The cringe factor: Zero Day, online funerals, and Kremlin jokes

Our fellow hackers cringe at the new Netflix mini-series Zero Day. I flinched upon hearing about an online funeral my colleague was about to attend. Meanwhile, many were face-palming after witnessing the fury at the White House on Friday.

Cybernews’ most read article of the week was this funny infotainment piece about someone renaming the Mar-a-Lago hotel complex in Florida to “The Kremlin’s Headquarters.” This happened before the heated meeting of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump, and JD Vance at the White House on Friday. Trump and Vance’s stance only further convinced Ukraine’s allies that Trump admires Putin. Therefore, renaming the Trump family-owned hotel to the Kremlin’s headquarters, while just a joke, is very symbolic.

Although it doesn’t really mean anything, these little protest acts online help us cope with feelings of hopelessness or injustice.

Another curious story we published last week concerns the online funeral experience. One Friday, my colleague said she had to take off earlier to attend a funeral. Since she’s not a local (we are based in Lithuania, and she’s originally from the UK), I wondered how she was going to do that. As it turned out, she just had to log into a stream to “attend” the funeral out of the comfort (if you can call it comfort) of her home.

“It was an odd experience. I felt like a fly on the wall, a voyeur into other people's grief, but at the same time, it gave me the space to grieve in my own way – not needing to perform to match other people’s emotions,”

she said.

Many people value the opportunity to tune in since they wouldn’t be able to join otherwise. But many are confused, too. Read our interview with a representative of a funeral streaming company here.

As for less confusing streaming news, Zero Day, a new mini-series on Netflix, is getting very mixed reviews. While some viewers love it because it’s a political drama, more tech-savvy watchers or hackers are voicing their skepticism.

“Hollywood and online shows go to great lengths to depict medical, law enforcement, and investigative themes. Why not put the same effort into depictions of cybersecurity? It’s the hit-one-button take-down-the-network “hacks” that are silly,” Cybernews contributor, prominent hacker Jesse McGraw, a.k.a. Ghost Exodus, told me when I asked whether Hollywood movies about hackers make him cringe.

I’m not sure if I’d recommend Zero Day, but I know 100% that this new book I just reviewed for Cybernews is worth your time.

Called Space to Grow: Unlocking the Final Economic Frontier (February 25th, 2025), the book by Harvard Business School professor Matthew Weinzierl and space industry expert Brendan Rosseau essentially shows how rich and interesting the space market is beyond Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. A bonus for my readers – exclusive insights from the book’s author himself.