The second season of Madam Secretary devotes several episodes to the hacking of the flight controls on Air Force One and the ensuing cyberwar. It’s fiction because nobody in real life is hot as Téa Leoni. Therefore it is totally unrelated to current events.

The trouble begins when AFO disappears over the Pacific. Madam must become Acting President for approximately forty minutes, just long enough to sign a pardon for a wrongfully imprisoned journalist before the episode ends.

Later, we learn that the plane was hacked by some very sophisticated malware. It penetrated three firewalls. Nevertheless, it gives up its secrets under the careful study of the president’s cyber czar, Oliver, who’s basically a black mudge.

The malware was indubitably created by Dash, who’s basically a blackhat mudge. He’s the worst kind of hacker, one who will work for anyone. Russia, China, Iran. Basically anybody as long they’re not a democracy. He gets paid in Bitcoin. The very worst.

Dash is tracked to somewhere unimportant and far away by Oliver, because Oliver is a badass. Seal Team 1776 is sent in to make the capture. Alas, the Russians got there first and gave him some of their polonium secret sauce. Now he looks like this.

Bad luck. At least we know it was the Russians.

Oliver goes to work hardening all the country’s infrastructure. Basically apt-get update everything I guess. That mostly happens off screen but it’s all very smooth. So now the president orders a counter cyber strike (or is it a cyber counter strike?) and shuts down the Moscow power grid. That’ll teach ‘em to fuck with my ride.

The Russians retaliate by turning off an oil pipeline, as in literally turning great big wheels to seal the pipe. Decidedly non cyber. But why did they cyber terrorize the plane? Where did their mad hacking skills go?

False flag! It was really the Ukraine who hired Dash, to incite the US to attack Russia. Very sneaky.

I think the lesson to be learned is that if you’re going to hire mercenaries to go up against POTUS, Hessians are always the best choice.