http://i.imgur.com/FBeQODg.jpg
The thing about computer hacking is that it’s such a general, far-reaching te
rm that it’s almost impossible to explain to someone who isn’t already famil
iar with it. So, news networks who need b-roll footage to show while they’re
talking about hacking usually just show keyboards or random strings of letters
and numbers, while the audience stares blindly at the screen, assuming that w
hatever they’re looking at is somehow related to the topic. Or, if you’re CN
N, you steal footage from one of the most popular video games of the year and
hope that nobody watching will recognize it.
In a recent story about President Obama proposing sanctions against Russia for
its role in cyberattacks targeting the United States, CNN grabbed a screensho
t of the hacking mini-game from the extremely popular RPG Fallout 4. First spo
tted by Reddit, the screenshot shows the menacing neon green letters that game
rs will instantly recognize as being from the game.
http://i.imgur.com/1qGzUtN.jpg
In Fallout 4 — as well as Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas — the player can
hack computers to gain information or unlock doors and safes. It’s performed
like a word puzzle, where the player has to find a specific word in a huge mes
s of letters and random characters. It’s simple but fun, but it has absolutel
y nothing in common with actual hacking, which is what makes it perfect for ma
instream news viewers.
“If you want to talk about hacking on a major news network, your choices are
either that or a scene from The Matrix,” one Reddit user sums it up. Sadly, t
hey’re absolutely right.