Tech Time Warp: The curious cases of early hackers
These days, cybersecurity is such a pervasive concern that it’s easy to forget law enforcement and the courts once had no idea what to do with hackers. Some of the earliest cases of hacking and computer fraud predate the federal...
Tech Time Warp: Big-time data breaches and the cybersecurity sins that led to them
Cybersecurity often seems like a moving target. The bad guys have a seemingly endless supply of spammy servers, plus all the time and budget in the world, whereas those charged with protecting companies from cybercrime face normal business constraints in...
Tech Time Warp: Spotlight on the FBI Cyber Division
These days, a sexy, offbeat hacker is a movie trope — a recent example Rihanna’s portrayal of “Nine Ball” in the glamorous Ocean’s Eight. Armed with laptops in chunky cases, these hackers use a few keystrokes to hack into government...
Tech Time Warp: Happy fake birthday, Google
Sept. 27, 2018, marked Google’s 20th birthday — or did it? Since 2006, the omnipresent search giant has celebrated its founding on Sept. 27, but the occasion was celebrated as early as Sept. 7 in years prior. Google acknowledges the...
Tech Time Warp: RSA doesn’t stand for really secure authentication (but it should)
The encryption algorithm frequently used to make online shopping sprees secure celebrates two anniversaries this week — the issuing of its patent (Sept. 20, 1983) and the expiration of said patent 17 years later.
Tech Time Warp: The history of WYSIWYG
This week marks the 70th birthday of Charles Simonyi, the Hungarian-born software executive behind Microsoft Office and Excel. Born on September 10, 1948, Simonyi is also responsible for an innovation the modern computer user might take for granted: WYSIWYG word...
Tech Time Warp: ‘Here You Have’ Virus Spams the World
The ‘Here You Have’ virus—which kept IT departments busy in early September 2010—has all the makings of a good Jack Ryan outing. Major corporate and government disruption? Check. (Entities from Disney to NASA were affected.) A hacker claiming credit on...
Tech Time Warp: Miss Manners Tackles Computer Etiquette
You know that writing in all caps equates to shouting online, and that emoticons in professional emails are a no-no, but did you know that Miss Manners has been doling out computer etiquette for almost 40 years? On Aug. 26,...
Tech Time Warp: Meet AROK the Robot
Remember Rosie the Robot, George Jetson’s trusty maid? Well, Rosie had nothing on AROK, the robotic assistant created by Chicagoan Ben Skora in the late 1970s. Weighing in at 275 pounds and standing 6 feet, 8 inches, tall, AROK (that’s...
Tech Time Warp: The backstory behind your HP printer
For the modern user, HP is just another big-name brand in the world of PCs and printers. But the history of Hewlett Packard (which incorporated on Aug. 18, 1947) is downright charming — and predates the start of Apple, Microsoft,...
