“In total desperation, I called over to the engineering building, and I said, ‘Please cut off a nanosecond and send it over to me.'”
-Grace Hopper
Some of you might know of Admiral Grace Hopper, mathematician, computer scientist, and pioneer of computer programming and IT security. She was inadvertently involved in the creation of the term “computer bug” & “debugging“ during an incident with a real bug while working on a system at Harvard in 1947. Her most famous public appearance might be her interview with David Letterman on The Late Show. (Linked further below.)
A group of CS & Security researchers were, after many years of pleading, able to get the NSA to release Hopper’s NSA lectures from 1982. They are now published on YouTube, with the links below. They are rather fascinating and prescient, and cover two security topics that we would do well to consider today.
Separate computers for different tasks. e.g. Use of one computer for browsing the web and gaming, and another for banking and financial tasks.
Callback procedure – In her example, when an employee calls in & supplies their user ID and password, the computer hangs up, then calls back at the phone number on file for that user ID. This is a form of OOB or Out Of Band communication used to thwart fraudsters. This is still a critically important strategy today. Get a call from your bank saying you are the victim of financial fraud? Even if you are sure the call is legitimate, hang up, and call them back on the number on the back of your credit card. Break the initial contact, and know who you are actually communicating with. (Don’t call back a number they supply, but one you look up.)
NSA : Capt. Grace Hopper on Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People (Part One, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
NSA : Capt. Grace Hopper on Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People (Part Two, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Grace Hopper on Late Night with David Letterman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Previous post on Avoiding Scams & OOB
https://txlcms.org/security-
Disclaimer: This article’s technical tips are meant to provide helpful alerts and general awareness of the issues raised in this article. We cannot be held liable for any issues that may arise from following our recommendations. We recommend that each group find a skilled technical team to advise and help in a manner tailored to their individual needs and circumstances.