The editorial staff offers you some reports and feature films to spend an evening with web criminals, amateur hackers and pirates in the service of States.
Are you interested in the world of hackers and cybercrime, but are you afraid of not understanding anything? We recommend these few captivating and instructive documentaries on this closed environment. You will follow the journalists in their investigation, far from the cliché of the computer scientist who taps on his computer keyboard at light speed. Netflix also specializes in news items from the web and sordid stories: the SVOD platform unveiled on May 18, 2022 a feature film called Cyber Hell: The Horror Networkthe true story of an online sexual exploitation ring.
Because cybercrime takes many forms today, each story cited focuses on a particular topic, from everyday scams to state-sponsored armies of hackers.
Here are 5 documentaries to discover the world of hackers and the darknet.
Cyber Hell: The Horror Network
Netflix has gotten us used to investigating online crimes with Don’t F*ck with Cats and Shiny_flakes the little baron of the darknet. The platform has been broadcasting since May 18, 2022 a long survey of 1h35, called CyberHell, on an online sexual exploitation scandal in South Korea. This dark affair is known in the country as the Nth Room, in reference to the virtual chat rooms that the perpetrators opened to broadcast sexual videos of their victims. The documentary mixes interviews, archive footage and reconstructions to retrace the modus operandi of the criminals.
The documentary is available on Netflix.
The new Russian mercenaries
Since 2013, Russian hackers have almost become a label of destabilization. They are accused of attacking Ukraine, of having intervened in the election of Donald Trump, or of interfering in Emmanuel Macron’s presidential campaign in 2017. Étienne Huver (2016 Albert-Londres Prize), Marina Ladous and Boris Razon went in search of these hackers, often recruited on special forums, and supported by the Kremlin, in the documentary The new Russian mercenaries.
The documentary is available for rent on Arte.
China’s New Soldiers
Like Russia, China has also specialized in computer attacks with a different objective. In a bid to become the world’s leading power, Beijing knows no bounds and is waging a vast campaign of cyber espionage to recover the valuable industrial secrets of its rivals and economic allies. This is the subject of the documentary China’s New Soldiers.
The documentary is available for free until June 7 on Arte.
The Face of Anonymous
The Face of Anonymous is the story ofChristopher Mark Doyon, one of the leaders of Anonymous, the most famous hacktivist group. After a difficult childhood in a rural state, this computer-savvy teenager dives into revolutionary activism and takes up computer hacking. Since his Mexican exile, Christopher, alias Commander X, has agreed to tell his incredible trajectory, the motivations of his fight and his most spectacular acts. He has since been extradited for attacking the California administration.
The documentary is available on MyCanal.
Cyberattacks: Shadow Robbers
In 2017, Envoyé Spécial, Elise Lucet’s show, looked at hackers who trick companies with ransomware, in the documentary Cyberattacks: Shadow Robbers. France 2 journalists went to meet the victims who lost thousands of euros, but also the hackers to describe their modus operandi to the general public.
The report is available on the Special Envoy YouTube channel.
And if not, there’s always Numerama’s YouTube channel if you need to understand the cyberwar in Ukraine, who the hacker groups are behind Conti, or how influencers are losing their YouTube channels.
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