By Mykhailo Pazyniuk, Malware Research Engineer at Moonlock, the cybersecurity division of MacPaw.
Netflix’s ‘Zero Day’ places viewers in the midst of a massive cyberattack that cripples the United States. With Robert De Niro starring as a former U.S. President investigating the attack, the series explores themes of political intrigue, digital warfare, and the fragility of modern infrastructure. But just how realistic is ‘Zero Day’ from a cybersecurity perspective?
As a malware research engineer, I watched the show with a critical eye. While some aspects of the cyberattack feel eerily plausible, others stray into sci-fi. Here’s my breakdown of the ‘Zero Day’ where I’ll cover three cyber threats that could realistically happen, and three that are pure fiction (at least for now).
Three threats that could happen
The series shows several combined attack vectors along with consequences that follow. The main methods include a full-scale attack on critical infrastructure using weaponized malware, as well as a supply chain attack that spreads through fake versions of legitimate software.
To assess the show’s accuracy, let’s compare these scenarios with real-life cyberattacks.
Cyberattack on the critical infrastructure (Colonial Pipeline, 2021)
Cybercriminals disrupting essential services is one of the most realistic aspects of ‘Zero Day’. Targeted attacks on power grids, water supplies, and hospitals are not just possible – they are already happening. The 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack shut down one of the largest fuel pipelines in the U.S., leading to gas shortages and widespread panic buying.
Weaponized malware (Stuxnet, 2010)
The show suggests that a cyber attack could be designed to cripple a nation’s security by sabotaging industrial systems. In reality, malware infection of critical systems have influenced global geopolitics for years. A historical precedent is Stuxnet, a highly sophisticated cyber weapon used to damage Iran’s nuclear centrifuges.
Stuxnet closely resembles the attack shown in the series, especially since it also caused physical damage to infrastructure. This type of malware functions like a worm, crawling through networks, spreading across devices, and causing failures in software or hardware — remaining persistent for long periods. We can only imagine the dire consequences if such a worm used AI to adapt to its environment.
Supply chain attack (NotPetya, 2017)
‘Zero Day’ suggests that an attack could rapidly spread through interconnected systems — a scenario that is entirely plausible. Today, a single compromised vendor in a supply chain can infect thousands of organizations. Our team
One of the most devastating cyberattacks in history, NotPetya, spread through a compromised update for widely used software in Ukraine, causing billions of dollars in damages worldwide.
Three threats that are far from reality
Netflix excels at storytelling, which is why its shows are so captivating. However, here’s how Zero Day dramatizes hacking for suspense.
Instant and simultaneous system collapse
In ‘Zero Day’, the cyberattack appears to take down everything at once — financial markets, emergency services, transportation. While coordinated attacks are possible, real-world cyberattacks don’t usually spread with such precision. Attacks like NotPetya or SolarWinds took time to propagate, and organizations reacted at different speeds.
“If we’re talking about a common vulnerability, it would likely be in the baseband or hardware. But with multiple vendors supplying critical infrastructure across the country, this remains unrealistic for now,” notes Senior Reverse Engineer at MacPaw’s Moonlock (who chose to remain anonymous).
Total control with a few keystrokes
‘Zero Day’ relies on a classic Hollywood trope — a hacker typing furiously in a dark room, instantly causing systems to crash like dominoes. In reality, cyberattacks take weeks, months, or even years to prepare. Breaching critical infrastructure requires intricate social engineering, vulnerability hunting, lateral movement, and stealth to evade detection. It’s never as simple as hitting a few keystrokes and watching the world burn.
The unstoppable supervirus
The show portrays an unstoppable cyber weapon with no way to mitigate its effects. It’s true that advanced malware can be highly persistent, but no cyberattack is truly unpatchable. Even the most destructive malware can be taken down with countermeasures, whether through endpoint protection, network segmentation, or manual intervention. The notion “once it’s launched, it’s game over” is pure fiction.
“If the goal is to find vulnerabilities in an infected system, fuzzers are used. They run non-stop on CI servers. But instead of brute-forcing all possible values, they rely on smart mutations. Moreover, not every crash dump leads to an exploitable vulnerability. And to even operate on an infected system in the first place, you’d already need a vulnerability to execute code. So, you’ve got something like a time loop in ‘Terminator’. Therefore, I’d say these scenarios aren’t plausible with the current state of AI development,” adds Senior Reverse Engineer at MacPaw’s Moonlock.
Could fiction become reality?
While ‘Zero Day’ takes creative liberties, some of its fictional elements could eventually become real. Advancements in AI-driven attacks, deepfake social engineering, and autonomous malware may one day bring us closer to the threats depicted in the show. AI-assisted hacking tools are already reshaping the threat landscape, making cyberattacks faster and more efficient.
For example, Moonlock Lab’s team recently discovered
Moreover, as governments and nation-state actors invest in cyber warfare, the line between fiction and reality continues to blur. AI-driven disinformation campaigns, automated zero-day exploits, and self-spreading malware are no longer far-fetched scenarios. However, at this stage, threat actors primarily use AI for automation and attack preparation — not ‘using AI to adapt the code in the process of execution’, as seen in the series.
Fiction as a cautionary tale
The ‘Zero Day’ series may exaggerate some elements of cyber warfare, but it effectively highlights an important truth — our digital infrastructure is vulnerable. While we may not see a Hollywood-style ‘doomsday virus’ anytime soon, real-world threats like ransomware, critical infrastructure attacks, and AI-driven cybercrime demand our attention and awareness.
As malware researchers, security professionals, and even everyday users, we should learn from both real-world incidents and fictional warnings. Cyber threats are evolving, ‘Zero Day’ just accelerates the timeline.
