Morris Worm Turning 20 84
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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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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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
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Correct that to New Orleans disaster preparedness...
Other places do a LOT better.
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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...
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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
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> "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"?
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How about "They built a city under sea level in an area where hurricanes are common, and were surprised when it flooded"?
Fair enough :-)
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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)
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."
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Only in the same way nuclear weapons make the world a better and safer place.
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The ghouls and super mutants probably would like to have a word with you.
terrorist! (Score:5, Funny)
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.
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Yeah, some people are too dumb to be able to tell the difference between Apples and Oranges as well, apparently... Film at 11.
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You mean he has explicitly said he doesn't regret it and that he wishes he had done more damage?
Does it matter, assuming we're talking about people who've worked with him or taken classes from him?
I have a good friend who happens to be conservative. I happen to be liberal. He pals around with me anyway. He agrees that anyone who tried to judge his opinions or beliefs based on anything I've said or done would be a complete and utter moron, even though it's quite true that he willingly pals around with me, even considers me a close friend.
You gotta wonder about the intelligence of someone who would t
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you mean he pals around with _theorists_?
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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!
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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.
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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.
I have to say it, this is apalling!
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There is absolutely nothing wrong with sending bits to a computer. That the computer doesn't behave as expected as a result isn't the fault of the sender; it is the fault of the programming staff responsible for the fault.
The authors of Sendmail (and IIRC, emacs and one other program) are guilty of negligiance. Perhaps free software should be allowed a disclaimer out. But M$, Google, Apple, and their ilk should not. Instead of going after people who just "spoke" to the systems, society should pursu
Wish I had mod points (Score:2)
Someone mod this and the parent post Funny, please.
Still not old enough (Score:1)
It's dead (Score:2)
So it's a bit inaccurate to say the worm has turned 20.
More accurate to say that it's the 20th anniversary of the worm's attack.
Re:It's dead (Score:4, Funny)
That's why I have all of my servers set to operate without rhythm, so as not to attract the worm.
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(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"!
Wow... (Score:3, Interesting)
I would LOVE to see some of that old news footage!
-Taylor
Re:Wow... (Score:5, Interesting)
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)
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
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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??
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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.
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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.
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I think I was 15 at the time. as a computer geek then, it completely fascinated me. Our high school had a vax -- and I believe they unplugged the thing, even though AFAIK it wasn't connected to the internet (er arpanet at the time, I guess).
yay (Score:1)
not far from the tree (Score:2, Interesting)
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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)
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He was Senator Al Gore Jr. at the time.
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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.
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Morris? (Score:1)
(ducks) Hey I tried.
RMJCC FTW! (Score:1, Interesting)
-monk coast
Wait! (Score:1)
Wakeup call implies people actually woke up (Score:5, Insightful)
... 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.
Re:Wakeup call implies people actually woke up (Score:4, Funny)
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!
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It's kind of like the circle of life, and everybody wins!
Not until I write an EltonJohn worm that sings Circle of Life...no wait, an even better idea for a singing worm:
RickAstley!
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... 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.
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Do you think Microsoft cared what happened on the Interne
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No, he sponsored the bill to create the Internet when he was in Congress.
Re:He invented the Net then? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp [snopes.com]
RTM (Score:1, Interesting)
Yes, I remember -- I was there (Score:3)
At first i saw "Mourning Worm Turns 20", then, (Score:2, Funny)
i thought about the Doors, for some reason...
Cripes, really 20 years ago? (Score:2)
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?
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LIUOW :-)
So the Worm has Turned (Score:2)
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?
I remember as if it were yesterday... (Score:1)
It was Wednesday. That afternoon we learned there was a "worm" loose on the network. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) had slammed closed the gateways between the unclassified operational MILNET and the original R&D ARPANet. Unfortunately DISA did two things wrong: 1) they were too late, and 2) they cut the DoD off from critical civilian information sources needed to mitigate and stop the worm.
For two days the Air Force struggled to identify all of its UNIX systems on the MILNET. We didn't h