On Sat, 29 Aug 2020 17:04:04 -0400, Mayayana wrote:

> "Martin Gregorie"  wrote
>   But in my limited experience it doesn't seem like we've
> really needed security until recently, except maybe at the CIA. Only
> recently have people banked online,
>
Depends what you're doing. The CHAPS financial network went live in 1984
as the first network where the message WAS the money and has always run
on a private network transferring messages that are encrypted in special
tamper-proof modules. SWIFT was earlier, first message passed in 1977,
but SWIFT messages are merely *about* money: unlike CHAPS, they are not
money transfers.

Another marker: the first time I saw a personal computer was in 1976 at
"The Computer Store" in NYC at 5th and 35th. That's before Apple but not
by much - the hot machines were made by SWTPC and IMSAI. We had an Apple
II at the BBC in 1978 - I used it to demonstrate how a centralised
journalist's contact database might look and work.

I'd put the start of hackery a bit earlier: soon after 1990, when the
first web browser was released. That, and Win 95 really marked the start
of 'just folks' rather than just IT professionals and computer
enthusiasts starting to use data networks. A student wrote (and lost
control of) the first Internet worm around that time.

Win 95 had ZERO security and, sadly, Windoze, is still rather behind the
times in that sphere.


--
Martin    | martin at
Gregorie  | gregorie dot org

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05