Movies and TV shows influence and shape public perceptions. This is well known for topics such as (mental) health, perceptions of disease, or a sense of science, and there is strong evidence that the same is true for cybersecurity and hacking. Hacking scenes are regularly shown in movies and TV shows, so it is interesting to understand how hacking is portrayed, and what the general public can learn from this portrayal. We analyse 50 hacking scenes from movies and TV shows released between 2010 and 2022 to identify common themes, stereotypes and discrepancies with real-world hacking practices. We examine aspects such as hacking methods, outcome and duration of attacks, hacker appearance and motivations.
We find that hacking is often portrayed in an exaggerated and unrealistic way, particularly with regard to the incredibly short time required and the extremely high success rate. Our findings highlight the prevalence of hacking as a "mystical" black box. These misrepresentations can shape public understanding of cybersecurity, potentially reinforcing misconceptions and undermining awareness of real-world security practices.
At this page, you can find additional information and supplementary materials on our research.
Additional Information
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Database Findings
To find candidate scenes for the analysis, we performed a keyword search using a subtitle database.
Attached you can find some statistics and a list with movies containing the words "ip address", "root access" and the word combinations "firewall & server" and "firewall & virus"
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Codebook and Dataset with Scenes and Codes
During the analysis, we created a codebook which was then applied to all scenes.
Attached you can find the codebook with the numbers of scenes each code applies.
Additionally, you can find a database that includes one entry for each movie and TV series we analysed, and the set of codes we applied to each scene.
