Tag: Tech history
Tech Time Warp: Lessons learned from the Yahoo breaches of the early 2010s
Ten years ago, Yahoo announced a massive security breach—the largest of its time. Account information for 500 million Yahoo users had been stolen in a hybrid state-sponsored and criminal hacker attack. When cyber espionage reached Yahoo The details sound straight...
Tech Time Warp: How a goodbye party launched DEF CON
The 34th DEF CON conference takes place Aug. 6–9 in Las Vegas. It’s no surprise that one of the hacker community’s most influential events has such a memorable origin story. Whether you’ve attended DEF CON or its more corporate cousin,...
Tech Time Warp: Nine years since the NotPetya nightmare
With damages estimated at $10 billion worldwide, the NotPetya malware attack of late June 2017 was a nightmare scenario by any standard. But several aspects of the malware — the work of Russian military intelligence officers — were particularly fiendish:...
Tech Time Warp: The legacy of Stuxnet
These days, USB drive security risks are clear — and cloud storage now serves as an alternative to portable storage. But 16 years ago, the humble USB drive was the carrier for what many still consider the most sophisticated malware...
Pioneers in Tech: Why you should know Ida Rhodes
The Jewish calendar has been closely tied to mathematics for centuries—but it wasn’t until 1977 that Hebrew dates could be calculated by a computer program. The breakthrough was the work of retired human “computer” Ida Rhodes, born Hadassah Itzkowitz in...
Tech Time Warp: First prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Does the punishment fit the crime? Let’s dive into this week’s Tech Time Warp to find out. Insiders from the nascent cybersecurity industry debated this question after the May 4, 1990, sentencing of Robert Tappan Morris, the first individual prosecuted...
Tech Time Warp: Twenty-five years of Wikipedia rabbit holes
This may surprise you: Wikipedia turned 25 this January. (Be honest—how many Wikipedia rabbit holes have you gone done in the past quarter-century?) From “Hello, World!” to 7 million articles Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales made the first edit (“Hello, World!”)...
Pioneers in Tech: Sandra Bullock, Academy award winner, actress, producer, internet pioneer
Your socials may have been buzzing in the past few days with an exciting bit of resurfaced news. One of America’s most popular actresses—known for her girl-next-door persona and rise to stardom in the 1990s—is also a pioneer in technology....
Tech Time Warp: Wishing the world a “Merry Christmas” via text for 33 years
This week’s Tech Time Warp goes back thirty-three years ago when a 22-year-old software engineer in the UK started what is now a modern holiday tradition: sending Christmas greetings via text. Neil Papworth sent the first SMS text message to...
Pioneers in Tech: Happy birthday to the mayor of Silicon Valley
This week marks the 98th anniversary of the birth of Robert Noyce, often called the “Mayor of Silicon Valley.” He got the name from not only his tech innovations, but also his tech culture innovations. Interestingly, his career path could...
