Hackerman: Do The Memes Do Him Justice?

If asked to picture a “hacker,” the average person would summon a similar image: a lone, hoodie-clad neckbeard in a dark basement, surrounded by buzzing terminals, typing away behind an RGB keyboard and black ski mask to a dubstep soundtrack. Though this image has its roots in TV, film and media, it’s made its fair share of appearances in various memes, typically exaggerated or tragically misunderstood in the name of comedy.

If memes are known for anything, it’s for their gritty, unwavering insistence on realism and inability to tell lies. So in this sense, where do “hackers” stand? We know that hackers are real, and they’re out there -- stealing your grandmother’s credit card information -- but how accurate are the memes in which our beloved hackers are portrayed?

Origin of the Hacker

Historically, the prototypical hacker began with the term “black hat,” which originated from the hat color dichotomy in 1950s Western films. In these, the antagonist typically wore a black hat to contrast the protagonist’s white one.

The purpose of the term’s adoption in cybersecurity was to portray the hacker as a common criminal, and while the terms “black hat” and “white hat” still see some use -- particularly in the professional security career field -- usage of such imagery is slipping in favor of a more familiar, modern image of a criminal. Robberies, muggings and thefts are likely the most notable example of a “modern, petty criminal,” so it’s no surprise that these criminals likely wear -- you guessed it -- a hoodie and a ski mask, exemplified with a 2019 robbery in a North Carolina Wells Fargo.

While the individual silhouette of your everyday hacker largely varies by medium, there are a few iconic styles, in particular, many of which juxtaposed with the '80s and '90s nostalgia imagery due to the exaggerated nature of film and TV at the time.

This imagery mostly found its way into modern media as early as the 1990s during the timely “cyberpunk boom” of the decade, but some of the greatest influences on modern memes stem from two particular films: “The Matrix” and V for Vendetta. The former left its mark largely in the form of the “green-on-black” scrolling text terminals, while the latter left its own mark in the form of the infamous hacktivist group, Anonymous, who adopted the film’s use of the iconic Guy Fawkes Mask.

Expectations

Anonymous

Since its inception in 2003, the group has grown alongside the modern web, becoming the staple image of a “hacker gang.” While Anonymous had built somewhat of a reputation as a hacktivist group –– most notably as part of their public scuffles with The Church of Scientology –– their influence as a group has largely waned. This is mostly due to their inconsistent public perception, preference to “troll” more than actually hack, and tendency to hit the wrong targets, like when their 2008 attempt to DDoS the Church of Scientology resulted in the targeting of an unrelated Dutch children's school. Nevertheless, the group’s mainstay image became an iconic pillar of hacker imagery on the web, and the Guy Fawkes mask is here to stay.

Hackerman

A juxtaposition of the character Hackerman from the 2014 short film “Kung Fury” and an in-character photo of Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson from “Mr. Robot,” “Hackerman” gives web-goers the tools to do what they do best: exaggerate their technical prowess for doing technically mundane tasks. For the average person, a “hacker” is the peak physical form of the tech guru, the equivalent of a cyber Super Saiyan, so it’s no surprise that people’s exaggeration would take form as such. Hackerman has, thus, become a new icon for the quintessential hacker on the modern web.

Ryan Beckford's "Hackerman"

In homage to the interpretation of hackers in the film “The Matrix,” the Ryan Beckford Hackerman meme is used to ironically describe oneself as a hacker. Much like the Rami Malek Hackerman meme, its primary use is to exaggerate one’s technical abilities. The exaggeration here is much greater, swapping the retro-wave aesthetic and hoodie for a silly pair of glasses and a toy laptop.

The 400-Pound Hacker

Tying the hacker’s image into a general “programmer” stereotype of an obese, socially awkward recluse, then-candidate Donald Trump mentioned (during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Debates) the potential that the culprit of the 2016 DNC email hacks could potentially have been perpetrated by “someone sitting on their bed who weighs 400 pounds,” giving birth to the 400-Pound Hacker meme.

Reality

We’ve seen a wide range of stereotypes and an array of imagery for our beloved hackers. But is any of this imagery grounded in reality? Are those “hacker” stock images accurate in their portrayal? Turns out, no; who would have guessed that memes –– a thing that people use for fun and to heavily exaggerate everyday things –– would have stretched the truth?

The Hoodie

While some real-life hackers still choose to wear actual hoodies –– most likely due to the perceived “hacker aesthetic” alone –– the only practical sense to wear a hoodie as a hacker is when hanging out in a cafe with a packet sniffer, in which case remaining unidentified is important.

However, this is not realistic. Sitting in a cafe with “H4ck th3 w0rld” stickers all over your laptop, not ordering anything and hiding behind your screen with a hoodie covering your face will do nothing but attract attention. You could, technically, do this at home … but who, exactly, are you hiding your identity from if you’re just sitting in your apartment?

Additionally, sitting in a cafe with a packet sniffer isn’t nearly as effective today, due to the general transition from WEP to WPA2 encryption standards and the general adoption of SSL encryption instead of unencrypted HTTP, two colossal barriers that a Script Kiddie in a hoodie will likely have no idea how to circumvent.

The Mask

Much like the hoodie, the mask serves no practical purpose from a technical standpoint and only really sees use during communication from hacker groups who wish to conceal their identities. Masks do not give hackers superpowers, unfortunately.

The Matrix Terminal

It is true that hackers will typically spend time using the terminal. For nearly all tech professionals, a GUI tends to “get in the way,” whereas command-line interface (CLI) utilities are often seen as more efficient and more powerful, largely due to the ability to automate CLI tools using scripts. However, many GUI utilities exist and see heavy use among security professionals, such as Burp Suite. Most importantly, though, terminals look more like this:

The stereotypical “digital rain” interpretation of the terminal, made popular by “The Matrix,” was largely designed for dramatic effect. If you open a terminal and it, instead, looks like the one below, you might have accidentally found yourself playing Bethesda’s 2008 post-apocalyptic, sci-fi RPG, “Fallout 3.”

The Loneliness

This one’s actually true. Hackers don’t have friends.

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