Word: hacker
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...whose hacker daring did inspire...
...over again. Five weeks after a computer-science graduate student forced the Defense Department to shut down , its Arpanet computer network by infecting it with a self-duplicating electronic virus, the Pentagon learned that one of its smaller military information systems, Milnet, had been broken into by an unknown hacker. Last week Mitre Corp., a Massachusetts-based defense contractor, warned the Pentagon that someone had gained unauthorized access to Mitre's system, which is linked to the Arpanet network. Fortunately, the invader had access only to nonclassified material, and none of it was damaged. Nevertheless, the Defense Department severed Milnet...
System managers at the Mitre Corporation, a defense contractor in Bedford, Mass., discovered Monday that a hacker had breached the security of one of their computers as early as November 3. Although the company found no evidence that the intruder had stolen sensitive data or had broken into any other military computers, the Pentagon responded by severing communication channels between Arpanet and Milnet...
THOUGH appealing, this image of the virtuous and righteous computer hacker should be discarded in considering Morris' computer offense. Put simply, Morris flagrantly violated the law: he illegally entered secured computer systems and injected an unauthorized and damaging program that cost millions of dollars in inoperative computer time and repairs. It was as if he had broken into many sensitive Pentagon and university offices throughout the country and messed up all the files...
MORRIS must not be allowed to cash in on his irresponsibility. Morris' computer expertise is admirable in a diminutive "Wargames" way, but ignorance or disregard for the law is no excuse. While the reclusive "computer hacker" has undeniably become a part of our society, his creativity is better suited to entrepreneurism a la Steven Jobs and Apple Computer than senseless destruction...