For the past decade, we’ve seen cyber security and hacking starting to play a big role in entertainment. Countless movies and television shows are using these technical storylines to add excitement, drama or even humor to their scripts. As cyber security stories play out in real life it’s logical they also appear on the silver screen. But as entertaining as these shows are to watch, it’s important to note that in real life hacking is not that simple and getting through a firewall does not happen with a few clicks of a mouse.
So, I decided to take a quick break, put on my TV critic hat (a white one) and take a look at this year’s Emmy nominated shows to find out who got it right and who needs to go back to hacking school. Below are my nominees and winners for the inaugural Symmy awards for cyber security portrayals on TV. .
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Some shows, like Mr. Robot or Silicon Valley, include technology as core to the structure of their show. Mr. Robot, for example, focuses on a vigilante hacker named Elliott who works as a cyber security employee by day and takes down an “evil” corporation by night. The show has received a great deal of acclaim for its technical accuracy and employs several cyber security experts to ensure any hacks shown onscreen could actually be done in real life. Hat’s off to Mr. Robot.
Arguably the best example of social engineering in the past year, however, was on HBO comedy series Silicon Valley. In one particular episode, the head of security at technology giant Hooli is able to obtain a private beta of a rival’s product just by performing a simple Facebook search and creating a fake email address. These less-technical hacks can often have the most impact on an organization, and are one of many reasons why it’s important to remain educated on best practices for avoiding phishing emails and other forms of social engineering attacks.
Even shows that have little to do with technology or cyber security as a whole have dedicated airtime to various cyber security plotlines. Lawyer drama The Good Wife focused a whole episode on a self-driving car hack. Political comedy series VEEP hilariously parodied the all-too-common trend of blaming hackers for social media missteps. And thriller Homeland featured a team of grey-hat “hacktivists” using a brute force attack to steal confidential files from the CIA (you’ll have to check out our slideshow to see how accurate they were in their portrayal).
As a security professional, it’s fun and exciting to see my industry played out in in mainstream entertainment. As hacking remains a hot topic, I’m hopeful that Hollywood will continue to invest resources in portraying cyber security accurately. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next year of television brings and who will take home the Symmy next year.
For an in-depth look at our Symmys winners and the best (and worst) of cyber security on television over the past year, check out our slideshow.