The 1988 Morris Worm: How a Programming Experiment Infected 10% of the Early Internet
By
canucker2016
A baker's-dozen of insight crammed into one ring.
Summary
The article recounts the 1988 Morris worm incident, where Cornell graduate student Robert Tappan Morris unleashed a computer worm that infected 10% of the entire Internet within 24 hours. Despite causing significant damage, the worm was not created with malicious intent but rather as an experiment to gauge the size of the Internet. The article provides historical context about this early Internet security incident that occurred before the World Wide Web existed, examining its impact and the unintended consequences of Morris's actions.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledThe wave of infections grew to 10% of the entire Internet within 24 hours, causing astronomically expensive damage for the time.
However, the pioneering Morris worm malware wasn’t made with malice, says an FBI retrospective on the 'programming error.'
It was designed to gauge the size of the Internet, resulting in a classic case of unintended consequences.
The Internet contracted worms a year before the World Wide Web was even a thing.
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