Journal 6: Misconceptions about cybersecurity

Journal 6

Gary Hensley

07/4/2026

Cyber attacks and hacking are not new but are getting larger and talked about more. It is depicted more and more in Hollywood. I had many ideas about what hacking looked like growing up. A lot of my thoughts on hacking came from what I saw in movies and reported in the news.   Studying cybersecurity and just personal interest research has shaped how I look at the cyber world today. 

Most of my interest in the cyber world came from movies.  It was exciting puzzles and challenges. Watching people quickly find their way in a system and take over or find information. Movies showed that it was as easy as running some commands or plugging into a device to gain access.  I also thought that people hacking have complete control and could take control of or shut down your systems. Some things I did get right about hacking and attacks are that they will continue to grow and can target anyone, from your neighbor down the street to government agencies. Last, I figured the biggest contributor to cyber attacks is human error. The cyber world is evolving so quickly that the average person with basic knowledge may struggle to keep up with new attacks.

What I have learned is that hacking is not as pretty as it is in the movies. Also, Hollywood most of the time is not close to the real world hacking. In the real world, hacking can take weeks to months to set up an attack. Also, gaining access could be months of working on befriending an inside person till they trust you, so when you send an infected link, they would click it without thinking. I learned that cybercrimes and motives are not just for money but can be revenge or entertainment. After studying cybersecurity, some attacks are more like a huge fishing net sending mass attacks to see if anyone bites.

I have learned a lot after studying cybersecurity, and my thinking has changed a lot. There are many motives for cybercrimes and hacking. It is not always something that happens in a night, but can be months in the making. Hacking can require many steps or rely on human error to exploit a system. The fast pace of change in technology and cyberspace has made me more interested in studying cybersecurity.