Windows XP
An operating system introduced in 2001 from Microsoft’s Windows family of operating systems. Microsoft called the release its most important product since Windows 95. Along with a redesigned look and feel to the user interface, the new operating system is built on the Windows 2000 kernel, giving the user a…
DDOS Attacks
In early 2000 and 2001 and the late 90s, hackers were becoming more sophisticated in their attacks, moving from traditional methods such as SYN flooding to more malicious attacks like Denial of Service. The first well known attack was against the University of Minnesota in August of 1999, when thousands…
The I Love You Virus
The “Love Letter” worm is a malicious VBScript program that first appeared May, 2000, which spreads in a variety of ways. As of 5:00 pm EDT(GMT-4) May 8, 2000, the CERT Coordination Center received reports from more than 650 individual sites indicating more than 500,000 individual systems were affected. In…
Blue Gene
On December 6, IBM announced a new $100 million exploratory research initiative to build a supercomputer 500 times more powerful than the world’s fastest computers. The new computer — nicknamed “Blue Gene” by IBM researchers — was capable of more than one quadrillion operations per second (one petaflop). This level…
Napster
In 1999, Shawn Fanning created a peer to peer file sharing program called Napster that let people share files by sharing and swapping files from a centralized server using the client software. It became the hottest P2P network on the planet, especially for music, and took the internet world by…
The Millennium Bug
Excerpt from Time Magazines’ “The History and the Hype” Two digits. That’s all. Just two lousy digits. 1957, they should have written, not 57. 1970 rather than 70. Most important, 01-01-2000 would have been infinitely preferable to 01-01-00. Though most of the dire predictions connected with that date–the Year 2000…
Windows 98
Released in June, 1998 by Microsoft Corp., Windows 98 arrived after Windows 95. Code named Memphis, it was a hybrid 16 bit/32 bit operating system like it’s predecessor. It included support for emerging DVD and USB technology, AGP, and offered easier search capabilities. It also included Internet Explorer 4.0. (which…
Children’s Online Privacy & Protection Act (COPPA)
In the early days of the internet, websites were becoming increasingly more interactive with visitors, allowing users to download games, join discussion groups, exchange email and more. In the course of these developments, websites began collecting information about these users either through voluntary means such as filling out a form…
ICANN
Short for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a nonprofit organization that has assumed the responsibility for IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management and root server system management functions previously performed under U.S. Government contract. ICANN was created by the late Jon Postel in…