Question

Write a brief synopsis (minimum 200 words) summarizing about Robert Tappan Morris ( A hacker)

Ideas to include in your summary:

List their alias or hacker handle, if known. Who was he ? Why was he famous? Was their work considered to be white hat (ethical), black hat (unethical), or grey hat (a mixture)? What happened to them? Why were they interesting? Do you agree with what they did? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Robert Tappen Morris born on November 8,1965 also known under the alias RTM is an American computer scientist and entrepreneur. He is famous and best known for creating Morris Worm in 1988. It is considered to be the first computer work on internet, it made him famous all over the world.

His work was considered as black hat(unethical) as it resulted in huge economic loss at that time and because of releasing the worm on internet he was convicted under the then-new computer Fraud and Abuse Act. In December 1990, he was sentenced to 3 years of probation, 400 hours of community service and a fine of $10,050 plus cost of supervision.

They were interesting because only after this attack people understood e importance of internet and computer security and starting taking it seriously. He showed that how the vulnerability of computers can be used to get access on them. He opened the doors for new research and work.

What he did was out of curiosity. He just wanted to show the vulnerability of computers but it resulted in huge economic loss. I think his work was good as it resulted in making computers secure as only because after this incident people started taking security seriously but it should have been done in ethical way ,his way of releasing the worm on internet was very unethical so I don't agree with what they did.

Currently he is working as a professor in MIT.