[ILUG] The 1988 Internet Worm

[kevin lyda]

On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 01:08:42PM +0000, Paul J Collins wrote:
> >>>>> "HMG" == Hugh Mc Gauran <hugh.mcgauran at skynet.ie> writes:
>     HMG> considering that this was the first major attack on the
>     HMG> internet I am assuming that a lot of ye have some form of
>     HMG> opinion on the matter.
> It was more of an accident than an attack.  Morris had written the
> worm to spread silently and with low impact.  The explosive
> reproduction that the program performed was the result of an
> arithmetical error.

that's a debatable point.  he *said* that afterwards, but many admins
i knew at the time disagreed.

>     HMG> any help would be greatly appreciated.
> The ACM published a report on the Worm that detailed its method of
> propagation, the damage done, and the bug I mentioned.  I don't recall
> a date, or in which of the ACM's publications the report appeared.

if you google for "internet worm morris" i'm sure it's come up.

>     HMG> The kid who did it (Robert Morris) was the son of an ex-Chief
>     HMG> scientist of the NSA...maybe he did it to get at his father..

actually, robert morris jr. just implemented the security issues that
his father had written about several years before.  perhaps he did it
to get back at his father, perhaps to demonstrate the correctness of his
father's article, or perhaps he was just bored - a strong possibility
considering the long winters and never ending snow in upstate new york.

kevin

-- 
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