Morris Worm Turning 20

netbuzz writes "The Internet will mark an infamous anniversary Sunday, when the Morris worm turns 20. Considered the first major attack on the 'Net, Morris served as a wake-up call about the risk of software bugs, and it set the stage for network security to become an important area of computer science. It was also the first time many non-techies heard of the 'Net, as the mainstream media covered the story extensively." Reader maximus1 contributes a brief ITWorld story about Robert Morris himself.

Comments

terrorist!

[gEvil (beta)]

Robert Tappan Morris, the 21-year-old Cornell University student who unleashed the first worm attack on the Internet in 1988, has fully rehabilitated his reputation in the computer science community. Today, he is a respected associate professor of computer science at MIT.

Sounds like a terrorist to me. And anyone who's ever taken one of his classes or worked with him is guilty of palling around with terrorists.

Doesn't make sense

[gsgriffin]

How can a worm on the "net" be 20 years old? Gore wasn't in office yet!

Re:It's dead

[interstellar_donkey]

That's why I have all of my servers set to operate without rhythm, so as not to attract the worm.

Re:Wakeup call implies people actually woke up

[interstellar_donkey]

Indeed.

Writing sloppy code is cheaper and raises profits for software developers, from the OS on down.

Exploiting that sloppy code helps kids stay off the streets.

Writing anti-virus software and operating network security companies need the kids to write the viruses that exploit the sloppy code which increased profits for the initial developers.

It's kind of like the circle of life, and everybody wins!