Hackers on Screen

It's the last weekend of Cybersecurity Awareness Month and every Saturday I’ve been sharing links to videos, presentations, etc. that show interesting, surprising and entertaining content relating to security. So far I've covered Hackers on a Plane, Hackers in Space, Hackers in your House and Hackers at Sea, now it's time to turn to the world of fiction.

Hacking and technology in film and TV can be quite a cringe-worthy experience if you work in technology, (think NCIS "double hacking"), I've tried to keep this list to movies and shows that treat technology largely faithfully or at least are gripping enough to overlook where they don't!

Hackers on the Small Screen

TV seems to have a better track record than movies, with a lot of great series to pick from...

Person of Interest

One of my favourite series of all time, Person of Interest shows both the light and and dark sides of technology and Artificial Intelligence. Way ahead of its time, Poi was full of action, introspective humour and great characters I'd recommend it to anyone.

Mr. Robot

Probably the most celebrated show about hacking and technically accurate in many places. It's also a great story highlighting many themes in society today as well as the dangers of corporate control of technology. The plot gets increasingly far fetched as the series go on but it's always entertaining and some episodes are among the finest television ever produced.

Halt and Catch Fire

Hacking has many facets and it's not just "hacking into" things. Halt and Catch Fire explores how tinkerers with technology brought computing to the masses and brought about the information age. The plot and the characters are all fictional but the concept is based on the early days of computing, the start of Compaq and the bulletin board era.

Elementary

Whilst Elementary is 100% a detective show, it frequently features well handled references to hacking and technology. Elementary brings the Sherlock Holmes saga to modern day New York and sees Sherlock and Watson frequently working with "Everyone", a mysterious hacking group based on Anonymous.

Hackers on the Big Screen

Overall I find a bit too much cheese coming from Hollywood when it comes to hacking but two of my favourites are...

Enemy of the State

Will Smith and Gene Hackman star in this action thriller about the dangers of the surveillance state. Many years before the Snowdon revelations Enemy of the State explores the risk of handing so much power to the government.

Sneakers, 1992

Whilst it's a little dated in technology terms, this classic still holds up conceptually. With an all star cast including Robert Redford, Dan Ackroyd and Ben Kinsley, Sneakers is probably my all time favourite hacking movie.

So, what have I missed?

If there's anything you'd like to suggest please leave a comment!

You should also read:

Hackers at Sea

Hackers in your House

Hackers in Space