Hackers: Computer Outlaws

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.

Hacking at Leaves

2024

Hacking at Leaves documents artist and hazmat-suit aficionado Johannes Grenzfurthner as he attempts to come to terms with the United States' colonial past, Navajo tribal history, and the hacker movement. The story hones in on a small tinker space in Durango, Colorado, that made significant contributions to worldwide COVID relief efforts. But things go awry when Uncle Sam interferes with the film's production.

Defeating the Hackers

2013

Exploring the murky and fast-paced world of the hackers out to steal money and identities and wreak havoc with people's online lives, and the scientists who are joining forces to help defeat them.

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.

Caja Negra: El mito del voto electrónico

2017

Mr. Robot_dec0d3d.doc

2016

In Mr. Robot Decoded, creator Sam Esmail, stars Rami Malek and Christian Slater, real-life hacker Jeff Moss and other experts open up about how the show made an extremely technical subject relatable to a wide audience and brought humanity to hackers through the main character Elliot Alderson.

Zero Days

2016

Alex Gibney explores the phenomenon of Stuxnet, a self-replicating computer virus discovered in 2010 by international IT experts. Evidently commissioned by the US and Israeli governments, this malware was designed to specifically sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme. However, the complex computer worm ended up not only infecting its intended target but also spreading uncontrollably.

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.

All Is One. Except 0

2020

In 1981, Wau Holland and other hackers established the Hamburg based Chaos Computer Club (CCC). The idiosyncratic freethinkers were inspired by Californian technology visionaries and committed themselves to hacker ethics. All information must be free. Use public data, protect private data. But not everyone followed the rules. Computer technology was still in its infancy and the emerging Internet became a projection screen for social utopias. What has become of them? The story of the German hackers, told by the protagonists themselves in a montage of found video and audio material.

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.

All Creatures Welcome

2018

All Creatures Welcome explores the world of hackers and nerds at the events of the Chaos Computer Club, Europe's largest hacker association. The film dispels common clichés and draws a utopian picture of a possible society in the digital age.

Unit 8200

2017

A story about the world's best Cyber spies. Their training in Israel's military, and their impact on the world we live in.

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?

Hacks

1997

Hacks is a 73 minute European documentary exploring what nature of "Hacking" is in a social context. In HACKS, the Austrian multimedia artist Christine Bader examines who is the computer hacker and what moves him or her. Is the hacker a Robin Hood in cyber space or an anarchistic agitator? Bader speaks with Dutch, German and American communication freaks who are working with various kinds of network issues, like making the Internet accessible to individual persons (Felipe Rodriguez, founder of Internet provider Xs4all), creating a meeting place in cyber space, or designing an ultramodern communication network on a ‘multimedia art ship‘. ‘Hackers are not encumbered by technical, financial or organizational problems, they just want to do things‘, Rodriguez thinks. That the technological means ‘just to do things‘ are now freely available is demonstrated by the numerous computer initiatives that whiz past in HACKS.

Russia's Cyber Army

2022

For years now, the Kremlin has been systematically trying to use well-trained hackers for its own benefit. In exchange for freedom and protection, they do the dirty work of the state, interfering in other countries’ elections and penetrating government networks. Just how dangerous is Russia’s cyber army?

Unauthorized Access

1994

Unauthorized Access is one of the earliest independent documentaries on the subject of the computer underground. Shot in 15 cities and 4 countries, this documentary offers an impressive array of topics dealing with hacking culture, such as phreaking, lockpicking, conspiracy theories, and ninja clad dumpster divers.