⏱️ First Published: July 31, 2022 | Last Updated: March 02, 2024
We last updated this article on 2nd March to include 7 more cybersecurity documentaries including some recent ones.
After hours of research and suggestions from cybersecurity students, we have curated this list of the best cybersecurity documentaries in 2024.
It includes documentaries ranging from the 1980s to recent years, featuring hacking stories, famous cyber attacks, emerging threats, and expert perspectives. The documentaries highlighted enlighten on the importance of cyber awareness while breaking down complex details through engaging real-world examples and human stories.
Whether you’re new to cybersecurity or a professional interested in knowing about the latest cybersecurity threats, these highly-rated documentaries offer valuable insights.
What is Cyber Security?
Cyber Security is a technology that protects computer systems, sensitive data, servers, mobile devices & networks from any malicious attacks or cyber-attacks.
It is also known as Information Technology (IT) security, which ensures data protection for the company’s sensitive data from cyber-attacks, including accessing confidential data, changing or destroying data, extorting money, damaging business processes, or stealing users’ details.
With the increased number of cyber attacks, it becomes essential to use cyber security to protect data.
Best Documentaries on Cyber Security You Should Watch in 2024
Table of Contents
One can watch several documentaries to make oneself knowledgeable about the cyber security branch.
The below-titled documentaries are one of the best-rated ones in the industry, with high IMDB ratings and great content. Let’s check them out.
1. Zero Days
- Published in: 2016
- IMDb Rating: 7.7
- Duration: 1 hrs 56 minutes
The documentary focuses on a computer malware named Stuxnet. The malware is a self-replicating one made by The USA and Israel. They made the malware to decapitate one of the integral parts of an Iranian nuclear facility.
Unfortunately, the virus spreads way beyond its target and causes a massive threat to the local population in Iran. Watch how the story unfolds when people try to restrict the impact of the malware.
2. The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
- Published: 2014
- IMDb rating: 8.0
- Duration: 2 Hrs
As the name of the documentary suggests, it revolves around the life of Aaron Swartz, an American programmer, political personality, and internet activist.
It features various interviews with his friends and his family members and the legal battles that led the man to commit suicide.
The documentary is intense and marvellously portrayed. Rotten Tomatoes has a 93% rating on the documentary.
Relevant read: Learn how technology Influences cyber security
3. Citizenfour
- Published: 2014
- IMDb rating: 8.0
- Duration: 1 Hour 53 Min
The documentary was Oscar-nominated. The story is about Edward Snowden. It shows how a person named Laura Poitras receives different emails that are encrypted.
The information in the emails shows the government’s various covert missions. These missions were classified information and shouldn’t be publicly available.
Thus Laura and a reporter named Glenn Greenwald reach Hong Kong to search for the sender, only to come across Snowden. Watch to know how the story unfolds.
4. The KGB, the Computer, and Me
- Published: 1990
- IMDb rating: 7.8
- Duration: 1 hour
It is more like a movie than a documentary, but the film is one of a kind and deserves a place on the list. It portrays the story of Clifford Stoll, a computer scientist working in the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. It was 1986.
The man finds some discrepancy in the system and finds out that somebody hacked the system. Later it shows the involvement of the KGB and how the story evolves. Watch the movie to know how people could hack systems even back in the 80s.
5. The Secret History of Hacking
- Published: 2001
- IMDb rating: 7.6
- Duration: 50 minutes
The documentary shows how John Draper and Denny Teresi progress from phreaking to becoming computer hobbyists to hacking and finally to hacking into computer securities.
Steve Wozniak is the one narrating the story in the documentary.
Another thing that it focuses on is how society has also become fearful of the increase in the rate of cyber crimes.
6. Code 2600
- Published: 2012
- IMDb rating: 7.1
- Duration: 1 Hrs 22 minutes
More than focusing the story on a particular human being, the documentary talks about how technology and computer advancements are manipulating society.
It shows how sensitive data is to get hacked and privacy compromised. It shows the socio-technical fallout and is an excellent documentary to learn about cybersecurity.
Related list of documentaries: Top AI documentaries to watch this year
7. Snowden
- Published: 2016
- IMDb rating: 7.3
- Duration: 2 Hrs 14 minutes
Snowden is an incredible documentary on Edward Snowden’s decision to leak NSA’s (National Security Agency) illegal surveillance techniques to the public. The documentary ends up questioning if the threat of terror from abroad is more dangerous or if you are losing your freedom within your country.
It is a biographical thriller film directed by Oliver Stone that shares Snowden’s experience while working in the NSA in the US and later in Japan. He saw how the Governments of these countries and several others are planting malware in different systems that manage government, financial and infrastructure sectors unethical to stay prepared for any attacks from abroad.
Watch the movie to find out if Edward Snowden was a traitor or a hero.
8. Hacking Democracy
- Published: 2006
- IMDb rating: 7.8
- Duration: 1 Hour 22 minutes
It is a 2006 Emmy-nominated documentary focusing on how the internet and hacking can help elect governments worldwide.
The film features a grandmother named Bev Harris, who goes out on a hunt to discover how her motherland, The USA, counts the votes during elections.
Her discoveries were shocking because she found that one can steal votes, which one can never trace.
The documentary revolves around the fight between the grandmother and the company that made the voting machines.
9. Deep Web
- Published: 2015
- IMDB rating: 7.0
- Duration: 1 Hour 30 minutes
We all know what bitcoin and NFT are, but do we understand how these concepts came into being?
The documentary talks about the rise of a decentralised internet where most things are encrypted, dangerous, and things that are beyond the jurisdiction of the government.
It focuses on the ‘rise’ of the Deep Web and the Dark Web and how the FBI seizes the hidden services of Tor.
10. Revolution OS
- Published: 2001
- IMDb rating: 7.3
- Duration: 1 Hour 26 minutes
The documentary focuses on creating the open-source operating system known as Linux. It revolves around how Linus Torvalds created and openly distributed the software to people letting the word out that Linux is more powerful than Microsoft’s Windows.
It also shows the ideological clash between Gate’s Microsoft and Torvalds’ Linux and the start of the ‘Open source Movement.’ It is an excellent documentary for tech enthusiasts and history lovers.
11. We are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists
- Published: 2012
- IMDb rating: 7.2
- Duration: 1 Hour 34 minutes
The documentary talks about how civil disobedience spreads in the digital world due to hacking and spreading false propaganda. It dives into the encrypted world of the ‘Anonymous hacktivists.’
It features the cyber attacks during the Arab Spring Movement and the technical support during the Occupy movement.
They were self-declared activists who thought themselves to be the upholders of free speech and protectors of internet freedom. Watch the documentary to get hooked on it.
12. The Great Hack
Published: 2019
IMDb rating: 7.0/10
Duration: 1h 54m
This documentary speaks about the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which worked for Ted Cruz’s campaign to win the 2016 US Republican Nomination. They used the personal data of about 50 million Facebook users without their consent for political-voter surveillance.
The Great Hack reveals the entire scandal of Cambridge Analytica through the eyes of people who were involved in it. It offers an alarming view of how personal data is being used as a weapon for political gain.
13. Cyberbunker: The Criminal Underworld
Published: 2023
IMDb rating: 6.5/10
Duration: 1h 41 min
This investigative and suspenseful documentary reveals how a group of hackers offered larger hosting servers for the dark web. They offered hosting services to websites with a promise of freedom for whatever they post or sell, except for child pornography or terrorism.
One can learn how a secret bunker from the Cold War era can become a shadowy epicentre of cybercrime. The documentary also reveals how local, national, and international law enforcement fought together to shut down the company.
14. Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror
Published: 2022
IMDb rating: 6.5/10
Duration: 1h 45min
This documentary speaks about an online criminal network associated with sexual exploitation. The story revolves around two female college students who were coerced to put explicit material on Telegram chat rooms. To intimidate victims, the harassers get access to their private pictures and social media accounts and use these details to threaten them.
Cyber Hell narrates the story of all the victims and teaches the world about new-age cyber crimes.
15. Cyber Attacks
Published: 2019
Duration: 60min
People viewed: 652K
Cyber Attacks was broadcasted on the popular “60 Minutes” television show. The broadcast revolves around four cyber espionage stories of Pegasus, The Attack on Sony, Stuxnet, and Targeting Seniors.
The first one is about Israeli company NSO group who developed a hacking tool called Pegasus that can break into any smartphone. NSO licence the software to intelligence and law enforcement agencies to infiltrate the encrypted phones of criminals and terrorists, but the same tool can also be used by the government to crush the descent.
The next story is about the cyber attack on Sony entertainment where the hackers destroyed thousands of computer systems and servers consisting of business secrets and unreleased movies and personal records of 6000 employees.
The third story is about a computer virus stuck net that was launched years ago against an Iranian nuclear facility, and the implications and possible consequences have been noticed in recent years. This makes the government worry about their security and the broadcast shows the steps taken to survive the attack.
The last one is “Targeting Seniors” where the senior generation in America is losing billions to cyber scams. This 60 Minute shows how cyber attackers are using artificial intelligence and social engineering to target senior generations.
16. Dark Web
Published: 2021
Duration: 40min
People viewed: 1.1M
This documentary is about fighting cybercrimes. It shows how everyone using an internet connection will become a cyber attack victim at some point of time. They say there are just two categories of people now, one who knows they have been hacked and the other is hacked but isn’t aware of it. You will learn how cyber criminals operate, how collaborating with artificial intelligence helps people win over cybercrimes, and what you can do to protect your valuable data from the Dark Web.
17. WANNACRY: The World’s Largest Ransomware Attack
Published: 2021
Duration: 30min
People viewed: 500K
This mini documentary is about WANNACRY, the world’s largest ransomware attack in 2017. The malware impacted over 150 countries and affected 230,000 systems globally in less than 24 hours. Numerous businesses who were unable to recover from the massive attack had to shut down forever, while several other put a pause on their networks and services. You will know more about how a ransomware attack can change the entire security system of the world through WANNACRY documentary.
18. 21st Century Hackers
Published: 2021
Duration: 52 min
People viewed:
The documentary shows how the 21st century hackers are getting access to almost everything, including hacking traffic controls of European high speed railways, steering and wheels of latest SUVs, computerized controls to a blast furnace at a steel mill in Germany, and even the baby monitor. Any device connected to the internet has higher chances of getting hacked.
21st Century Hackers documentary is about how white hat practices by the U.S. Secret Service’s cyber crime team is protecting people from the risks associated with cyber attacks. It takes you through the world of new hackers and their unique hacking techniques.
Further cybersecurity documentaries
- Role and Importance of Cybersecurity In Accounting
- Cyber Security Courses in India
- Cybersecurity Syllabus for B Tech, BSC, MCA, & Diploma
- Cybersecurity vs Computer Science: Which is a Better Career?
- Cybersecurity Domains and Difference Between Them
Final Words
The documentaries listed above are all one-of-a-kind features. Some may have lesser IMDb ratings than others, but that doesn’t make the films less attractive.
Some are old yet gold, while some are the new ones projecting new ways by which cyber criminals are attacking the internet nowadays.
Watch these documentaries not only to entertain but also to make yourself more knowledgeable about the cyber security world including its ups and downs.
Have suggestions? Share your favourite cybersecurity documentary to us and we will feature it in the article.