Age of innocence
The first computer virus was created in a lab and released without malicious intent. The Creeper, named after a character in Scooby-Doo, was set loose on to the Arpanet by engineer Bob Thomas in 1971 but was quickly neutralized. One of the first internet viruses, the Morris worm, released in 1988, caused more damage, though its creator, Robert Morris, a Cornell student, claimed it was an innocent mistake. He was sentenced to three years’ probation. Morris is now a professor at MIT and the disk containing his worm’s source code is on display at the Boston Museum of Science.
Teenage kicks
Malware entered a delinquency phase in the 1980s and 1990s as youthful hackers used viruses to cause disruptions without obvious motives. The Elk Cloner virus, spread by Rich Skrenta on to Apple II computers in 1982, was a harmless prank but it created a template for more destructive assaults such as the Jerusalem virus, in 1987, and Michelangelo, in 1991. Melissa, a virus named after a stripper its creator, David Smith, had met in Florida, spread via e-mail in 1999 and cost more than US$80 million to clean up. The Sasser virus, which caused damage estimated at US$18 billion in 2004, was spread by an 18-year-old German hacker, Sven Jaschan, reportedly to create work for his mother’s computer security business.
Money spinners
With greater connectivity in the 1990s, economic crime became big business online and malware was developed to flog us Viagra and pinch our bank details. Last year, 30-year-old Cuban-American Albert Gonzales, aka Soupnazi, a member of the ShadowCrew hacker group, was sentenced to 20 years for the alleged theft of more than 170 million card numbers. A large proportion of the world’s cyber crime can be traced to criminal gangs and small hacker groups in Russia and eastern Europe.
Cyber warfare
Many believe the new domain of 21st-century warfare is cyberspace, although examples of cyber warfare can be traced back to the cold war. In 1982, stolen software doctored by the CIA caused a massive explosion in a Soviet gas pipeline. Numerous international cyber assaults have been reported in the last decade, involving China, Israel and the US, which set up a major cyber command last year, but the most powerful evidence that we’re entering an age of cyber warfare is Stuxnet, first detected last June. This worm, disseminated on USB sticks, was used to target Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Some suspect US or Israeli government involvement.
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
April 28 to May 4 During the Japanese colonial era, a city’s “first” high school typically served Japanese students, while Taiwanese attended the “second” high school. Only in Taichung was this reversed. That’s because when Taichung First High School opened its doors on May 1, 1915 to serve Taiwanese students who were previously barred from secondary education, it was the only high school in town. Former principal Hideo Azukisawa threatened to quit when the government in 1922 attempted to transfer the “first” designation to a new local high school for Japanese students, leading to this unusual situation. Prior to the Taichung First
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
The Ministry of Education last month proposed a nationwide ban on mobile devices in schools, aiming to curb concerns over student phone addiction. Under the revised regulation, which will take effect in August, teachers and schools will be required to collect mobile devices — including phones, laptops and wearables devices — for safekeeping during school hours, unless they are being used for educational purposes. For Chang Fong-ching (張鳳琴), the ban will have a positive impact. “It’s a good move,” says the professor in the department of
RSS