[Infowarrior] - Reeling in the hackers

[Richard Forno]

(c/o ST)

Reeling in the hackers
KARLIN LILLINGTON

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0219/1224264787078.html


A new study reveals that the popular film portrayal of computer
hackers is actually quite accurate, writes KARLIN LILLINGTON

IF YOU don’t like the idea of a scholarly paper on the trail of
hackers in films, then take it up with Damian Gordon’s parents. “I
have to blame my parents – the only films we were ever taken to were
science fiction and futuristic kinds of films,” says Gordon, a
lecturer in computer science at the Dublin Institute of Technology.

Gordon has just published his paper, Forty Years of Movie Hacking:
Considering the Potential Implications of the Popular Media
Representation of Computer Hackers from 1968 to 2008, in the current
issue of the International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured
Transactions.

A self-confessed film buff, he likes to show students clips from such
films as a teaching tool because he feels they bring an abstract
subject to life and help initiate lively discussions.

“With computer science you’re always trying to explain complex ideas
in a clear way. Clips from films can be very useful for that. Any time
I can, I try to slip in a film clip.”

In trying to teach his students about security issues, he realised
many had misguided notions about what the typical computer hacker is
like and where security threats come from.

That set him thinking that perhaps the misperceptions came from the
upper trails of hackers in popular culture.

So Gordon set out to compile a list of as many films that featured
hacking as he could and came up with 50 – which he realises is not
comprehensive and excludes foreign films, but does pick up most
Hollywood films since the late 1960s that fit within his criteria
outlined in the 29-page paper. He excluded animated films and
documentaries, for example.

He included films from as early as 1968 through to 2008, across
several genres from science fiction to crime films.

His paper observes a curious dearth of films in the 1970s, just as
computing was coming into popular visibility. His theory is that a
lifting of censorship rules caused films to focus more on violence and
sex.

“Hacking computers was probably too passive and boring,” he laughs.

The aim of his paper “was really to investigate why there is a general
public perception that hackers all seem to be teenagers in bedrooms.
Lots of books on hacking talk about this, but it is so wrong. Most
hackers are around 30 and are computer professionals.

“Being a hacker is really not about sitting alone in a dark bedroom.
It has a lot more to do with your interpersonal skills.”

His film findings surprised Gordon just as much as they might surprise
others. Far from having public perceptions of hackers shaped by films,
he found that the celluloid portrayal of hackers was actually quite
accurate – setting aside the unlikelihood of your average female
hacker looking like Sandra Bullock or Angelina Jolie.

“It’s devastating to realise that most movies do portray hackers
correctly,” he jokes.

First off, he found that the average age of the majority of film
hackers was over 25, with only a quarter younger than that. Some 65
per cent were aged between 25 and 50, and only 3 per cent were older
than 50, which he thinks is fairly accurate.

As for profession, 32 per cent were portrayed as working in the
computer industry, 28 per cent were full-time hackers, 20 per cent
were students and 20 per cent worked in other professions.

Gordon notes that this actually meshes fairly closely with reality –
one study cited in his paper notes that the average hacker is 27 and
either a computer professional or full-time hacker.

Gordon also found that, in the films, about 10 per cent of the hackers
were women, which also approximates real-world statistics.

He notes that for some reason there are far more female hackers
portrayed on television compared to film. “I’m presuming that’s
because men tend to do the action bits on television,” he says.

Two areas in which film deviated from real-world hacking are the
number of attacks depicted as coming from outside an organisation
rather than being instigated from those inside an organisation, and
the portrayal of the intentions of hackers.

In film, only 20 per cent of the attacks are internal, but industry
studies suggest the ratio may be closer to 50-50, Gordon notes in his
paper.

Also, the vast majority of hackers in films are actually portrayed as
the good guys – a huge 73 per cent, with 10 per cent being somewhere
in between, and 17 per cent portrayed as bad guys. “I was definitely
surprised at the number of films showing hackers in a positive light,”
he says.

However, he rather likes this himself, given that the term “hacker”
started out as a positive one, referring to people who were highly
adept at tinkering with electronics and writing or modifying computer
programs. Only much later did the public start to use the term hacker
to mean someone with malicious intent.

“I’d like to reclaim the title as a positive one,” says Gordon.

Damian's top five

Top Millions (1968) Peter Ustinov as Marcus Pendleton, a con-man just
out of prison. “Really a great movie.”

Tron (1982) Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a former employee of
fictional computer company ENCOM. “I adored Tron, and you can never go
wrong with Jeff Bridges.”

Superman III (1983) Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) discovers that he has
an extraordinary talent for computer programming. “A great
salami-slicing attack.”

WarGames (1983) David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) as a high school
student who is highly unmotivated at school but is an enthusiastic
computer hacker at home. “Fixed in people’s minds the archetype of the
young hacker operating from his bedroom.”

Sneakers (1992, Heist) College students Martin Brice (Gary
Hershberger) and his friend Cosmo (Jo Marr) use a college computer to
hack into banking systems to transfer funds. “Fantastic film”