The materiality of cyberthreats: securitization logics in popular visual culture

ABSTRACT

Critical security studies literature has only recently begun to take into account the influence of material aspects in the field of cybersecurity. This article traces securitization logics in popular visual culture to show how these representations make sense of technical incidents politically via material objects. Using a mix of discourse analysis and semiology, three types of threat representations are identified, showing a shift from depicting computers themselves as the main threat to the manipulation of data as exercise of power and finally, the wielding of code as weapon to create physical damage. Material objects define the space of engagement, being both the threat and what is threatened. By destabilising old authority structures, they pose questions about legitimate political alternatives in a world where only a handful of technical geniuses have the power to shape rules and take on the role of ‘the protector’.

KEYWORDS:

• Cybersecurity
• cyberthreats
• material turn
• popular visual culture
• securitization
• security politics
• visual studies
• visuality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Prominent examples are: Stuxnet, the computer worm that sabotaged the Iranian nuclear program (Farwell and Rohozinski 2011), the hacking of Sony networks and the subsequent blackmailing to prevent the distribution of a movie making fun of North Korea’s leader (Siboni and Siman-Tov 2014), the hacking of a power grid during Russia’s military campaign against the Ukraine (Zetter 2016), or the meddling with US elections with the help of confidential information obtained through computer infiltrations (Shane and Mazzetti 2018).

2. This topic is well-loved by Hollywood in general but also plays a considerable role in many Japanese animes. As early as 1927, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis depicted a robot which unleashes chaos and is ultimately burnt at the stake as a witch, leading to a long list of mobile computers and their relationship with humanity. HAL9000 (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) and his iconic red glare in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) kills the crew of the spaceship he controls and monitors when conflicts in HAL’s programming cause severe paranoia. Skynet from the Terminator Movie (1984) becomes self-aware and decides that humans are a menace that needs to be eliminated.

3. The movie War Games gave the hacker technique ‘war dialling’ its name. Previously to War Games, it was called ‘hammer dialling’ or ‘demon dialling’.

4. As an interesting side note with regards to the interlinkage between popular visual culture and hacker resistance: The Guy Fawkes mask depicted in ‘V for Vendetta’ (2005) was adopted by the hacktivist movement Anonymous and has become a cultural icon for hacker resistance.

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Myriam Dunn Cavelty

Dr. Myriam Dunn Cavelty is a senior lecturer for security studies and deputy head of the Centre for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich. In addition to her teaching, research and publishing activities, she advises governments, international institutions and companies in the areas of cyber security, cyber warfare, critical infrastructure protection, risk analysis and strategic foresight.