Tech Time Warp: The Pikachu virus is not your friend
It sounds so innocent: An email appears in your inbox, subject line “Pikachu Pokemon.” The message speaks of friendship and invites you to visit Pikachu on his website. And the attachment (warning bells going off yet?) features an animation of...
Tech Time Warp: Stuxnet takes malware to the next level
Today’s action movies and thrillers routinely feature some hacker-type who—armed with a laptop in a chunky military-grade case—can infiltrate the most impenetrable of digital fortresses in a few furious keystrokes. But in the real-life case of Stuxnet, first detected in...
Pioneers in Tech: Remembering the life of Alan Turing
The life of Alan Turing —the man who broke the Nazi Enigma code in World War II, providing the intelligence that led the Allies to victory—is one of many wrenching stories to be remembered during Pride Month, the annual remembrance...
Tech Time Warp: ExploreZip worm cleans out Microsoft Office files
Just a few months after the Melissa virus attacked computers, wreaking an estimated $80 million in damage, the ExploreZip worm began zipping through computers across the globe, destroying any Microsoft Office files in its path. First detected in June 1999,...
Tech Time Warp: A short history of the GIF that keeps on giving
We may be entering some sort of post-GIF age, given that Gen Z has declared GIF reactions “cheugy” along with skinny jeans, side parts and laugh emojis. But millennial influencers, Gen X Slack-ers (pun intended), and even Baby Boomers have...
Tech Time Warp: Looking back at the evolution of ransomware
The havoc wreaked by the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack—which caused a gas shortage in the southeastern United States and cost the company a reported $850,000 to resolve—highlights the immense risk ransomware poses to companies and national security.
Pioneers in Tech: Mary Allen Wilkes, first to WFH with a computer
Remote work has long been common in the tech industry, even pre-coronavirus, but it had to start somewhere. After all, you couldn’t exactly squeeze an ENIAC in the spare bedroom. That’s why the story of Mary Allen Wilkes remains relevant...
Tech Time Warp: The colorful history of the iMac
In April, Apple launched preorders for a new collection of new iMacs, available in seven bright colors with accessories to match. It’s a homage to the first iMac, which Steve Jobs introduced to the world May 6, 1998. The iMac...
Tech Time Warp: The “Model K” lays groundwork for digital computing
If you need inspiration for using your free time wisely, look no further than Bell Labs computer pioneer George Stibitz. One weekend during fall 1937, Stibitz (who was born April 30, 1904) sat at his kitchen table and used a...
Tech Time Warp: Introducing the Concept of a macro virus
As computer users learned from the Melissa virus, malware often arrives as a wolf in sheep’s clothing: a commonplace file such as a Word doc or Excel spreadsheet. But Melissa—the scourge of spring 1999—was not the first such “macro virus”...
