Hackers: Wizards of the Electronic Age

The Choice - The Risks of Web Democracy

2018

Italy’s biggest political party, the Five Star Movement, promotes direct democracy through internet voting. Five Star Movement uses a digital platform named Rousseau, that allows Movement’s members to vote online and express their opinion on various issues. But who governs this data?

The Crazy Che

2015

The incredible story of Bill Gaede, an Argentinian engineer, programmer… and Cold War spy.

Les Guerriers Du Web

2009

Tracking Russian Hackers

2018

Amid the growing threat of cyberattacks from Russian hackers, this film dives into their origins, motives, and the dangers they pose to their targets.

Cabin Pressure

2001

A fully automated commercial jetliner is prepared to make its maiden voyage. Without an on-flight pilot, the craft relies on satellite linking for its course. But when the plane suddenly deviates from its determined route and establishes a circular pattern over Seattle, it becomes evident that the craft has been hijacked by a disgruntled former airline employee who has hacked into the flight's computer system from his apartment, somewhere in the United States. Now, a former discredited Navy pilot and an oddball technician must race against the clock to find where the angry employee is, and regain control of the plane before it crashes into the city.

Guardians of the New World

2017

Guardians of the New World introduces us to the world of hacker culture. Emerging from the 70’s counterculture around conceptions of personal freedom, decentralisation of power and sharing, hacking really came to prominence with the emergence of the Internet as a ubiquitous public forum from the late 90’s onwards.

My Sextortion Diary

2024

Pati, a young film producer, is fighting to carve out a professional career in the film industry. It is May 2019 when her laptop is stolen during a business trip in Madrid. Two months after, an anonymous Hacker accesses all the stored data in the stolen device and finds three very private photos of Pati. He threatens that if he doesn’t receive $2,400 he will mass-mail the pictures to all her work contacts in order to ruin her professional reputation. The shame, anger and distress caused by the ineffectiveness of the legal forces lead Pati to set out on her own investigation to stop the Hacker and regain control and power over her privacy.

Hackers: Outlaws and Angels

2002

This program reveals the daily battle between the Internet’s outlaws and the hackers who oppose them by warding off system attacks, training IT professionals and police officers, and watching cyberspace for signs of imminent infowar. Through interviews with frontline personnel from the Department of Defense, NYPD’s computer crime squad, private detective firm Kroll Associates, X-Force Threat Analysis Service, and several notorious crackers, the program provides penetrating insights into the millions of hack attacks that occur annually in the U.S.—including one that affected the phone bills of millions and another that left confidential details of the B-1 stealth bomber in the hands of teenagers. The liabilities of wireless networks, the Code Red worm, and online movie piracy are also discussed. A Discovery Channel Production. (51 minutes)

Top Kids

1987

A fun journey through the history of the automobile, this film is about a group of future computer hackers that wire an arcade game to work as a time machine. Among appearances in the movie are Henry Ford, Mercedes Benz, and modern race car driver Niki Lauda, as one of the boys becomes trapped within the newly created game.

Owned

2002

OWNED presents the 50 year history of the law-spurning tech tradition of hacking. This vibrant movement gained momentum in the 1960s with Captain Crunch and phone phreaking and now includes annual DefCon hacker conventions in Las Vegas (an amusing highlight of these is the fun game "Spot the Fed"). Kevin Mittnick, dubbed by the New York Times "FBI's Most Wanted Cybercriminal" speaks for the first time about the crimes that lead to his conviction. Misanthropic hacker Fuqrag casually wreaks havoc on government websites from a claustrophobic trailer in an anonymous trailer park.

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists

2012

Takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical "hacktivist" collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age. The film explores early hacktivist groups like Cult of the Dead Cow and Electronic Disturbance Theater, then moves to Anonymous' raucous beginnings on the website 4chan. Through interviews with current members, people recently returned from prison or facing trial, writers, academics, activists and major players in various "raids," the documentary traces Anonymous’ evolution from merry pranksters to a full-blown movement with a global reach, the most transformative civil disobedience of our time.

Putin's Bears - The Most Dangerous Hackers in the World

2024

They call themselves Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear or Voodoo Bear. Elite units of the Russian secret services are hidden behind these code names. They are among the most dangerous hackers in the world. The bears were already in the computer of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015, interfered in the US election campaign in 2016 and are currently influencing the war in Ukraine. The makers of the successful YouTube channel “Simplicissimus” in co-production with funk and SWR are back and show the destructive potential of state hacking with this documentary. With the help of leading German hackers, cyberspace experts and a lot of humor, they delicately demystify the Russian bears: Who are the people behind them? How do they operate? And what makes them so incredibly dangerous?

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

2016

Werner Herzog's exploration of the Internet and the connected world.

The Secret History of Hacking

2001

The Secret History of Hacking is a 2001 documentary film that focuses on phreaking, computer hacking and social engineering occurring from the 1970s through to the 1990s. Archive footage concerning the subject matter and (computer generated) graphical imagery specifically created for the film are voiced over with narrative audio commentary, intermixed with commentary from people who in one way or another have been closely involved in these matters.

The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz

2014

Programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz achieved groundbreaking work in social justice and political organizing. His passion for open access ensnared him in a legal nightmare that ended with the taking of his own life at the age of 26.