Cyber Security for Everyone

4 March 2024

Cyber security and information security can often feel like an impenetrable firewall that is only accessible to a select few.

The Information Security team at the University want to try and dispel this myth and open up cyber security culture and awareness at Oxford.

Part of doing this is hosting more events and engaging with staff and students at the University. In Michaelmas term 2023, we hosted our first Cybersecurity Special Interest Group (CSIG) since 2019, which was a great success and opened up the world of cyber security at Oxford to staff.

We also recently piloted an InfoSec Open House, which will happen every 2 months - this will give staff the chance to come to our offices at 16 Wellington Square, meet our new Interim CISO Tony Brett as well as the two teams: Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) headed by Michael Pinhorn and Oxford's Emergency Response team (OxCERT) headed by Kashif Mohammed, and find out what we do and why it's important.

We also wanted share with you some of our favourite books, films and tv series that focus on the world of cyber attacks, hackers, rogue technology, and code breakers. Art isn't always accurate but the books, films and tv series we've chosen will hopefully give you a taste of what cyber security can be or could be in the future.

The Thing Between Us

Toni recommends, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno.

This Thing Between Us is rogue Alexa meets horror fiction.

The Imitation Game

Nathan said,

Even though it plays incredibly fast and loose with the history, I really enjoyed the The Imitation Game.

Black Box Thinking

Emily recommends, Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed.

Not strictly about cyber, but Syed argues that the key to success is failure. Top performers embrace failure and own up to mistakes. This mentality is vital in cyber security where a blame and shame culture helps and protects no one.

Mr Robot

Daniel recommends, Mr Robot.

It slightly less believable as it travels towards the end but aside from being fantastically well written and acted, is probably the closest legitimate portrayal of "hacking" and the consequences I've see

The Billion Dollar Code

Mary enjoyed Netflix's The Billion Dollar Code.

Cautionary tale about protecting intellectual property, based on true events.

The Trick

Former CISO Graham Ingram liked the BBC's The Trick.

Conspiracy thriller based on the events of the 'Climategate' scandal in 2009. A university professor and his team find that their work has been hacked by climate change deniers.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Toni also enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

Disgraced journalist Mikael hired to solve a historic murder with antisocial cyber criminal Lisbeth. Detailed, violent and mysterious.

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends by Nicole Perlroth which was published in 2021 and may also be turning into a film.

The untold story of the cyberweapons market, the most secretive government-backed market on earth-and a terrifying look at a new kind of global warfare.