Results for: tech time warp

Tech Time Warp: SCA virus infects the Commodore Amiga

Tech Time Warp: SCA virus infects the Commodore Amiga

The Commodore Amiga offered many firsts to computer users of the mid-1980s: 256 kilobytes of RAM, a 256-color display, and preemptive multitasking, not to mention a splashy celebrity debut (Andy Warhol used the Amiga to create a portrait of Debbie...

/ November 5, 2021
Ghostball virus
Tech Time Warp: Ghostball virus haunts PC users in 1989

Tech Time Warp: Ghostball virus haunts PC users in 1989

The story of the Ghostball virus is a worthwhile tale to revisit as Cybersecurity Awareness Month draws to a close on Halloween. As some PC users found out in October 1989, malware can be difficult to exorcise from your system....

/ October 29, 2021
Tech Time Warp: Gone phishing for cybersecurity history

Tech Time Warp: Gone phishing for cybersecurity history

The theme for Week 2 of Cybersecurity Awareness Month is “Phight the Phish!” Arguably one of the most insidious forms of cybercrime, phishing relies on tricking a recipient via social engineering into handing over personal information—and sometimes installing malware in...

/ October 15, 2021
Tech Time Warp: A Sober-ing tale for cybersecurity awareness month

Tech Time Warp: A Sober-ing tale for cybersecurity awareness month

The wriggling saga of the Sober worm is a cautionary tale worthy of a revisit during Cybersecurity Awareness Month. It’s a good reminder that once malware is on the loose, it’s hard to catch—and that it often undergoes a metamorphosis...

/ October 8, 2021 / 1 Comment
Tech Time Warp: The cybersecurity industry begins with RSA patent

Tech Time Warp: The cybersecurity industry begins with RSA patent

October 1 kicks off Cybersecurity Awareness Month, now in its 18th year. A joint initiative of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), the awareness month seeks to educate individuals and organizations about...

/ October 1, 2021
Tech Time Warp: Swen worm poses as security patch

Tech Time Warp: Swen worm poses as security patch

The hits for network admins kept coming in late summer/early fall 2003. Just weeks after the Blaster-Welchia-SoBig.F triple punch, the Swen worm wriggled its way onto at least 1.5 million computers. Like so many other pieces of malware, Swen exploited...

/ September 24, 2021
Tech Time Warp: The first FORTRAN program runs

Tech Time Warp: The first FORTRAN program runs

Although FORTRAN was not commercially released until 1957, the date September 20, 1954, is also significant in the history of the groundbreaking computer language. That’s when the first FORTRAN program successfully ran while in development at IBM. John Backus worked...

/ September 17, 2021 / 1 Comment
Tech Time Warp: eBay Inc. gets its start

Tech Time Warp: eBay Inc. gets its start

What are your Labor Day weekend plans? Chances are they won’t prove as lucrative as those of Pierre Omidyar back in 1995, who spent his three-day weekend launching a website called AuctionWeb from his San Jose home. We now know...

/ September 3, 2021
Tech Time Warp: Happy birthday to the Computer Misuse Act

Tech Time Warp: Happy birthday to the Computer Misuse Act

Happy 31st birthday to the British Computer Misuse Act (CMA), which went into effect Aug. 29, 1990, as one of the first cybercrime laws on the books. Although the CMA has undergone several revisions, many cybersecurity experts believe it’s desperately...

/ August 27, 2021
Tech Time Warp: The One-Two-Three Viral Punch of August 2003

Tech Time Warp: The One-Two-Three Viral Punch of August 2003

August qualifies as the dog days of summer. It’s a good time to take it easy and use some PTO.  But that’s not something the network administrators of 2003 could do, thanks to an onslaught of viruses. August 2003 brought...

/ August 20, 2021