Watch this video and pay attention to the way that movies distort hackers.
Hacker Rates 12 Hacking Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? – YouTube
After watching the video, write a journal entry about how you think the media influences our understanding about cybersecurity.
The media has a negative influence on our understanding about cybersecurity, for the most part. I understand how theatrics need to come into play in order for a movie to be interesting/maintain engagement, which could hinder the accuracy relating to what hacking, defending against an attack, general activities relating to cybersecurity, etc., may look like. But looking at it objectively, the media makes it look less serious than it actually is.
The media may portray a hacker accessing some of the most secure networks on Earth in seconds, when in reality (the vast, vast majority of the time) you’d need a team of individuals as well as plenty of time to get the job done. It could set an unrealistic tone to the severity of the situation if it were to occur in real life. Another example could be equipment used to crack server passwords, or any password for that matter in tandem with the time it takes for that equipment to finish the job; again, it’s not going to be a matter of seconds, it will take plenty of time depending on how strong the password is, the method of encryption, standard of encryption etc.
All in all, the media will influence people to believe cybersecurity is a lot simpler than it is in reality.