BACK TO ARCHIVES
1 MIN READ
The Morris Worm
The Internet Collapse
"The first major distributed denial of service attack (unintentional) that paralyzed 10% of the web."
1988
Calculation Error
Robert Tappan Morris, a student at Cornell, launches a worm to measure the size of the Internet. A coding error makes it hyper-aggressive, infecting machines in a loop.
1988
Blackout
About 6,000 computers (10% of the Internet at the time) are taken offline. Damage cost estimated between $100,000 and $10 million. It is the first conviction under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Mission Status: Complete
NEXT FILE