Surely this is just using an image as an analogy?

That’s precisely what it is. It’s exactly what you want in a stock image. It straightforwardly, simply conveys a concept without really leaving much room for interpretation. This is an image that’s intended to be used in some poor IT guys lousy malware powerpoint presentation to a non-IT department, and it’s absolutely appropriate for that context.

But the smug “hurr-durr, that’s not how binary works” delivers more dopamine.