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1988 – The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT.
According to its creator, the Morris worm was not written to cause damage, but to gauge the size of the Internet. The worm was released from MIT to disguise the fact that the worm originally came from Cornell. It worked by exploiting known vulnerabilities in Unix sendmail, finger, and rsh/rexec, as well as weak passwords. Due to reliance on rsh (normally disabled on untrusted networks); fixes to sendmail, finger, and rsh; and improved awareness of the dangers of weak passwords, it should not succeed on a recent, properly configured system.
A supposedly unintended consequence of the code, however, caused it to be more damaging: a computer could be infected multiple times and each additional process would slow the machine down, eventually to the point of being unusable.
http://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/11/02/november-2/
According to its creator, the Morris worm was not written to cause damage, but to gauge the size of the Internet. The worm was released from MIT to disguise the fact that the worm originally came from Cornell. It worked by exploiting known vulnerabilities in Unix sendmail, finger, and rsh/rexec, as well as weak passwords. Due to reliance on rsh (normally disabled on untrusted networks); fixes to sendmail, finger, and rsh; and improved awareness of the dangers of weak passwords, it should not succeed on a recent, properly configured system.
A supposedly unintended consequence of the code, however, caused it to be more damaging: a computer could be infected multiple times and each additional process would slow the machine down, eventually to the point of being unusable.
http://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/11/02/november-2/
Military History
Cyber
Internet
Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
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The unintended second and tertiary effects of ill-informed "good intentions". The advances that Cornell and MIT have made contribute significantly to US military and economic dominance of the world over the decades. While in most cases their "disruptive" technology has benefited so many and increased efficiency and effectiveness in so many areas, the byproducts of their efforts have opened the doors for new forms of exploitation and crime.
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