“I’ll just synchronize these firewall settings and bypass the encryption and we’ll be inside the system in a few seconds.” Words like these cause cybersecurity professionals (and others in IT) to cringe, but they occur all the time on television and in movies. It seems that whenever the subject turns to hacking or computer security, the cyberwizards of Hollywood are able to achieve their goals with a few simple clicks of the mouse. These far-fetched scenarios make real security experts shake their heads and wonder whether the producers even bothered to consult an actual security expert before writing their script.

Clearly, the entertainment industry needs to dress up the work of security professionals before trying to portray it on the big screen. After all, nobody wants to watch a network engineer carefully crafting firewall rules, or a cryptanalyst running a brute force attack against an encrypted file for days at a time. That said, don’t you wish that, just once in a while, they’d take the time needed to get the basic facts correct, and introduce a slightly more realistic view of hacking and cybersecurity? Let’s take a look at some of the most common mistaken portrayals of cybersecurity in the media.

Read the full story: Hollywood vs. Reality: Cybersecurity Fact Check

Published 1/18/2016 in Certification Magazine