Nostalgia Nerd

The Virus that F***ed us all (2022x5)

: 23, 2022

Malware, computer viruses and computer worms are rife. They're so rife that antivirus software is now standard on Windows operating systems, and we're routinely advised to upgrade to something more "secure". But the origin of the computer virus, of computer worms may surprise you, because it wasn't actually from a malevolent desire at all. It was in fact born out of intrigue and the desire to actually help productivity, rather than destroy it. In this episode I'm exploring the Creeper Worm; created by Bob Thomas and Ray Tomlinson back in the 70s. But alongside Creeper, I'm also looking at Reaper, and a slew of other computer worms that were created by Xerox in the early 80s. Because without Creeper, Reaper and Xerox, our computing landscape would look very different today.