Tech Time Warp: Time names the computer “Machine of the Year”
The announcement of Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” has been a year-end tradition since 1927, when Charles Lindbergh was named “Man of the Year” following his solo flight across the Atlantic.
Pioneers in Tech: First PhD in Computer Science was a sister act
Here’s a bit of trivia to wow your friends: The first woman (and the second person in the United States) to earn a PhD in computer science was a Roman Catholic nun. Sister Mary Kenneth Keller earned her doctorate from...
Tech Time Warp: FBI MoneyPak ransomware packs a punch
Imagine you’re mindlessly surfing the internet, when suddenly your screen locks and displays an ominous message: The FBI has “seized and frozen access” to your device because of online activities violating federal law. This convincing message would take even savvy...
Tech Time Warp: Regin malware opens eyes
One of the first Google results for “Regin malware” is from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. It’s a Nov. 25, 2014, alert about the malware, providing an overview of Regin’s multi-stage structure. The alert notes that the “sophisticated...
Tech Time Warp: Conficker, the Botnet that became too hot to handle
Conficker is a piece of malware we just can’t seem to quit. Despite first being identified in November 2008, some estimate that as of September 2020 there were still 150,000 Conficker detections a month, mostly in vastly populated Brazil and...
Pioneers in Tech: Evelyn Berezin, Word Processing Trailblazer
The story of Evelyn Berezin’s decision to start the Redactron Corporation begins with one of those anecdotes that seems unbelievable today. The computer programmer had received a prestigious job offer from the New York Stock Exchange—only to have the offer...
Tech Time Warp: The first computer election prediction
In a year when we’ve all become amateur epidemiologists, this week we’ve also received a crash course in ballot counting and election predictions. So it’s only fitting to look back at Nov. 4, 1952, a night of multiple presidential election...
Tech Time Warp: The father of RFID technology
As National Cybersecurity Awareness Month wraps up, it’s important to remember that cybersecurity goes beyond your laptop and your smartphone. Even as mundane an object as your office security fob is potentially vulnerable to a cyberattack—likely not something contemplated in...
Tech Time Warp: Credit card companies put PCI compliance in place
We were headed toward a nearly cashless society anyway, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of “contactless” transactions is likely the final push over the edge. Every time you place a takeout order via a mobile app, you’re putting...
The Creeper and the Reaper make cybersecurity history
“I’M THE CREEPER. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.” This eerie message is the equivalent of “hello, world!” in cybersecurity history. In 1971, Bob Thomas, an engineer at BBN Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, developed the first computer worm, dubbed the “Creeper.”