I gave a presentation on computer vulnerability history at BSides Delaware in November, 2013. Shortly after, I gave the presentation a couple times at Westchester Community College and the University of Pennsylvania, along with a brief version for the Invisible Harms conference at UPenn. The linked version below is the revised copy after my initial run at BSidesDE. The talk gives a history of computer vulnerabilities starting in 1902 (for real!) and continues up to modern day, looking at how long we have been subject to them, and asking the question ‘why’ do we still see them in modern software. Video from the BSidesDE presentation is available below. A copy of the original BSidesDE presentation is available, but I recommend the revised copy above from Shakacon in June, 2014. As always, there are extra comments and tons of references in the PPT files.
[12/21/2020 Update – I have since done a slightly updated version of the talk since, re-titled as “118 Years…”, as a guest lecturer at Northeastern University, Center for Law, Innovation and Creativity (CLIC) and Penn State Law, Policy Innovation Lab of Tomorrow (PILOT). Several who have seen this presentation think I should write a book on the topic, and I agree! I have started notes along these lines and began to gather additional information, but time is the limiting factor. Who knows if I will do it in the long run.]
