Media skews the public’s view of everything. Cybersecurity is not an exception. Whether it’s the news, movies, or any other media it can be hard to get a clear picture of the cyber world.

The news is the biggest offender here. News outlets often use inflammatory language and exaggeration to draw in viewers and increase their revenue. Even when an expert is brought in to speak to a cybersecurity-related story, so many of them use jargon that the general public may not understand that it could cause just as much confusion and havoc as the inflammatory language did.

SciFi movies treated like documentaries can be just as bad as the news. A great portion of the public knows just enough about computers to believe all of it. This can intimidate and frighten the layman into expensive over-the-top cyber-protection services and turning their smart phone in for a flip phone. When the same movies are treated like fictional stories to ignite the imagination, people can be inspired. The communication system in Star Trek inspired the first cell phones, just as the polymorphic script in James Bond may inspire the new generation of developers to create even more complex systems in the future.

By far the best influence in the media is the ever prevalent YouTube. This place where people around the Earth can tell stories and share their experiences. You see real people, not scripted agents of big cinema or news companies, and they give you real information, most of the time. On YouTube are the people who have been a victim of phishing, or have run a phishing scam, and you get their experiences to interpret for yourself.

If I want to let my imagination run wild while gaining no better understanding of cyber, I’ll watch a movie. If I want to learn or gain a better understanding of something, I’ll get on YouTube. If I’m in the mood the be scared, confused, or controlled, I’ll watch the news.