Hacking and cybersecurity have become a popular theme for movies, TV, and documentaries in the past few decades.
The idea of the hacker captivates audiences because these tech wizards can do something illegal, often for good reasons, like taking down a company and proving their shady practices.
Hackers can subvert the idea of what a good guy looks like. Instead of a muscly man in a cape, hackers are a different kind of hero: A hunched, skinny guy alone in a room tapping at a keyboard to hack into a distant network remotely.
Streaming platforms like Netflix are bringing depth to the hacking theme with documentaries that take real-world stories of how hackers have emerged victorious against many foes, entertaining and informing audiences.
This article showcases the top five Netflix movies (and one series) that every cybersecurity and hacking enthusiast should watch.
1. The Great Hack: Data Privacy and Social Media Manipulation
The Great Hack looks less like entertainment and more like a warning label for the internet age because of how it shows that personal data can become political power, often without users realizing what they agreed to.
This documentary explains the process of data harvesting, which, when used for nefarious means, can utilize targeted messaging to influence global elections in some of the world’s most influential nations.
Details are offered to the viewer about how social platforms like Meta, Threads, and X collect, analyze, and monetize everyday browsing and communication behaviours, and how there are no secrets about these practices.
The feature-length exposé raises several questions about how consent is asked of users, the transparency of social media practices, and the quiet way that surveillance of users occurs.
2. Mr. Robot: Authentic Hacker Culture on Netflix
Mr Robot became a smash hit when it first hit the streaming platform it helped to popularize, Amazon Prime, back in 2015.
One of the aspects of this TV series that audiences loved most was its authenticity, as it portrayed actual hacking tools, commands, and terminology that hackers really use. It favoured this approach instead of the flashy, glamorous fake hacker portrayals in many TV series and movies, which captivated audiences more deeply.
The series continued this authenticity into the plot lines, as it focused on system weaknesses and human error led vulnerabilities, as well as how corporations control our daily lives, as well as the serious drawbacks of dependence on technology.
Many viewers felt that Mr Robot respected them as audience members, showing the hacking world as it was, not dumbing it down for universal appeal. Hacking is conveyed as technical, slow, and exhausting, just as it is for real hackers.
3. Snowden: Whistleblowing, Surveillance, and Ethics
Snowden shows audiences the real narrative of how Edward Snowden revealed national secrets with the intention of showing people the truth about the way their governments operate. It covers this groundbreaking story in a grounded, personal way.
The film indicates to audiences how mass data collection goes way beyond suspected criminals and touches ordinary emails, searches, and messages of everyday people. The main message is: The government sees everything everyone does all the time.
Despite Snowden’s whistleblowing happening several years ago, the strength of this documentary is its contemporary relevance because so few changes have taken place to protect user privacy in Western nations.
Online Safety Lessons for Viewers
The themes of many hacking and cybersecurity documentaries, TV shows, and movies on Netflix go beyond mindless entertainment. They offer contemporary and often timeless messages about technological dangers and what viewers can do to protect themselves.
The ways to protect ourselves often include actions as simple as not opening emails from unknown senders to avoid phishing, not using banking apps on public Wi-Fi, and being aware of how remote work increases cyber risks.
Basic online safety practices like strong passwords and encrypted connections only go so far to protect organizations that employ remote workers. Any type of VPN, even a free VPN, can help protect data safety, even on unsecured networks like free, public Wi-Fi.
This simple tool can protect organizations from hackers because users’ IP addresses are hidden, adding an extra layer of challenge for hackers to see their identity.
Conclusion: Choosing What to Watch Next
Deciding what to watch next?
Look out on Netflix or your favourite streaming platform, as even Disney now has several serious documentaries and movies, for documentaries, TV, or movies that cover not only hacking, but cybersecurity in a contemporary context. If you see anything that relates to data and how it is vulnerable to theft or manipulation, you will be on the right track.
It’s always crucial to take on board the real message of these shows and movies: Consider what tech companies are doing with a critical eye to ensure you are being treated fairly, and who is the real dark presence: social platforms or hackers.