Hollywood usually portrays hackers as antisocial freaks who spend their lives in front of computer screens. The reality, however, is different, because hackers are just normal people. These are the most common myths about cyber security:
Myths about cyber security
Myth number 1: All hackers are experts
In film and TV series, hackers are basically people who spend all their time in front of a computer. They strive to perfect their skills and dedicate their lives to hacking. This is why they are usually portrayed as lonely and antisocial people, holed up in a basement full of computers. But according to hacker Caleb Brinkman, you don't even have to be a computer expert to hack. You can become a hacker relatively easily and quickly if you work at it every day. A person without more than average computer experience can train to be a hacker within six months. You just have to learn to understand how websites work, what commands there are and how to find vulnerabilities. You can learn hacking like a normal profession.
Myth number 2: Hacking is always illegal
Of course, there are people who use hacking for malicious purposes. However, most hackers use their skills for research and cyber security. The so-called white-hat hackers are those who engage in analysing source code to find potential vulnerabilities that should be fixed. According to Brinkman, this could be described as "pre-emptive vandalism": People pay a hacker to hack their website and then tell them how it was done so you can fill that hole.
White hat hackers can also act as "bounty hunters": They search for viruses in programmes and receive a reward from the company in question. Facebook, for example, pays $ 500 for the detection of a virus. Google can pay up to $ 20,000 if there is a serious vulnerability.
It is true that most hackers try to break through the Internet security of large corporations and hack into websites, but not because they are anarchists, but because the corporations pay them to do so.
Myth number 3: Hackers are antisocial, eccentric freaks
As previously mentioned, hacking is a lucrative profession for many white-hat hackers. So it is not true that they are all lonely, antisocial and eccentric as they are usually portrayed in films. Most hackers, like many other people, work in offices and lead perfectly normal lives.
Myth number 4: Hackers work at lightning speed
Many films show a hacker hacking away at his keyboard with lightning speed and vigour. Commands or messages only appear on the screen for a fraction of a second and the hacker must be quick to react in order to recognise them.
In reality, the hacking process is much slower and simpler. For example, the user selects the desired programme, activates the command and then has to wait until the computer has completed the process.
Myth number 5: As a hacker, you need highly developed, complex software
In films, the software used by hackers looks incredibly complex and sophisticated, not at all like our normal computer programmes. However, many hackers use conventional browser applications. Often the hacker's work consists of reloading a website over and over again until they find the right programme to break the page.
