrime, says Cobb. It illustrated how governmental surveillance capabilities could be directed against private citizens, and expanded the public's awareness of how advanced the United States' surveillance infrastructure had been developed.
Some depictions were unrealistic for the time period; for example, the way satellite positioning was handled for surveillance. However, today it's "actually quite realistic in many ways," he continues, especially factoring in the evolution of technology and creation of drones. Cobb also notes the topic of government surveillance is also especially relevant in today's climate.
WarGames arrived as a generation was growing up with the "hacking culture," influenced by early hacking groups and commercialization of the Internet. It was also among the earlier movies to do this and as a result, it had a cultural impact. People paid attention.
While dramatic in some ways, says Devost, WarGames is a realistic depiction of how people interfaced with computers at the time. It was representative of how people worked with machines and, because of this, it also demonstrated the inherent risk in connecting all of their systems to different networks.
The on-screen graphics and voice synthesizing was legitimate but a stretch -- an element of interacting with the audience.
"It was dramatic, but it highlighted the impending risk that you could start some sort of conflict and have a disproportionate impact," he explains.
Minority Report was clearly designed to take place far into the future, and many of the ideas, like self-driving cars, haven't quite made their way into everyday life. However, says Cobb, the film was prescient in many ways.
At a time when data is exponentially increasing by the minute, it's not hard to imagine a society where everyone's location is monitored for marketing and crime prevention, as it is in Minority Report. The idea of personal data being mined by artificial intelligence isn't far-fetched; government programs and terrorism watch lists are working on this, he continues. Innovations like self-driving cars are being tested on the streets.
The film also touches on the dark side of new technology and personal security, specifically with biometrics. The idea of swapping eyeballs to pass a biometric scanner raises questions about the future of identity theft.
It may be a series and not a feature film, but Devost called Mr. Robot "the most realistic portrayal of hacking techniques to date."
The show touches on several cybersecurity topics including the security of Bitcoin, smart homes, IoT devices, money laundering, and the Dark Web. It also depicts hackers trying to access personal and corporate information, and their ability to influence or target people based on that information.
Devost explains how Mr. Robot illustrates some examples of how hackers operate; for example, finding an insider to plant malware if they want to target a specific company. On a broader level, it shows how a campaign comes together with targeting a victim, spearphishing, and malware.
It may be a series and not a feature film, but Devost called Mr. Robot "the most realistic portrayal of hacking techniques to date."
The show touches on several cybersecurity topics including the security of Bitcoin, smart homes, IoT devices, money laundering, and the Dark Web. It also depicts hackers trying to access personal and corporate information, and their ability to influence or target people based on that information.
Devost explains how Mr. Robot illustrates some examples of how hackers operate; for example, finding an insider to plant malware if they want to target a specific company. On a broader level, it shows how a campaign comes together with targeting a victim, spearphishing, and malware.
Films and TV series have famously blundered their depictions of cybersecurity. NCIS, Scorpion, and CSI: Cyber, are a few examples that made tech pros scratch their heads.
Directors' challenge: security -- and tech plotlines overall -- aren't visually interesting. What's so glamorous about someone sitting at a computer, or a seemingly endless pile of code?
"Historically, Hollywood has struggled with the fact that the nuts and bolts of computing are not very photogenic," says ESET senior security researcher Stephen Cobb. It's tough to create a "rich visual environment" while offering a realistic portrayal of security and hacking.
The classic depiction of Hollywood hacking looks like someone at a computer with amazing graphics dancing across the screen. It's a conversation between two characters that sounds like this:
"I need someone to hack into the CIA."
"Oh, why didn't you just ask? I can do that."
While some of the fundamental concepts behind security-focused productions have been correct, the tech community has generally disliked how their profession is portrayed because each film or series skews in a different direction.
"Filmmakers say they want to portray hacking as being sexy and cool, but a lot of the time, sitting at a terminal isn't very cool," says Matthew Devost, managing director at Accenture Security and special advisor for the film Blackhat.
Not all films fail to get it right. Here, Cobb and Devost share the films and TV series where security is the focus and there are real takeaways for both security pros and general audiences. These productions may have some overdramatic moments, but they are more realistic than most:
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