Cybercrime in movies – fact or fiction

Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem, who plays Raoul Silvar, in a scene from Skyfall.

WE see cybercrimes depicted in movies all the time. Avid movie buffs would be familiar with flicks such as Skyfall, The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, Live Free or Die Hard, Anti-trust and Sneakers, just to name a few. Some things we see on the silver screen are obviously make-believe but sometimes one can’t help but wonder how close those ploys are to reality.

For instance, could a hacker bring down the entire US financial sector as the villain of Live Free or Die Hard does? Or could a government defence programme really control every piece of technology connected to the Internet as in Eagle Eye? But movies often reflect the risks of the real world, even if sometimes the scenarios seem a bit far-fetched.