covers the history of cybersecurity, from the first antivirus program to the rise of two-factor authentication.
1970s: Antivirus software
A computer virus is a piece of software the user typically downloads when they click on an infected email attachment or another file. The first virus was a 1970s program called Creeper, which was designed to crawl the early internet known as ARPANET, according to a report from Cyber Magazine. Like modern penetration testers, researchers wanted to see how they could hypothetically invade their own system. In response, email inventor Ray Tomlinson wrote a program he named Reaper, which chased and destroyed Creeper. That makes Reaper the first-ever antivirus program, creating a genre that endures today.
"These compromised files contained a combination of some or all of the following categories of information for each affected member: name; account number; and Social Security number."
From the first antivirus program in the 1970s to the zero-trust protocols of today, security has evolved over the years as developers strive to stay one step ahead of hackers.
The Biden administration’s new cyber strategy calling for minimum security standards across multiple economic sectors looks likely to face opposition from some lawmakers and businesses as U.S. officials work to implement the blueprint.
