If you think cybersecurity movies are about a guy sitting in front of a computer fighting hackers, then you have it all wrong. A good cybersecurity movie is one that gives you an entertaining moment filled with crime, mystery, adventure, and action. They are all about secret documents getting into the wrong hands, discovering and fighting conspiracy theories, the work of secret agencies, and more. Interested already?

If you are, we compiled a list of 6 cybersecurity movies you should watch. Once you finish reading these snippets you will be begging for the weekend to arrive and just sit in front of your TV with a bunch of popcorn all day long. 

1- Snowden (2016) 

Oliver Stone directed this biopic of the former National Security Agency contractor who slowly got disillusioned with the slippery tactics of his superiors and decided to start leaking classified information. Snowden, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, claims that citizens must be informed that the government has access and surveils their emails, social media accounts, computer cameras, and more. Is he the greatest traitor or patriot in American history? 

Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama 

Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo 

Runtime: 2h 14min

2- The Great Hack (2019) 

A documentary that goes deep into the Cambridge Analytica scandal through the narratives of different people affected by it. Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim rolled out an extraordinary film that will make you think twice before sharing any personal data online. 

Genre: Documentary, Biography 

Stars: Brittany Kaiser, David Carroll, Paul-Oliver Dehaye 

Runtime: 1h 54min

3- Who Am I (2014) 

Baran bo Obdar directs this German thriller where we see how a young computer expert, who feels lost, starts a race to become a professional hacker. At some point he gets an invitation from a group of online disruptors to join CLAY (Clown Laughing At You), an organization with the goal of humiliating large corporations.  

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery 

Stars: Tom Schilling, Elyas M’Barek, Wotan Wilke Mohring 

Runtime: 1h 42min 

Trailer:

4- The Imitation Game (2014)  

With 8 Oscars nominations, this historical drama by Morten Tyldum, guides us through the story of the legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, and his race to crack the German Enigma code and help the Allies during World War II. 

Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller 

Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode 

Runtime: 1h 54min

5- The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009) 

In this film, we will be immersed in a story of a young female hacker who helps a journalist track down a woman that has been missing for forty years. They quickly find out that they need to protect themselves once they start unveiling dark family secrets.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery 

Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer 

Runtime: 2h 38min

6- Swordfish (2001) 

In this film by Dominic Sena, we are driven through the story of a spy named Gabriel who plots to steal over nine billion dollars that are held behind super-encryption. He hires a convicted hacker to help him in this race to get the money and fight against international terrorism.  

Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller 

Stars: John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry 

Runtime: 1h 39min

There are a lot of great cybersecurity movies out there. Which one would you add to this list? Care to share in our social accounts! 

As we start moving towards a post-pandemic scenario, organizations need to understand that their employees are now expecting to have the same flexibility to work remotely. A recent study published by Cisco reports that before COVID hit the world, only 19 percent of the workforce preferred to work from home, a number that grew up to 37 percent once the pandemic began. 

Remote working has many benefits, such as no need to commute from one place to the other, saving in your weekly gas spending, having a better work-life balance, and even an increase in productivity. But, as always, there is a catch. Being all day at home can make you fall victim to distractions that are hard to avoid (your kids running around the whole place, errands that seem to be urgent enough to take you away from your computer, cooking, and so on). In other words, you need to master certain skills that will help you succeed in this new way of work:

1. Communicate proactively with your manager and teammates.  
2. Provide updates and ask for clarifications in every step of the way.  
3. Let your organization know your work schedule, and try to stick to it. 
4. Do not stay in your pajamas or sweatpants all day.
5. Plan your days and weeks, set out your goals, expectations, to-do lists, and schedule. Do not forget to add some breaks. Even if you work from home, you need to rest your mind from time to time.  
6. Have an office space; the couch is not one. You need to have the right desk and chair, the correct light, and even try to make it comfortable, appealing, and inspiring.  
7. Avoid taking care of personal errands while you are on the clock.  

We are living the process of adapting to a new reality: remote work. Every industry and every role is now going through this process. Cybersecurity is not the exception.

In fact, one of the many benefits of working in this field is that there are plenty of roles that do not require being in an office to get your job done while still earning a very attractive salary and enjoying other perks. 

Types of Cybersecurity Remote Jobs  

If you are considering starting a career in cybersecurity, and you are part of that big chunk of workers who would like to keep enjoying the benefits of remote life, here is a list of options you have in our field. 

1- Cybersecurity Analyst 

While working in this job, you will be responsible for protecting your organization’s network and systems from any cyber-attack and implementing threat protection measures and security controls. To achieve this, you will be spending hours creating plans, monitoring networks, and computers, implementing security strategies to protect your systems from potential breaches and attacks.  

2- Penetration Tester 

As a Penetration Tester, you will be in charge of helping organizations identify and resolve security vulnerabilities that represent a threat to their computer networks. To achieve this goal, you will need to simulate different cyber-attacks and breaches to discover existing weaknesses and address the best way to solve them.   

3- Security Consultant 

Your role here is pretty straightforward: protection of data. In other words, you are responsible for creating strategies to protect systems, networks, data, and information systems from any possible cyber threat. Among your routine tasks, you will need to perform threat analysis, system checks, security tests, update security criteria, and evaluate cyber risks and faults in existing security strategies.  

4- Cybersecurity Architect 

This is more of a senior-level role, where you would be responsible for the process, from planning to implementing and maintaining an organization’s security infrastructure. In other words, you will need to think like a hacker to anticipate risks, as a business executive to communicate effectively with your executive board, and have the technical skills to build effective security infrastructures. 

In other words, cybersecurity is a field that has a lot to offer for those who want to stick to remote work. There are thousands of openings in the United States, but you need to master different technical and human skills to really stand out. It is all about your mindset.  

The road to cybersecurity is a path that takes you from a zero IT background to becoming someone who understands the theory behind cyber-attacks and security protocols, to knowing how to put in action the industry’s best practices, and to learning a whole new vocabulary filled with new words, acronyms, and even phrases with particular meanings. As part of our effort to help you go through this road more smoothly, we have crafted a glossary with 20 cybersecurity terms you should definitely learn if you want to become a success in front of the eyes of recruiters, teammates, and even your future boss.

20 Cybersecurity Terms for Entry-Level Professionals

1. Anti-Phishing: refers to the efforts of blocking phishing attacks. Phishing is a type of cyber-crime where the attacker poses as known or trusted entities while contacting (email, phone, text) an individual to get ahold of sensitive information.  
2. Bot/Botnet: a botnet is a network of computers infected by malware under the control of a single attacking party. Bot refers to each machine under the control of the attacker or bot-herder. 
3. Breach: refers to an incident that results in unauthorized access to sensitive information and data in computers, networks, and/or devices. 
4. DoS/DDoS: a Denial-of-Service is a security incident in which a server is flooded with malicious traffic and data resulting in an unavailable website. A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) is not other than a DoS attack using multiple computers or machines to flood the targeted resource.  
5. Encryption: the process of encoding data or converting it into secret codes only accessible to authorized parties that can decipher it and access the original information. 
6. Ethical Hacking: legally breaking into computers, networks, and/or devices to test their security protocols and discover vulnerabilities.  
7. Firewall: a network security system that filters and blocks outsiders from accessing private data on your devices. It creates a barrier between trusted and untrusted networks.  
8. IP Spoofing: an attack in which a hacker modifies the source address of a packet header to hide the sender’s identity and/or launch a DDoS attack.  
9. Malware: also known as malicious software, designed to damage or enable unauthorized access to a computer system.  
10. Phishing: a type of cyber-crime where the attacker poses as known or trusted entities while contacting (email, phone, text) an individual to get ahold of sensitive information.  
11. Ransomware: a form of malware that encrypts a victim’s files in exchange for a ransom. Usually, the victim receives instructions of what and how to pay to gain their access back.  
12. Rootkit: considered one of the most dangerous attacks in cybersecurity. It is a type of malware designed to stay undetected in a computer or software designed to enable access and control.  
13. Single Sign-On (SSO): refers to an authentication scheme in which a user has a single ID and password for several software systems.   
14. Spoofing: a type of cyber-attack in which a scammer disguises himself to gain access to data, computers, or software.  
15. Spyware: a category of malware designed to secretly gather information about a person or organization and share it with a third party.  
16. SSL Decryption: is the ability to inspect encrypted traffic and confirm that no malicious content is delivered.  
17. Virtual Private Network (VPN): encrypted connection over the Internet from a device to a network that ensures that sensitive data is safely transmitted.  
18. Virus: a malicious piece of computer code designed to alter the way a computer operates.  
19. Vulnerability Scanning: an automated inspection that looks for and reports potential weaknesses in computers, networks, and communications equipment.  
20. Worm: type of malware that can self-replicate from computer to computer or networks.  

Understanding these basic cybersecurity terms is key for anyone who wants to get started in the cybersecurity working field. Not only are they are asked in any job interview, but they will help you understand other content.  

Over the past year, we have seen a cybercrime increase. The COVID pandemic that hit the world with a health and economic crisis has evidence of the need for more trained people to combat hackers. As remote work becomes the new normal, cybercriminals have taken advantage of the lack of security measures to perform their stunts, costing organizations millions of dollars to recover their systems, data, and even their reputation.

The best way to fight a hacker is to learn to think like one. Ethical hackers not only learn how to understand their motivations, the way they work, and how they choose their target, but they also earn their same skills and training.

To work as a white-hat hacker, you will need to clear the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) exam.

About the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Exam 

The test consists of 125 questions, and you need to score above 70% to pass it. To take this test, you either enroll for the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) training, or you will have to pay some extra money and prove that you have at least 2 years of background experience in information security.

All the questions in the exam are multiple choice. But the tricky part here is that the number of right answers you need to get correctly will vary depending on the difficulty of the questions in the version you are taking. In other words, if you get a test made up of more difficult questions, you will need to have fewer correct answers to pass than if you had gotten an easier one.

Tips to Pass It On Your First Attempt 

1- Get Familiar with The Content of the Certification 

One of the first things you should do is understand the domains covered in the exam to get a better idea of the areas you need to focus on, what it entails, and prepare for it. 

The Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)’s official course outline consists of 20 modules that will cover subjects such as introduction to ethical hacking, scanning networks, vulnerability analysis, system hacking, sniffing, social engineering, denial-of-service, hacking web servers, hacking wireless networks, and others. 

The test itself is built in 7 different sections, and each will cover a different area of ethical hacking. A tentative breakdown is: 

• Section I: Background (5 questions) 
• Section II: Analysis/Assessment (16 questions) 
• Section III: Security (31 questions) 
• Section IV: Tools, Systems, and Programs (40 questions)
• Section V: Procedures and Methodology (25 questions) 
• Section VI: Regulation and Policy (5 questions) 
• Section VII: Ethics (3 questions) 

2- Study Using The CEH Exam Blueprint 

You can study using the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Exam Blueprint. This page will provide a handbook, blueprint eligibility criteria, exam FAQs, exam details, and course outline. All the information you will need to fully understand what the test looks like, what it evaluates, and prepare for it is on that page.  

3- Create a Study Plan 

Once you have the BluePrint and you have gone through the course outline, you should create a study plan that prioritizes the sections that will require more attention, schedule time to review knowledge gaps you might have, refreshes content you already know, and set practice time. 

4- Take Practice Exams 

Practice makes perfect. Once you have gone through all the course modules and you start feeling confident enough, it is time to test your knowledge! Take practice tests (more than 2) until you score above the passing score. Don’t be fooled by people posting online the answer to the questions of the test. EC Council has been updating the test constantly to fight this.  

Not every parent understands what it really means to work in cybersecurity, and that is OK. At CyberWarrior Academy, we want to help you understand the real reasons why it is so important to allow your teenagers to debunk the myths around cybersecurity, acknowledge what cybersecurity professionals do, explore the variety of career pathways there are, and figure out if this is a career they would like to consider for their professional future.

By giving our teenagers the tools and opportunities to study cybersecurity, we are opening the doors to a future with a highly satisfying career, with very competitive salaries, and a zero unemployment rate for years. In a shorter time frame, your teenager will be equipped with soft (problem-solving, creative thinking, perseverance) and technical skills (coding, password cracking, forensics, hacking) that will make their life easier at school, college, and future jobs even if they choose a different career.

How To Get Them Interested in Cybersecurity 

Now that we understand the benefits of getting your teenager enrolled in cybersecurity classes (after-school or summer programs), we want to give you different tools to help them get interested and excited about attending.

1- Find Out About Their Interests 

As a parent, the first thing you need to do is find out what your kids like to do and their interests. If technology, computers, and gaming are among their interests, there is a better chance of enjoying and taking full advantage of a cybersecurity program.

2- Enroll Them in Cybersecurity Bootcamps  

There are different programs for teenagers to guide them through coding, hacking, cryptography, and more. We strongly suggest you choose one that offers interesting classes for your kids, that adapt well to their school/homework schedule, and that gives them enough free time to enjoy with their friends.

3- Encourage Them To Join Competitions 

There are different cybersecurity and technology competitions throughout the country, states, cities, and even schools. If your teenager has demonstrated abilities in a specific area, be sure to encourage them in a positive way to participate. Don’t forget to mention how rewarding it is to demonstrate what they are good at and the benefits of adding this to their profile.

4- Help Them Find a Mentor 

Having an industry expert as a mentor not only will help him develop the necessary skills to be a successful professional but will also serve as a way to get to know from first-hand experience what it really means to work in this field, what they can expect from their first job experiences, what they need to do to stand out from the pack.

In other words, if you have at home a teenager who loves spending time in front of a computer or a videogame, that enjoys learning about how things are built, who is tech-savvy, and who likes puzzles and logic problems, try to talk to him/her about getting into a cybersecurity program. Make an effort to give them the necessary tools to develop door opening skills.