Loading [MathJax]/extensions/tex2jax.js

Batman Hacked My Password: A Subtitle-Based Analysis of Password Depiction in Movies

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingConference contributionResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Maike Magdalena Raphael
  • Aikaterini Kanta
  • Rico Seebonn
  • Camille Cobb
  • Markus Dürmuth

Research Organisations

External Research Organisations

  • University of Portsmouth
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 20th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2024
Pages199-218
Number of pages20
ISBN (electronic)978-1-939133-42-7
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Abstract

Password security is and will likely remain an issue that non-experts have to deal with. It is therefore important that they understand the criteria of secure passwords and the characteristics of good password behavior. Related literature indicates that people often acquire knowledge from media such as movies, which influences their perceptions about cybersecurity including their mindset about passwords. We contribute a novel approach based on subtitles and an analysis of the depiction of passwords and password behavior in movies. We scanned subtitles of 97, 709 movies from 1960 to 2022 for password appearance and analyzed resulting scenes from 2, 851 movies using mixed methods to show what people could learn from watching movies. Selected films were viewed for an in-depth analysis. Among other things, we find that passwords are often portrayed as weak and easy to guess, but there are different contexts of use with very strong passwords. Password hacking is frequently depicted as unrealistically powerful, potentially leading to a sense of helplessness and futility of security efforts. In contrast, password guessing is shown as quite realistic and with a lower (but still overestimated) success rate. There appears to be a lack of best practices as password managers and multi-factor authentication are practically non-existent.

Cite this

Batman Hacked My Password: A Subtitle-Based Analysis of Password Depiction in Movies. / Raphael, Maike Magdalena; Kanta, Aikaterini ; Seebonn, Rico et al.
Proceedings of the 20th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2024. 2024. p. 199-218.

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingConference contributionResearchpeer review

Raphael, MM, Kanta, A, Seebonn, R, Cobb, C & Dürmuth, M 2024, Batman Hacked My Password: A Subtitle-Based Analysis of Password Depiction in Movies. in Proceedings of the 20th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2024. pp. 199-218.
Raphael, M. M., Kanta, A., Seebonn, R., Cobb, C., & Dürmuth, M. (2024). Batman Hacked My Password: A Subtitle-Based Analysis of Password Depiction in Movies. In Proceedings of the 20th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2024 (pp. 199-218)
Raphael MM, Kanta A, Seebonn R, Cobb C, Dürmuth M. Batman Hacked My Password: A Subtitle-Based Analysis of Password Depiction in Movies. In Proceedings of the 20th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2024. 2024. p. 199-218
Raphael, Maike Magdalena ; Kanta, Aikaterini ; Seebonn, Rico et al. / Batman Hacked My Password: A Subtitle-Based Analysis of Password Depiction in Movies. Proceedings of the 20th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2024. 2024. pp. 199-218
Download
@inproceedings{1f6321d5934f4ea6abfb197d1b104995,
title = "Batman Hacked My Password: A Subtitle-Based Analysis of Password Depiction in Movies",
abstract = "Password security is and will likely remain an issue that non-experts have to deal with. It is therefore important that they understand the criteria of secure passwords and the characteristics of good password behavior. Related literature indicates that people often acquire knowledge from media such as movies, which influences their perceptions about cybersecurity including their mindset about passwords. We contribute a novel approach based on subtitles and an analysis of the depiction of passwords and password behavior in movies. We scanned subtitles of 97, 709 movies from 1960 to 2022 for password appearance and analyzed resulting scenes from 2, 851 movies using mixed methods to show what people could learn from watching movies. Selected films were viewed for an in-depth analysis. Among other things, we find that passwords are often portrayed as weak and easy to guess, but there are different contexts of use with very strong passwords. Password hacking is frequently depicted as unrealistically powerful, potentially leading to a sense of helplessness and futility of security efforts. In contrast, password guessing is shown as quite realistic and with a lower (but still overestimated) success rate. There appears to be a lack of best practices as password managers and multi-factor authentication are practically non-existent.",
author = "Raphael, {Maike Magdalena} and Aikaterini Kanta and Rico Seebonn and Camille Cobb and Markus D{\"u}rmuth",
note = "Publisher Copyright: Copyright is held by the author/owner.",
year = "2024",
language = "English",
pages = "199--218",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 20th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2024",

}

Download

TY - GEN

T1 - Batman Hacked My Password: A Subtitle-Based Analysis of Password Depiction in Movies

AU - Raphael, Maike Magdalena

AU - Kanta, Aikaterini

AU - Seebonn, Rico

AU - Cobb, Camille

AU - Dürmuth, Markus

N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright is held by the author/owner.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Password security is and will likely remain an issue that non-experts have to deal with. It is therefore important that they understand the criteria of secure passwords and the characteristics of good password behavior. Related literature indicates that people often acquire knowledge from media such as movies, which influences their perceptions about cybersecurity including their mindset about passwords. We contribute a novel approach based on subtitles and an analysis of the depiction of passwords and password behavior in movies. We scanned subtitles of 97, 709 movies from 1960 to 2022 for password appearance and analyzed resulting scenes from 2, 851 movies using mixed methods to show what people could learn from watching movies. Selected films were viewed for an in-depth analysis. Among other things, we find that passwords are often portrayed as weak and easy to guess, but there are different contexts of use with very strong passwords. Password hacking is frequently depicted as unrealistically powerful, potentially leading to a sense of helplessness and futility of security efforts. In contrast, password guessing is shown as quite realistic and with a lower (but still overestimated) success rate. There appears to be a lack of best practices as password managers and multi-factor authentication are practically non-existent.

AB - Password security is and will likely remain an issue that non-experts have to deal with. It is therefore important that they understand the criteria of secure passwords and the characteristics of good password behavior. Related literature indicates that people often acquire knowledge from media such as movies, which influences their perceptions about cybersecurity including their mindset about passwords. We contribute a novel approach based on subtitles and an analysis of the depiction of passwords and password behavior in movies. We scanned subtitles of 97, 709 movies from 1960 to 2022 for password appearance and analyzed resulting scenes from 2, 851 movies using mixed methods to show what people could learn from watching movies. Selected films were viewed for an in-depth analysis. Among other things, we find that passwords are often portrayed as weak and easy to guess, but there are different contexts of use with very strong passwords. Password hacking is frequently depicted as unrealistically powerful, potentially leading to a sense of helplessness and futility of security efforts. In contrast, password guessing is shown as quite realistic and with a lower (but still overestimated) success rate. There appears to be a lack of best practices as password managers and multi-factor authentication are practically non-existent.

UR - https://www.usenix.org/system/files/soups2024_full_proceedings.pdf

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85204904432&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Conference contribution

SP - 199

EP - 218

BT - Proceedings of the 20th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2024

ER -

By the same author(s)