The ones who haven’t got a subscription on Netflix raise your hands. Well, maybe you prefer HBO (just because you can watch Game of Thrones), Amazon, Sky, etc … or you are one of those people who prefer not to pay to watch streaming television.

Whether you belong to the second or third group mentioned, you might be interested in this article. Who knows, you may change your mind after reading it.

The truth is more than 100 million people worldwide are subscribers of Netflix. A very high figure rising every year.

Why do so many people pay to see this content online? The answers vary depending on each person and the benefits that may be considered advantageous.

But what they all agree on is that it has a good variety of content, both series, films and documentaries as well as the topics that are covered. And above all, it gives a great flexibility when it comes to being able to see the content whenever and wherever we want.

If we look back and ask ourselves what television series have had an impact on us during a certain stage of our life and we break them down by themes, we will surely come up with a very short list.

Almost all are focused on doctors, police, superheroes, families, teachers and students.

And the same thing happens with movies.

However it seems that in recent years a new protagonist has become very important and therefore, a new topic more in line with the new times we are currently living nowadays: the hacker or computer expert and the new technologies.

It is true that in many of the series or detective films there was always a computer expert that managed to solve the case in 5 minutes tracking IPs, hacking other computers or doing any task that seemed impossible (in many cases it actually is, at least as for the time dedicated to solve it) and only suitable for the most smart ones.

Of course, they were always secondary characters with a few minutes of glory.

As we say, today there are several productions focused on the life of hackers and with a plot based on the consequences (both good and bad) of living in a modern and interconnected era due to the latest technologies.

At Open Data Security we make a list of some Netflix series and movies that can help us get an idea about this reality. And of course, teach us about hacking and privacy.

(We warn there will be spoilers).

1. Series

1.1. Black Mirror

It is one of the series that has the most popularity. To know the plot is enough to understand why the title is “Black Mirror”.

It is nothing more than an allusion to the screens of the devices we daily use. Whether it is a television, a monitor or a smartphone. That’s where everything starts.

Each chapter tells a different story with different characters, so it gives free rein to the possible “side effects” of the new technological era.

Many of the stories are set in the not too distant future. In some cases reference is made to technological facts and cyber attacks that currently would be impossible to perpetrate in real life but that become credible for their realism.

An example of this is the chapter “Hated in the Nation”, the sixth episode of the 3rd season. It shows a series of murders motivated by Twitter users, who choose the next victim using the hashtag #DeathTo followed by the name of the person.

This is the part where we get the idea of what could be done with social networks. But now comes the part where hackers take center stage.

Cybercriminals hack “Autonomous Drone Insects” (ADI). These artifacts are nothing but bees artificially created and used to supply the lack of existing hives and the work that bees do.

The hackers take control of these bees and use them as a weapon to carry out the murders.

It is a great thriller that makes you stop and think about it. Like all the Black Mirror chapters.

However, other episodes are totally realistic and feasible nowadays. An example is “Shut up and dance”, the third chapter of the 3rd season.

The story is about a teenager who is blackmailed by a hacker, infecting his computer with a virus and taking control of his camera. This way he gets a video in which the young boy masturbates without knowing that he is being observed and recorded.

The cybercriminal threatens to spread the video on the Internet unless he does exactly what he asks for.

On the way he meets other people who are also being extorted by the same hacker, following his instructions and acting in the same way: as puppets to safeguard their privacy.

In fact it is a problem that already exists, and is called “sextorsion”.

We must always be alert if we want to protect our privacy. That is what is clear after watching the chapter.

1.2. The Code

This Australian series tells the story of 2 brothers: Ned (journalist) and Jesse (hacker). The plot begins with the investigation of a traffic accident in which 2 Aborigine young people are involved and which do not receive any type of help.

The brothers publish a video in which they confirm that everything has been provoked by the leaders of a secret project.

They discover a high level conspiracy that can shake the government of their country.

The Code is a production which wants to portray the world of technologies, emphasizing how they influence the dangers derived from secret organizations working outside the law.

2. Films

2.1. Lo and behold: Reveries of the Connected World

As the Internet breaks through the most mundane aspects of our lives, the documentary makes a profound analysis about the ethics of this massive flow of information.

From filtering and publishing on the Internet controversial photographs of the car accident suffered by a young girl named Nikki Catsouras in 2006 (we warn that they are very explicit images that can upset sensitive people), going through the beginnings of the Internet and the first computers, until the new technologies that are being developed or that could be developed in the future.

There are 2 phrases that can perhaps summarize the movie. The first one is a testimony of Marcel Just, Doctor in Psychology who investigates the functioning of the brain: “You could essentially, in a not too distant future, tweet thoughts”. And the second, which focuses on Buddhist monks looking at their phones: “Have monks stopped meditating? They all seem to be tweeting”.

While it is true that we may not learn much with this film about hacking, it is a good example indeed of what was, is and may be the Internet, in addition to its consequences.

2.2. Banking on Bitcoin

Through interviews and testimonies from economists, programmers and entrepreneurs, the film tells the story of bitcoin and how it can be the solution to problems with banks.

It is a documentary that tells us what bitcoin is, what other digital currencies existed before them and makes a forecast of the future that holds.

This is definitely a good way on how to get closer to blockchain and cryptocurrency if we are still not sure about what it is and why people are talking about them so much lately.

2.3. Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Cyber attacks

This documentary brings us the story of the massive hack suffered by the online dating platform called Ashley Madison.

In 2015 it was the victim of a group of cybercriminals called “The Impact Team”, who stole all user data including their emails, names, postal addresses, sexual fantasies and credit cards.

All this information was publicly disseminated, causing even suicides that had to do with these leaks.

In total, the data of 27 million users of the page were disclosed on the Internet. Most of them were men.

In fact, the film also mentions what was discovered after the attack: the vast majority of the “women” registered on the web were not real women. They were bots.

It is something reflected in the Terms and Conditions of the website, where it is confirmed that the page is created by and for entertainment, and that users could be contacted by “non-humans”.

Of course there are many more series and movies that have some stories related to the world of hacking, but for now this small selection will do. If you think we should mention some more, do not hesitate to tell us through our Twitter account @ODSops.