After watching the video, write a journal entry about how you think the media influences our understanding about cybersecurity
After watching the video*, it became quite clear that popular media, movies, tv shows, and the sort, often glamorize what it’s like to operate as a cybersecurity professional. They make this position appear to be much more fun and action pact than it actually is. Not to say that cybersecurity isn’t entertaining, but popular media exaggerates it to the point that it seems so unrealistic. It makes sense, in order for people to watch these shows, they need to be entertained. But sacrificing reality for entertainment leads to the influence of what people believe is cybersecurity.
Below are a list of some ways I believe our thoughts are influenced through popular media:
Glamorization: It’s evident, especially after watching the video, that popular media glamorizes the life of cybersecurity professionals. In Skyfall, it mentions “omegacite” or “omege site”, which isn’t an actual term for a virus or code. Like Elazari mentioned, it’s most likely jargon to make the situation seem more scary or serious. Additionally, at the beginning of the video, the movie portrays code in this intricate red and white pattern, making it look rather beautiful. This is often not the reality of cybersecurity and coding, and is a false premise put on my popular media to further glamorize these situations.
Unrealistic Standards: In the CTF tournament, we see more real-world type situations. However, people are led to believe that coding and hacking is a quick process. Unlike the series (Mr. Robot), these situations could take hours to complete. Yet, the series has them doing it in mere seconds. Not only that, but with a single glance, people automatically understand code- which isn’t always the case. Coding is relatively the same depending on language, but each people write out code differently. In fact, you can tell who coded something based on how they wrote it. So reading another individual’s code can be challenging and take time. By having the actors do it in seconds, it leads to unrealistic standards that cybersecurity professionals often can’t meet- making their jobs a lot harder.
Overall Misinformation: It’s true that popular media will create things that typically don’t exist for ease of writing or creation, but when dealing with something that’s extremely real, it can lead to tons of misinformation. In Oceans 8, we’re witness to objects that automatically hack into any password; In Jason Burne, the CIA has accessible serves; and the overall unrealistic code and glamorization of coding. This misinformation can make it difficult for professionals to do their jobs as people believe this stuff to be the norm, when it is not.
Overall, to except popular media to showcase real-world code to its fullest is not something I ever expect to see. Real-world coding to the outside popular can be see as boring and not as entertaining. However, I do think it’s crucial that a lot of realistic elements are put into place. Movies such as The Social Network, Wargames, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo are able to do this wonderfully while still making it entertaining for the viewers. I hope popular media can strive to match these expectations.
The Video*: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=6BqpU4V0Ypk