Hollywood gets right and wrong about hacking

What Hollywood gets right and wrong about hacking

Hacking is most often portrayed as a frantic exercise, with fast-paced music to raise the tension while boxes flash up on screen. In one episode of the fantasy series Arrow however, the protagonists are able to continue “hacking” despite not being able to see their screens, and eventually this ridiculous hack-war turns into a tennis match with both hackers sending power surges back and forth until the antagonist’s computer is blown up.

It’s pretty far-fetched but hacking as a means of destruction isn’t fictional and it has been portrayed better in the tech drama series Mr. Robot. In one episode, the protagonist Elliot uses a planted device to upload software onto back-up energy storage devices owned by the shadowy corporation, ECorp. This software is then used to trigger explosions – entirely reasonable as these gadgets usually use lead acid batteries which can emit explosive hydrogen gas when overcharged.

Most of the time though, MovieOS capabilities don’t accurately reflect the abilities or uses of real-life operating systems. Being able to draw a line between fantasy and reality is useful in film, but it can also cause problems when dealing with people’s expectations of computers and their understanding of how hacking works, particularly common hacks that non-technical people are vulnerable to.