I've told the wife I can't watch these shows because of how bad the tech always is, and I can't stop myself from losing suspension of disbelief when something like this happens
That should only shred the top level files in the root directory though. Since shred doesn't do it recursively and doesn't know what to do with subdirectories.
Do any distros store system critical files at the root directory? It's all subdirectories on mine. I guess if you were storing important data files in the root directory they would get shredded but that's really bad practice anyway and I doubt it's super common.
I have this vague memory of one of the CSIs showing a list of IP addresses with 4-digit octets... I get not wanting to risk using real IP addresses, but at least use 10.x.x.x or 192.168.x x
at least output dmesg or get htop on the screen or something. you could find it on the internet if you look up commands to look like a hacker and thats not even 30 seconds of effort. i wonder how many other professions cringe at the shitty tv shows about their craft.
just tried to re-watch "the girl in the spider's web", the not-sequel to fincher's masterpiece that's "the girl with the dragon tattoo". I remember hating it way back when and went in with a "how bad can it be" attitude... dios mio, what a colossal mountain of shit. the "hacking" in OP is hard sci-fi compared to this turdistan, and that's the least of its problems.
someone posted already the gell-mann amnesia effect and this applies to everything. how guns are portrayed in movies as magical. cars and how they're driven. the laughable naive cop shows. medical procedures. legal proceedings. journalists and their MO.
you hafta run your brain at 110% at all times to be able to somewhat disregard the learned idiocy that was programmed into you from an early age. here's hoping we have the infrastructure in place so generations that are coming can avoid becoming similarly handicapped.