1 Coursing through arteries,replicating along the way,edging into new sites to wreak havoc,
the virus at first seemed like any other virus that eventually would be defeated by the host's defense mechanisms.
This,however,was a new,more powerful virus,and it would take advantage of the system's weaknesses,
infecting and reinfecting as it traveled through the host.
2 The "Internet Worm",as the virus came to be know,
worked its way into thousands of computers connected to the national information infrastructure.
Created by Cornell University student Robert Morris,it infected more than 6,000 systems,
jamming hard drives and erasing valuable information before being eliminated in November
1988 by engineers at the University of California at Berkeley and at Purdue University in West Lafayette,Indiana.
3 That was the first time the Internet and the destructive aims of certain computer experts made the national news.
It wouldn't be the last.
The Internet is just as susceptible to abuse as any other form of computer technology.
The only difference is that the malicious attack comes through telephone lines and across network connections.
Computer vandals can break into any system.
Whether it is transportation,finance or defense,no system is 100-percent safe.There will always be individuals who,for one reason or another,are eager to discover the weak spot in order to penetrate the system.
4 Who are these individuals and what do they want?
Generally,people who break into computer systems are called"hackers".
Irrespective of their aims,
they tend to inspire a certain admiration because they are extremely clever and infinitely more knowledgeable than the average computer user.
Breaking into computer systems--whether it is on the Internet,
in a bank or a government office--is an illegal activity.
However,"ordinary?"hackers
who penetrate and explore systems just for the intellectual challenge are regarded as less dangerous than"crackers".
The latter are people who break into systems in order to steal or to destroy information.
They also can remove money from accounts,
as Russian "crackers"demonstrated when they stole $ 10 million from Citibank's cash-management system in 1994