The movie that led to a presidential order on computer security

The story

WarGames came out in June 1983. In the film, Matthew Broderick plays a teenager who uses his home computer and modem to dial phone numbers looking for computers to explore. He finds a military system and, thinking it is a game, nearly starts a nuclear war.

President Ronald Reagan watched the movie and raised it in a meeting with senior advisers and military leaders. He asked whether something like it could really happen. About a week later, the answer came back from the Joint Chiefs of Staff: yes, the premise was technically possible.

What changed afterward

In September 1984, Reagan signed National Security Decision Directive 145, the first US presidential directive on computer and communications security. The film is also credited with making the public aware of hacking for the first time, and its scenes of a computer dialing number after number gave rise to the term “wardialing.”

The lesson today

The film’s plot depended on a system nobody thought outsiders could reach. That assumption still causes trouble. Old remote access tools, forgotten test systems and devices connected to the internet “temporarily” are found by people scanning for them, just as the fictional teenager found his.