麻豆传媒

In 1989, a worm infiltrated a large computer network that was called Internet

THREE decades ago, well before the rise of Google and Facebook, 麻豆传媒 ran an article about 鈥渁 large computer network, based in America, called Internet鈥�.

The internet was then in its infancy. In the 4 March 1989 issue, our reporter described it as 鈥渁 鈥榮upernetwork鈥�, connecting many networks round the world, including ones at NASA, American and Canadian universities, and two run by the Pentagon鈥�.

But a mysterious program, a computer 鈥渨orm鈥�, had been deposited into the network. 鈥淎t the time of the attack, no one knew what was happening and panic was widespread,鈥� we reported.

A graduate student from Cornell University in New York, who was later convicted, had broken in by guessing computer passwords. He managed this because 鈥淚nternet鈥檚 operating system (Unix) held the encrypted passwords in a file open to the public鈥�, our reporter explained. The worm鈥檚 designer was able to test possible passwords without attracting attention. And back then, 鈥渢here was no limit to the number of guesses allowed鈥�.

Despite the confusion, the attack was innocuous by today鈥檚 standards: the worm 鈥渙ccupied spare memory and tied up computers, but did not destroy programs or data鈥�.

Little was known about cybersecurity back then, and our feature was accompanied by explanations of Trojans, worms and viruses, and how experts were 鈥渃oncocting 鈥榲accines鈥� to immunise computers from infection鈥�.

Hacking has come a long way since 鈥渢he Internet affair鈥�: data breaches and cyberattacks have the potential to cause trillion-dollar losses per year. Last month, it was reported that Russia plans to temporarily disconnect itself from the global internet, as a test of its defences against a major cyberattack.

Our article鈥檚 conclusion is more salient than ever: 鈥淎s people鈥檚 money, careers and possibly even their lives are dependent on the undisturbed functioning of computers, the electronic vandal cannot be tolerated.鈥�