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The History of Cybersecurity 2019 Calendar
As security practitioners and history buffs, we’re intrigued by the history of cybersecurity. So much so, we built a calendar around it this year. Each month of the History of Cybersecurity 2019 Calendar features a significant date in cybersecurity history, along with a related trivia question and other notable dates in that month.
Speaking of trivia, test your own knowledge of cybersecurity history. See if you can answer the questions below—then learn more about these historical cybersecurity events on our blog.
If you think we missed an important date in the calendar (or got something wrong – we hope not!), let us know. Share your feedback with us on Twitter! And if the calendar has you inspired to get on OUR calendar, request a demo. We’ll show you how Exabeam’s SIEM can help your organization identify many of the threats featured in the calendar.
December 2019 Trivia
Q: Who invented the mag stripe used on credit cards?
Show Answer
A. IBM engineer, Forrest Parry, invented the mag stripe in 1960, originally for use on U.S. government ID cards.
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November 2019 Trivia
Q: The Morris worm resulted in a felony conviction for its author, Robert Morris. Under what law was he convicted?
Show Answer
A. The 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
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October 2019 Trivia
Q: Who is depicted on the mask that has become the symbol of Anonymous, and what is the significance?
Show Answer
A. Guy Fawkes, who was a Catholic rebel in England. He became infamous for the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to assassinate King James. In the 1980’s graphic novel “V for Vendetta,” the main character battles against a fascist state while wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. This was considered the inspiration for Anonymous adopting the mask as a symbol.
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September 2019 Trivia
Q: RSA was invented at MIT by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Len Adleman. Name the two Stanford cryptographers responsible for another well-known public key algorithm.
Show Answer
A. Whitfield “Whit” Diffie and Martin Hellman invented the eponymous Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm while at Stanford.
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August 2019 Trivia
Q: In which version of Microsoft Windows was Active Directory released?
Show Answer
A. Windows 2000 Server Edition.
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July 2019 Trivia
Q: How did Sircam spread?
Show Answer
A. Sircam was most commonly embedded in Microsoft Word and Excel files. When emailed and opened, the worm infected the computer of the recipient.
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June 2019 Trivia
May 2019 Trivia
Q: What algorithm did the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) replace?
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A. AES replaced the Data Encryption Standard (DES), a cipher developed by IBM in 1973. Triple DES - encryption with DES three times - was used for some time, but that, too, was considered inadequate and in need of replacement by 1997.
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April 2019 Trivia
Q: What is the name of the encryption algorithm intended to be used on the Clipper chip?
Show Answer
A. Skipjack
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March 2019 Trivia
Q: Who wrote Creeper and why?
Show Answer
A. Bob Thomas, a developer at BBN Technologies, is the author of Creeper. His goal was not to infect machines, but to demonstrate that an application could move from one machine to another. A distributed computing experiment that opened a Pandora’s box.
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February 2019 Trivia
Q: Who is considered the “father of SSL”?
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A. Taher Elgamal, cryptographer and chief scientist at Netscape Communications, is considered to be the driving force behind the protocol, although other Netscape engineers were also involved.
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January 2019 Trivia
Q: What is the name of the group responsible for Operation Aurora?
Show Answer
A. The Elderwood Gang -- aka the Elderwood Group -- a Chinese cyber espionage group suspected to have ties to the People’s Liberation Army.
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