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Morris Worm Turning 20

Posted by Soulskill on Fri Oct 31, 2008 01:40 PM
from the malware-what-is-that dept.
Security Software The Internet
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.
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Submission: Morris worm turning 20: Look what it's done by netbuzz (955038)
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  • terrorist! (Score:5, Funny)

    by gEvil (beta) (945888) on Friday October 31 2008, @01:46PM (#25587373)
    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.
    • You mean he has explicitly said he doesn't regret it and that he wishes he had done more damage?

    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      you mean he pals around with _theorists_?

      • Theorists? Terrorists?

        Same thing really. Just lookie at some of them theories, them cotton pickin' high falutin' theorists came up with! I mean the Earth not being 6000 year old like the Bible says it must be and all that evolube...shion thing! Next thing them be trying to say that the Sun does not go round the Earth as the Lord intended! I say get them all commie theorizing terrorists in the Gitmo where they belong!

    • You know, Obama did pal around with Morris when he was 8. McCain was going to bring this up, but he was worried that Obama would bring up the fact that McCain was boyhood friends with John Wilkes Booth.

      • Yeah, some people are too dumb to be able to tell the difference between Apples and Oranges as well, apparently... Film at 11.

  • Wow... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Facegarden (967477) on Friday October 31 2008, @02:09PM (#25587681)

    I would LOVE to see some of that old news footage!
    -Taylor

    • Re:Wow... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by altek (119814) on Friday October 31 2008, @02:44PM (#25588149) Homepage

      I was only 8 years old at the time. But I remember it well, because I was already very into computers (programming in BASIC on an Apple IIe, and my friend's C64).

      Anyway, I remember it being on the news every day, and they were using all kinds of scary "Computer virus" graphics, and talking about virus this and that. I don't recall the word "worm" being used.

      But the thing I remember most about the coverage was some of the journalists warning that it is still unknown whether or not computer viruses can be transferred to humans! I'm not kidding, they actually were trying to spread fear that people could catch this virus too. I don't know if this was intentional, or due to sheer ignorance. And they were also saying it could be transferred between PC's over the air (and I'm not confusing this with sneakernet)...

      So yea, I wish I could see some of that old footage too :)

      • Re:Wow... (Score:5, Informative)

        by Facegarden (967477) on Friday October 31 2008, @03:05PM (#25588423)

        Found something:
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2i_6j55bS0 [youtube.com]
        Its so silly now it almost seems like a joke. Luckily the people from MIT actually do seem reasonable, but the newscasters and their production team are just crazy.
        Man, i can't believe 1988 was 20 years ago... I was 4.
        -Taylor

        • Man, i can't believe 1988 was 20 years ago... I was 4.

          The Plague: The year was 1988. And this nasty virus crashed fifteen hundred systems in one day.
          Zero Cool: Fifteen hundred and seven.

        • That's an awesome and terribly funny news clip. 20 years ago I was 14. I never realized how silly college students looked back then.

          • I LOLed a bit when it showed up. What was the point?

            (Hmmm... I need footage that screams, "VIRUS!!!" I know! I'll show E.T.!)

            W T F??

  • Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!

  • not far from the tree (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    These renowned security hackers (Allman, Spafford, Bellovin, etc) speak of leniency for rtm, which I have no problem with. But rarely mentioned is the fact that they all knew of (or knew personally or worked with) rtm's dad, [wikipedia.org] who was a crypto hacker himself, so they all weren't entirely unbiased about the incident.

    • rtm's dad, who was a crypto hacker himself, so they all weren't entirely unbiased about the incident.

      I've often wondered about that myself, both before I became a father (and therefore put myself into rtm's place) and after (when I put myself into Morris Sr.'s place).

      The scenario pretty much involved Sr. saying "My kid did what?!

  • Doesn't make sense (Score:5, Funny)

    by gsgriffin (1195771) on Friday October 31 2008, @02:47PM (#25588191)
    How can a worm on the "net" be 20 years old? Gore wasn't in office yet!

    • He was Senator Al Gore Jr. at the time.

    • Nice joke, but, in fact, he was. In 1988 he was in his third year as a freshman Senator, having already served eight years in the House.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by osu-neko (2604)
        Yes, and it was during his congressional career that he and a number of other congressmen did take the initiative in drafting and passing legislation that would move the Internet from an military and academic network into something we could all use, in effect, creating the public Internet as we know it today. He never claimed to have invented the Internet, he did claim to have taken the initiative, and a bit of fact-checking proves what he said was indeed true.
  • Sources say the notorious Morris the Worm come from a hairball coughed up by Morris the Cat. If only he wasn't so finicky.

    (ducks) Hey I tried.

  • RMJCC FTW! (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    http://noname.c64.org/csdb/group/?id=2059 [c64.org]

    -monk coast
  • Wait, you're ZeroCool!!!!!

  • Wakeup call implies people actually woke up (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Snowblindeye (1085701) on Friday October 31 2008, @03:02PM (#25588383)

    ... served as a wake-up call about the risk of software bugs, and it set the stage for network security...

    Calling it a wake-up call would imply that people actually woke up and fixed things afterwards.

    I don't think that happened. ActiveX was invented after the Morris worm. People wrote email programs that interpreted VBScript in the mail and executed it after the Morris worm.

    Remember the goodtimes virus hoax? It was a joke that a virus could propagate via email. It was funny, because viruses *couldn't* propagate via email. Then people implemented that feature in mail programs, opening the door to a rapid rise in email viruses. All, *after* the Morris worm.

    So give me a break, but I don't think anybody woke up that time. Or later, for that matter. I don't think the mainstream is taking network security seriously to this day.

    • 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!

    • ... served as a wake-up call about the risk of software bugs, and it set the stage for network security...

      Calling it a wake-up call would imply that people actually woke up and fixed things afterwards.

      I will often go back to sleep after my alarm clock goes off.

    • ... served as a wake-up call about the risk of software bugs, and it set the stage for network security...

      Calling it a wake-up call would imply that people actually woke up and fixed things afterwards.

      I don't think that happened. ActiveX was invented after the Morris worm. People wrote email programs that interpreted VBScript in the mail and executed it after the Morris worm. [...]So give me a break, but I don't think anybody woke up that time.[...]

      Do you think Microsoft cared what happened on the Interne

  • RTM (Score:1, Interesting)

    by interval1066 (668936)
    For an excellent verbal picture of Morris, his exploits, and the net as a whole in that era read Steven Levy's "Hackers." Having lived in Redwood City, Ca, one block from the El Camino Real, having accessed MIT's CS facility and seen the "lusers" login message for myself, and even tried the famous choc. chip cookie recipe, and having as a close friend an ex-employee of the old Sierra On-Line Games, all mentioned in the book, it was just a delightful read. It was fun to connect up the missing dots in my inc

  • Yes, I remember -- I was there (Score:3)

    by Arrogant-Bastard (141720) on Friday October 31 2008, @03:22PM (#25588659)
    And having read "The Shockwave Rider", had some idea of what we were up against. My role that day is described elsewhere and is of little importance, however. What IS important is that it provided a wake-up call that was badly needed, and that it taught us one of our early lessons in reactive self-defense, full disclosure, and cooperation. We're still learning.

  • i thought about the Doors, for some reason...

  • I remember coming into the office and everyone was standing around looking glum. Finally someone suggested we have a cup of tea. What do do? There was no Usenet coming down the pipe, how would we get through the day without reading news? It was horrible. Little did we know we'd be offline for 3 days and it wouldn't be until the next week that service would get back to normal. We actually had to go and do some work!

    Gawd, makes me feel really old. How is ol' RTM?

  • So if you may have heard "a worm that turned", it is a saying that means a worm is defending itself. [phrases.org.uk] Who ever thought words taken out of context have simple meanings?

    • *watches hurricane Katrine footage* Hey, these hiccups help make the floodplanes a better and safer place!...Right?

      • Not to sound insensitive, but Hurricane Katrina did highlight just how abysmally poor the state of the US disaster preparedness was. From my (somewhat partial) perspective, it further underscored the foolishness of spending enormous sums on "national security" beefing up protection against some vacuous terrorist threat when things like hurricanes, earthquakes, automobile accidents and tobacco cause more deaths each every month than have died in terror attacks in the last decade in total.

        In other words, I di

        • Not to sound insensitive, but Hurricane Katrina did highlight just how abysmally poor the state of the US disaster preparedness was.

          Correct that to New Orleans disaster preparedness...
          Other places do a LOT better.

        • Not to sound insensitive, but Hurricane Katrina did highlight just how abysmally poor the state of the US disaster preparedness was.

          When the Northridge Earthquake hit us back in '94, FEMA was very much on the ball. I believe the director came out here the next day. Of course, back then there were actually competent people in charge at FEMA...

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by astrodoom (1396409)

          In other words, I disagree with your implied point that these "hiccups" should not be looked at as giving focus to the real threats we face as opposed to the imagined ones.

          I don't think that was my implied point at all. My statement was a response to the comment of the parent comment. His statement was that we should celebrate these events because they helped to make the internet a better and safer place (He then sarcastically added "Right?").

          I then gave another (albeit different) example of exactly what he was talking about. In actuality, I agree with what you (and the original comment) are saying. We are constantly learning from these disasters, but at the same time, I

          • > "They built a city under sea level, and were surprised when it flooded".

            Did you know about 60% of the Dutch population lives under the sea level? How about "They built a city under sea level in an area where hurricanes are common, and were surprised when it flooded"?

        • Katrina did highlight just how abysmally poor the state of the US disaster preparedness was

          I think it showed how the general population could willfully ignore the fact a deadly hurricane was about to overtake them. I am really sorry for all the property damage but the human toll would have been far less if people were capable of making the correct decisions. Too many people are quick to blame the GOVT when the individuals themselves were negligent.

    • Re:We should be celebrating! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by zappepcs (820751) on Friday October 31 2008, @01:58PM (#25587537) Journal

      Technically, I think it makes programmers better and THAT makes the net safer... more or less. Back then people could say "oh shit, didn't know they could do that!" but today it means, or can mean, loss of revenue via real data loss or via decreased reputation. So now instead of "shit, didn't know they could do that" has become "shit, they did it again. Quick, delete the evidence, and don't tell anyone... someone call marketing/legal, get the spin machine goin."

    • Only in the same way nuclear weapons make the world a better and safer place.

      • (Yeah, I'll get modded down for trolling or whatever, but this needless brainwashing has got to stop!)

        Yup. The bastards modded you down. And then they accuse YOUR ilk of "censorship"!

    • So this means we can expect to see "Morris Worm Turns 20 Tomorrow" on Saturday and "Happy Birthday, Morris Worm" on Sunday?

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